Cuomo kicks off Workforce Development Initiative with SUNY investment

It’s Workforce Development Awareness Week – an official designation, thanks to a recent proclamation – and Gov. Andrew Cuomo isn’t letting it pass without some on-theme announcements. The governor announced Monday that the state would invest $3 million in the State University of New York's Apprenticeship Program, expanding apprenticeship programs in areas including artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and information technology. An investment of $3 million may not jump out as a particularly significant one, but it marks the first award of Cuomo’s Workforce Development Initiative, a $175 million fund announced earlier this year that will make awards to regional workforce development projects that focus on industries like clean energy and computer science.

Cuomo also announced Monday that the semiconductor company Cree will take over a long-vacant facility at the SUNY Polytechnic Institute in Utica, creating 600 full-time jobs and a job training program for SUNY students. Cree manufactures silicon carbide wafers, a technology that will help to power emerging technologies, including electric vehicles. Scheduled to be completed in 2022, the Cree facility will also benefit from $500 million in capital grants from Empire State Development.