Maine colleges, leaders unveil $6.5M plan to train thousands for defense workforce

SANFORD, Maine — A newly formed coalition is dedicating itself to attracting and training thousands of workers for critical jobs in the defense industry in Maine, including Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.

Officials announced the new partnership, called the Maine Defense Industry Alliance, during a press conference at the York County Community College instructional site on Community Drive in Sanford on Friday. The MDIA consists of defense industries, higher education institutions, state agencies and the U.S. Navy.

Dave Daigler, the president of the Maine Community College System, said the MDIA's objective is to build a comprehensive, coordinated approach to equipping new workers with skills and upgrading the defense industry's workforce. He described the new coalition as a "single voice" with a "single mission."

"Said another way, the alliance will take a holistic approach, mapping the demand for talent in the industry, so that educators who supply that pipeline can meet that need in real time," Daigler said.

While MDIA's mission and reach will encompass all of the state, Daigle mentioned one of the Alliance's efforts in York County: YCCC will be undergoing a significant expansion of its manufacturing and trade facilities and programs.

The community college’s $6.5 million plan calls for the construction of a new 10,000-square-foot welding lab. In a press release, YCCC hailed the plan as the “first tangible impact” of the new coalition to increase the workforce in the state’s defense industry.

“It’s a great investment to build a new, state-of-the-art welding facility just miles from two of the state’s three largest defense contractors, adding hundreds of new skilled workers a year to the local workforce,” YCCC President Michael Fischer said, referring to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery and Pratt & Whitney in North Berwick.

The college will build the addition to its existing facility on Community Drive in Sanford and will call it the YCCC Center for Excellence in Manufacturing and Trades.

The expansion is to be funded by $3.5 million in Submarine Industrial Base funding from the MDIA, $1.5 million in YCCC funds, and $1.5 million in federal money that Collins and King secured as part of last year’s appropriations bill for Transportation and Housing and Urban Development.

At the press conference on Friday, Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development, and Acquisition Nickolas Guertin said YCCC's expansion is needed.

"Having this kind of facility, here in Maine, is critically important to improving the trade craft team that we need for building and maintaining our ships and submarines at sea," he said. "I'm particularly grateful that we have this opportunity to collaborate and understand what we need to do better, together."

Maine governor, elected leaders praise efforts to increase workforce

Maine Gov. Janet Mills, Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, and U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, all attended and spoke at the event.

"To move forward on the skilled workforce needs in the defense industry here in Maine, we want to make sure that we continue to take advantage of the jobs available and that we contribute our part as a state to the defense of our nation, which is vitally important to maintain peace around the world," Mills said.

Mills offered the full support of her administration to the group, which she called a "true act of collaboration."

King said the cornerstone of the nation's defense policy for decades has been the belief that the "best war is the one that doesn't occur," which he said is an approach achieved through deterrence. He said that is accomplished when any potential adversary knows they will "suffer dreadful consequences" if they attack the United States.

"That's why what we're doing here is so important," King said. "What's happening here today is really important to bring all these pieces together and to establish lines of communication, so that we can continue to meet the needs of this industry. If you can't build the ships, the sailors don't have the wherewithal to defend the country."

Pingree said the world is in a time of "unprecedented conflicts," and said that the role Maine plays in the nation's defense is critical and essential. She emphasized the need to make training opportunities available for all Mainers, from women to veterans to students to those who are newly arrived in the state.

"What's so vital to this process is making sure that everybody's engaged - that they feel welcome in the workplaces and in the training programs," she said.

More: Portsmouth Naval Shipyard economic impact $1.4B: Towns with most workers, payroll listed

Currently, the defense industry in Maine employs more than 20,000 people at more than 150 companies. During the next five years, Pratt & Whitney, the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and Bath Iron Works are anticipating they will need to fill more than 7,500 positions to counter the number of retiring workers and standard turnover and other factors, according to YCCC.

YCCC is not the only educational institution that will be part of this new training program. In a press release, the MDIA said that it will guide and support training initiatives across the state by building a “comprehensive, coordinated and sustainable” workforce development system. Educational partners will include the Maine Community College System, the University of Maine System, Maine Maritime Academy, and The Roux Institute of Northeastern University.

Defense spending in Maine totaled $3.2 billion in 2021, according to the MDIA.

Maine Coalition for Palestine protest launch of Maine Defense Industry Alliance

Not everyone at the press event was there to celebrate the occasion. In the parking lot, seven or eight protestors from The Maine Coalition for Palestine gathered and criticized the state's elected leaders and defense corporations for what they characterized as their roles in arming Israel in its ongoing war with Gaza.

Israel's attacks in Gaza followed a deadly attack by Hamas on Oct. 7.

In a press release before the event on Friday, the coalition criticized the newly formed MDIA.

"This MDIA effort to make war a core component of the Maine economy is dystopian in the extreme," the organization said. "We should never find ourselves in a position where peace is bad for the Maine economy. War should not be a jobs program."

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Maine colleges, leaders unveil $6.5M plan to train defense workforce