Concord, N.H. — Today, Rep. Annie Kuster (NH-02) met with Concord Regional Technical Center students and educators on the campus of Concord High School, her alma mater, to tour the facility and discuss the importance of targeted training programs to meet workforce needs. The Concord Regional Technical Center serves about 700 high school students from nine regional school districts that include 30 towns in the Concord region.

“In order for New Hampshire to develop a robust workforce and meet the needs of 21st-century businesses, we must invest in jobs training in our high schools, including career and technical education (CTE) programs,” said Rep. Kuster. “It was great to meet with students and educators at the Concord Regional Technical Center today and to hear about how the program is preparing students for successful careers. I will continue working in Congress to support our education system and bolster New Hampshire’s workforce for generations to come.”

“We owe it to our students to provide experiences beyond the walls of the school,” said Steve Rothenberg, CTE Principal at Concord Regional Technical Center. “Students are missing a huge context on post-secondary planning without it. Our employer partnerships are not a matter of programmatic design, but a necessity in order for students to develop a sense of their own direction, strategy and most of all purpose. This goes for all students.”

Last month, Rep. Kuster reintroduced her legislation, the Workforce Development Investment Act, which would create tax incentives to encourage companies to partner with education providers to develop workforce training programs for skills that are in demand within their community or region. It would also create a separate credit for the cost of direct training conducted as part of an educational partnership or licensed apprenticeship.

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Background on the Concord Regional Technical Center:

High school CTE work-based learning experiences range from classroom visits by industry professionals, job shadows, and pre-apprenticeships. The CRTC sets a target that every enrolled student, during their two years of CTE, will have numerous WBL experiences.  A number of programs including Construction Trades, Computer Engineering, and Criminal Justice have made recent gains to provide more opportunities.

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