Since 2017, MassCEC has awarded 75 grants to advance offshore wind workforce development, improve access to opportunities, and conduct workforce studies. This funding has facilitated the construction of multiple facilities and infrastructure, and the purchase of specialized equipment, providing essential space for offshore wind (OSW) training and certification. Supported programs aim to cultivate interest in offshore wind careers through internships spanning primary to higher education levels, targeted recruitment for existing training programs, and offering financial incentives, support, and other services to enable participation. The awards will support projects that will further develop a well-trained and highly skilled workforce with emphasis on diversity and safety and expand Massachusetts’ role as a national leader and innovator in offshore wind workforce training and education. The Offshore Wind Workforce Community of Practice meets quarterly, twice virtually and twice in-person. The in-person meetings are typically hosted by a grantee and feature a tour of the facility showcasing their educational and training spaces.
Community of Practice
MassCEC established the Offshore Wind Workforce Community of Practice to connect workforce grantees, partners, and community development organizations, ensuring collaboration and coordinated resource sharing to develop comprehensive educational pathways that cultivate a world-class offshore wind workforce in Massachusetts.
1. Training Facilities and Providers
Grants for organizations that are building offshore wind training facilities, standing up programs to train the offshore wind workforce, or expanding existing programming to cover offshore wind training needs. Grantees include Massachusetts Maritime Academy which has received multiple awards to establish Global Wind Organization Basic Safety Training and Basic Technical Training and is currently working on installing a Helicopter Underwater Escape Training unit and Bristol Community College’s National Offshore Wind Institute which received awards to establish the first purpose-built offshore wind training facility in the nation.
2. Safety and Technical Trainings Support
Grants that help organizations send employees or new recruits to be trained so that they may more safely and efficiently work on offshore wind projects in some capacity. Grantees include local unions which have needed to certify their members to work at sea and the Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives Development Program which provided training and certification support to local fishermen so they could obtain captain’s licenses and other coast guard certifications that might help them work on offshore wind projects in their offseason.
3. Career Awareness and Educational Pathways
Grants that fund programs intended to introduce offshore wind career pathways to students and build community awareness of the economic development opportunities associated with the projects. Grantees include Bristol Community College and their Wind Works for You community engagement campaign in New Bedford and STEAM the Streets who developed an offshore wind career exploration module for their app and a school assembly program to bring to schools across Massachusetts.
4. Access to Opportunity
Grants focused on promoting equitable outcomes for the career and economic development opportunities that offshore wind promises to bring to Massachusetts. Grantees include UMass Amherst who have established a scholarship program for their Offshore Wind Professional Certificate Program and MassMEP who are training justice-involved individuals on basic manufacturing competencies and working to place them in on-the-job trainings at offshore wind relevant manufacturing companies.
5. Workforce Insights
Grants that fund studies around offshore wind workforce trends, training needs, best practices to better inform the industry as it grows in the Commonwealth. Grantees include Tufts University who are conducting a study aimed at identifying obstacles to safety in installing and maintaining offshore wind turbines.
