Todd Schlekeway, President and CEO of NATE: The Communications Infrastructure Contractors Association, praised Ohio officials yesterday at a Broadband/5G Workforce Strategy Launch Event at Tri-County Career Center in Nelsonville, OH. The workforce initiative, led by Ohio Lt. Governor Jon Husted and the Governor’s Office of Workforce Transformation, included contributing $30,000 to purchase equipment and tools for the launch of a new Fiber-Optic Technician training program at Tri-County Career Center.
“NATE commends the State of Ohio and Lt. Governor Husted for prioritizing workforce issues and investing in communications infrastructure training programs,” said Schlekeway. “By working closely with our industry, Ohio’s education system will graduate safe and productive technicians who meet the high standards and expectations of NATE member companies. These collaborative efforts will be the model for other states and enable the United States to continue to be the world leader in communications technology,” Schlekeway said.
NATE is collaborating with the Governor’s Office of Workforce Transformation to deploy a turnkey curriculum that can enable career centers and community colleges in the Buckeye State to launch additional education and training programs at their institutions.
During his remarks at the event, Schlekeway expressed NATE’s appreciation for the collaboration between the Office of Workforce Transformation and Association representatives. He also noted that there are 35 NATE member companies located in Ohio that stand ready to assist in the state initiative that will help address the telecom industry’s significant workforce shortage.
“Thank you to Lt. Governor Husted for his leadership and for working with NATE to create these industry-recognized training programs,” said NATE Wireless Industry Network Ohio State Liaison Nicole Paulette from Elevated Services, LLC in Carrollton, Ohio. “It is great to see my state lead the way on one of our industry’s top priorities, providing a pipeline of safe and productive technicians who can deploy broadband to rural, unserved, and underserved communities throughout Ohio. I am pleased that NATE has continually focused on these member priorities and has successfully advanced a number of initiatives that will have positive impacts for our industry,” Paulette added.
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