$2.3 million in McKee budget boosts jobs. Why a Middletown company supports the investment

• Governor Dan McKee visited McLaughlin Research Center in Middletown to highlight The RI Real Jobs program, to which his proposed budget invests an additional $2.3 million.
• The investment is expected to come from an expansion of the Job Development Fund Tax, to be imposed on the state's largest nonprofits.
• RI Real Jobs is a state program that works with local industries, such as the The Southeastern New England Defense Industry Alliance, to develop workforce training programs.

Gov. Dan McKee visited Aquidneck Island for the second time in six days, this time making an appearance at the McLaughlin Research Corporation in Middletown to highlight a proposed $2.3 million investment in the RI Real Jobs program, some of which will go toward training for workers looking to enter the local defense industry.

“We know that fostering skills on job training, internships and apprenticeships give our workforce a competitive edge in the job market and allows them to achieve more for themselves and their families,” McKee said on Wednesday. “An investment in these programs is an investment in Rhode Island's workforce and in Rhode Island's future."

The defense industry forms a massive cornerstone for Aquidneck Island’s economy, even when not accounting for the U.S. Navy, which continues to be Newport’s largest employer. SENEIDA itself is headquartered in Middletown and counts roughly 20 firms on the island as among its membership, including Raytheon in Portsmouth, one of Rhode Island’s largest employers.

RI Real Jobs has been a program the Governor’s Workforce Board, a government policy making body under the state’s Department of Labor and Training, has operated since 2015. By soliciting workforce training program ideas and plans from industry groups, the program seeks to increase the number of trained workers for certain sectors. The event on Wednesday highlighted the program’s partnership with the Southeastern New England Defense Industry Alliance (SENEDIA), specifically the internships created through this partnership at McLaughlin Research Corporation.

“We're trying to make sure there are certain requirements with the program so the investments lead to outcomes,” said Matthew Weldon, director of the RI Department of Labor and Training. “Work-based learning, like internships and apprenticeships, is going to be required for every program that we run, so SENEDIA is a great example, because that's exactly what they do. They place the interns here, MRC hosts those interns, gives them experience, and then ends up hiring some of them, or they get jobs in the defense economy at other places. That's the outcome we're looking for with all the different trainings that we do.”

The event on Wednesday also showcased the work current interns Daniel Castaneda, Maria Rodriguez and Conor Battelle are doing at the company, specifically a honeypot program that mimics the company’s servers, redirecting potential cyber attacks and allowing the interns to see where these attacks are coming from and how they are attempting to do so in real time. Former intern-turned-full-time-employee Triet Ngyuen said the RI Real Jobs program was instrumental in getting him the experience he needed to retain his position.

“I’ve been here for about 10 years, maybe a little bit more, and I do everything from day-to-day IT, networking and security, and I wouldn't have been able to imagine that as an opportunity when I first started school,” Ngyuen said. “I started at CCRI, transferred to Roger Williams. I'm from Pawtucket, so it's a little bit tough, but I'm here now, and it's been a great ride.”

For McKee, this investment demonstrates a commitment to one of the goals outlined in the RI 2030 Plan, an effort that began in 2021 as a way to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and boost the state’s economy. It specifically addresses the plan's “Rhode to Prosperity” goal, which seeks to increase Rhode Island’s per capita income by $20,000 by 2030.

The announcement comes at a time when many industries nationwide typically supported by federal grants and loans face uncertainty in the face of President Donald Trump’s administration’s federal funding freeze, something Weldon said his department is concerned about.

“Our budget has largely been driven by the federal government for 10 years, and state money has been to supplement that money, and now the state money is really the only source, so that's concerning," Weldon said. "The governor put more money into his budget, which is what we're talking about today. That's good. We'll have about $14 million available in state resources and any federal money we get will be like icing on the cake after that. I'm not super hopeful that's going to happen, but I’m going to remain optimistic.”

Weldon said the $2.3 million boost from the Governor’s proposed budget could pay for 500 additional workers to get trained through RI Real Jobs. The $2.3 million is expected to be generated by expanding the number of firms expected to contribute to the state’s Job Development Fund. The fund is created through a 0.21% total payroll assessment employers pay as a form of unemployment tax. The state is planning to levy the assessment onto the state’s largest nonprofit employers, of which there are about 25.

In addition to the funding freeze, Weldon said the department is also concerned about the Trump Administration’s deportation mandates, as Rhode Island’s population increase over the past decade is largely due to foreign immigration. Weldon said deportation or fear of deportation could result in many Rhode Island workers leaving the workforce or possibly entering “off-the-books” employment, which could lead to further exploitation of those workers.

“A lot of those people are people that are filling jobs in our economy, important jobs,” Weldon said. “I'm hopeful that we change direction nationally on that issue, and want everyone to know that we're here to protect every work in Rhode Island, regardless of their status.”