Ashley Silva Solano, 17, a senior at Westbury High School,...

Ashley Silva Solano, 17, a senior at Westbury High School, works with a chemistry kit in Jeffrey Gonzalez's science class on Jan. 10. Last summer, she took a class in composite manufacturing at the Cradle of Aviation museum. Credit: Barry Sloan

Ashley Silva Solano, 17, wants to become a physician assistant, but the Westbury High School senior said she took a class last summer that has sparked her interest in manufacturing.

Over two days in August, Solano experimented with carbon fiber sheets, resin and vacuum sealers to form composites — materials that become stronger than their individual components when combined — and are crucial in aerospace, automotive, defense and medical industries. 

Solano is one of more than 250 students who took an introductory course in composite manufacturing and its role in aviation that was offered by the Institute for Workforce Advancement, a Melville-based nonprofit. The class was taught by instructors from Vaughn College in Queens, known for its aviation programs.

Solano, who earned a free college credit after finishing the class, said she was "grateful" for the opportunity because of her family's financial constraints. “I come from a low-income family so it would be hard to ask my parents to pay for me," she said. 

Fueled by a growing concern about an older workforce likely to retire over the next decade, potentially creating a labor shortage, and the need to fill jobs in the green energy sector, the institute said it seeks to bridge the gap by partnering with high schools and colleges across Long Island and Queens to introduce students to careers in manufacturing and build a talent pipeline to meet labor demands. 

Last month, the institute received a $975,000 grant from the New York Power Authority, which will help it expand the program to include career options in green manufacturing as the Island’s offshore wind industry and drone technology grows, director Phil Rugile said.

The grant will allow the nonprofit to tweak the program "so it includes renewable energy and offshore wind, and really utilize manufacturing with composites to engage a much larger audience," Rugile said.

Many of the components used in the region's nascent offshore wind industry, such as the blades on wind turbines, are made from composites, creating the need for a workforce knowledgeable in manufacturing and repairing composites, Rugile said. 

The state's Climate Act requires New York to reduce emissions 40% by 2030 by increasing renewable energy use while making sure communities equitably benefit from clean energy projects.

The NYPA grant, Rugile said, will allow the institute to expand the course to five days a week and include a workforce readiness component, providing soft skills training and resume reviews. The class will be offered to  up to 220 students over the next two years, he added.

The grant is funded by the state Power Authority's annual $25 million budget, said Sandra Bleckman, NYPA's workforce development project director. It helps ensure that disadvantaged communities around the state, including majority-minority communities, can benefit equally from New York’s efforts to grow its renewable energy sector, Bleckman added.

In its draft strategic plan released in October, NYPA proposed 40 renewable energy projects statewide, including battery storage systems, dozens of solar panel projects and a wind energy project.

“These projects give them the opportunity to grow and build and work in their own community as opposed to bringing in people from other communities,” Bleckman said. 

Manufacturers on the Island say introducing students to modern manufacturing processes earlier in their schooling is imperative to meet labor demands. 

“We are building the pipeline of the future,” said NYPA's Bleckman. “When we start educating young adults on what is possible, what careers exist … those things spark ideas.” 

Domenic Proscia, vice president of training at Vaughn, said students will learn skills such as computer-assisted design. 

“The kids that come to these classes, they’re bright,” he said. “They are absorbing this and it’s really cool to see."

Industry observers say that for decades, the misconception of manufacturing as a dirty job with limited career growth has hurt efforts to recruit the Island’s youth. More often than not, they say, manufacturing jobs are found in high-tech facilities and can offer good wages and advancement without the need for a college degree. 

Jobs in manufacturing paid an average of $79,764 in 2024, according to state Labor Department data.

Some of the Island's big manufacturers include defense contractors like GSE Dynamics Inc. and CPI Aerostructures Inc. in Edgewood, a maker of components used in fighter planes, and corporations like medical-device maker Henry Schein in Melville. 

“There are a lot of manufacturing companies trying and struggling to fill jobs,” said Anne Shybunko-Moore, owner and CEO of GSE based in Hauppauge.

Right now, the NYPA funding for the Melville institute's expanded program is generated by an interest in offshore wind, Shybunko-Moore said. “But let’s not just chase that one area. Let’s think about transferable skills.” 

Although manufacturing faced setbacks following its heyday during the Cold War, employment in the sector has stabilized and experienced some growth in recent years due in part to the region's growing pharmaceutical manufacturing sector, state labor economist Shital Patel said. 

An estimated 68,000 Long Islanders worked in manufacturing in 2024, and the local manufacturing sector is projected to add another 12,200 jobs between now and 2030, according to state Labor Department data.

But many local manufacturers worry the Island’s aging workforce, poised for retirement, will soon create a labor shortage. 

More than 35% of the Island's manufacturing workers were 55 or older in 2024, compared with 30.24% in 2014 and 20.4% in 2004, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

“Industries such as energy infrastructure and manufacturing continuously experience labor shortages,” said Rosalie Drago, vice president of external affairs and strategic engagement at Haugland Group, a Melville-based civil infrastructure and energy construction firm.

“The only way to ensure a consistent stream of talent is ongoing investment in building awareness about and providing hands-on exploration of the occupations in our field,” Drago said. Haugland partners with groups like the Institute for Workforce Advancement to find and support the next generation workforce, she said.

Given the expected growth in the renewable energy sector, planting seeds earlier is key, she said.

Employment in New York’s clean energy sector grew at more than twice the rate as the state’s overall economy between 2022 and 2023, according to the 2024 New York Clean Energy Report released in December. Clean energy added 7,700 jobs for a total of 178,000 at the end of 2023, an increase of nearly 5% compared with the state’s 2% overall job growth.

Statewide manufacturing jobs in the clean energy sector grew to 8,225 jobs in 2023 from 7,836 jobs in 2022, an increase of nearly 5%, according to the report.

Wind farm developers Orsted and Equinor estimated in 2023 that their offshore wind projects would create about 2,000 construction jobs and more than 550 permanent jobs on Long Island. 

The state currently has 130 megawatts of offshore wind powering Long Island’s grid, and is aiming for 9,000 megawatts of offshore wind by 2035. Currently, the state has the 12-turbine South Fork Wind farm, a LIPA-contracted facility off the eastern coast of Long Island. 

Haugland construction crews have been working for months on a 17.5-mile, land-based cable for the Sunrise Wind project, which is expected to go online in 2026 and will connect to Smith Point.

Shea McNeill-Peck, 18, of Levittown, had a compelling incentive to invest his future in the manufacturing and green energy sector.

Troubled at the prospect of being saddled with student debt, McNeill-Peck took the institute's manufacturing class in November while learning welding at Suffolk County Community College. In January, he completed a national certification course in composite materials.

Working with composites requires a deft hand and attention to detail, said McNeill-Peck, who hopes to become a wind turbine technician.

“They’ve helped me out a lot,” McNeill-Peck said. The institute "took my resume, and they sent it out to multiple different companies.”

For manufacturers reliant on composites, exposing young Long Islanders to local career opportunities, even briefly, is a step in the right direction, said John Smith, president of Cox & Company Inc.

"There are a lot of trade schools where you can go to learn the basics of plumbing or electrical work. That doesn’t really exist for a lot of manufacturing skills," said Smith, whose Plainview company manufactures ice protection systems for airline manufacturers and defense companies.

Without the needed workers, Long Island is "not going to achieve that renewable energy output level that we're hoping to pursue,” he said. 

Both Stony Brook University and Farmingdale State College offer degrees in clean energy. Suffolk County Community College's Advanced Manufacturing Training Center is one of the few training facilities locally that provides students with hands-on training.

Jeffrey Gonzalez, a science teacher at Westbury High School, said manufacturing programs are vital in exposing young people to potential career paths tied to science, technology, engineering, and math.

“Even though they may not be into aviation, exposure to the world allows your mind to grow,” he said. 

Gonzalez learned about the program through his work with Nassau Community College’s Science and Technology Entry Program (STEP), which aims to increase college enrollment among historically underrepresented students.

Many of the students in his after-school STEP class are English language learners who come from economically disadvantaged homes, he said.

“A lot of my students, they work,” he said. “They are trying to survive, and they also go to school.”

Like Solano, Westbury High School junior Gerard Elizalde Gonzalez, 16, took the institute's composites course. He had no prior inclinations to study manufacturing but said he now has some new paths to consider.

“It might be a possible career choice later on in the future,” he said.

Ashley Silva Solano, 17, wants to become a physician assistant, but the Westbury High School senior said she took a class last summer that has sparked her interest in manufacturing.

Over two days in August, Solano experimented with carbon fiber sheets, resin and vacuum sealers to form composites — materials that become stronger than their individual components when combined — and are crucial in aerospace, automotive, defense and medical industries. 

Solano is one of more than 250 students who took an introductory course in composite manufacturing and its role in aviation that was offered by the Institute for Workforce Advancement, a Melville-based nonprofit. The class was taught by instructors from Vaughn College in Queens, known for its aviation programs.

Solano, who earned a free college credit after finishing the class, said she was "grateful" for the opportunity because of her family's financial constraints. “I come from a low-income family so it would be hard to ask my parents to pay for me," she said. 

WHAT NEWSDAY FOUND

  • NYPA awarded $975,000 to the Institute for Workforce Advancement to grow interest in green manufacturing among Long Island students.
  • Over 35% of all manufacturing workers on the Island were 55 or older in 2024, a higher percentage than in 2014 and 2004.
  • Green energy jobs in New York State grew at a faster pace — 5% — than the state’s overall economy did between 2022 and 2023.

Fueled by a growing concern about an older workforce likely to retire over the next decade, potentially creating a labor shortage, and the need to fill jobs in the green energy sector, the institute said it seeks to bridge the gap by partnering with high schools and colleges across Long Island and Queens to introduce students to careers in manufacturing and build a talent pipeline to meet labor demands. 

Last month, the institute received a $975,000 grant from the New York Power Authority, which will help it expand the program to include career options in green manufacturing as the Island’s offshore wind industry and drone technology grows, director Phil Rugile said.

The grant will allow the nonprofit to tweak the program "so it includes renewable energy and offshore wind, and really utilize manufacturing with composites to engage a much larger audience," Rugile said.

Intersection with green energy

Many of the components used in the region's nascent offshore wind industry, such as the blades on wind turbines, are made from composites, creating the need for a workforce knowledgeable in manufacturing and repairing composites, Rugile said. 

The state's Climate Act requires New York to reduce emissions 40% by 2030 by increasing renewable energy use while making sure communities equitably benefit from clean energy projects.

Phil Rugile, executive director at the Institute for Workforce Advancement...

Phil Rugile, executive director at the Institute for Workforce Advancement in Melville, at a composite technician certification course at the Suffolk County Community College on Jan. 17. Credit: Newsday/Alejandra Villa Loarca

The NYPA grant, Rugile said, will allow the institute to expand the course to five days a week and include a workforce readiness component, providing soft skills training and resume reviews. The class will be offered to  up to 220 students over the next two years, he added.

The grant is funded by the state Power Authority's annual $25 million budget, said Sandra Bleckman, NYPA's workforce development project director. It helps ensure that disadvantaged communities around the state, including majority-minority communities, can benefit equally from New York’s efforts to grow its renewable energy sector, Bleckman added.

In its draft strategic plan released in October, NYPA proposed 40 renewable energy projects statewide, including battery storage systems, dozens of solar panel projects and a wind energy project.

“These projects give them the opportunity to grow and build and work in their own community as opposed to bringing in people from other communities,” Bleckman said. 

'Struggling to fill jobs'

Manufacturers on the Island say introducing students to modern manufacturing processes earlier in their schooling is imperative to meet labor demands. 

“We are building the pipeline of the future,” said NYPA's Bleckman. “When we start educating young adults on what is possible, what careers exist … those things spark ideas.” 

Domenic Proscia, vice president of training at Vaughn, said students will learn skills such as computer-assisted design. 

“The kids that come to these classes, they’re bright,” he said. “They are absorbing this and it’s really cool to see."

Industry observers say that for decades, the misconception of manufacturing as a dirty job with limited career growth has hurt efforts to recruit the Island’s youth. More often than not, they say, manufacturing jobs are found in high-tech facilities and can offer good wages and advancement without the need for a college degree. 

Jobs in manufacturing paid an average of $79,764 in 2024, according to state Labor Department data.

Some of the Island's big manufacturers include defense contractors like GSE Dynamics Inc. and CPI Aerostructures Inc. in Edgewood, a maker of components used in fighter planes, and corporations like medical-device maker Henry Schein in Melville. 

“There are a lot of manufacturing companies trying and struggling to fill jobs,” said Anne Shybunko-Moore, owner and CEO of GSE based in Hauppauge.

Right now, the NYPA funding for the Melville institute's expanded program is generated by an interest in offshore wind, Shybunko-Moore said. “But let’s not just chase that one area. Let’s think about transferable skills.” 

Building a talent pipeline

Although manufacturing faced setbacks following its heyday during the Cold War, employment in the sector has stabilized and experienced some growth in recent years due in part to the region's growing pharmaceutical manufacturing sector, state labor economist Shital Patel said. 

An estimated 68,000 Long Islanders worked in manufacturing in 2024, and the local manufacturing sector is projected to add another 12,200 jobs between now and 2030, according to state Labor Department data.

But many local manufacturers worry the Island’s aging workforce, poised for retirement, will soon create a labor shortage. 

More than 35% of the Island's manufacturing workers were 55 or older in 2024, compared with 30.24% in 2014 and 20.4% in 2004, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

“Industries such as energy infrastructure and manufacturing continuously experience labor shortages,” said Rosalie Drago, vice president of external affairs and strategic engagement at Haugland Group, a Melville-based civil infrastructure and energy construction firm.

“The only way to ensure a consistent stream of talent is ongoing investment in building awareness about and providing hands-on exploration of the occupations in our field,” Drago said. Haugland partners with groups like the Institute for Workforce Advancement to find and support the next generation workforce, she said.

Given the expected growth in the renewable energy sector, planting seeds earlier is key, she said.

Employment in New York’s clean energy sector grew at more than twice the rate as the state’s overall economy between 2022 and 2023, according to the 2024 New York Clean Energy Report released in December. Clean energy added 7,700 jobs for a total of 178,000 at the end of 2023, an increase of nearly 5% compared with the state’s 2% overall job growth.

Statewide manufacturing jobs in the clean energy sector grew to 8,225 jobs in 2023 from 7,836 jobs in 2022, an increase of nearly 5%, according to the report.

Wind farm developers Orsted and Equinor estimated in 2023 that their offshore wind projects would create about 2,000 construction jobs and more than 550 permanent jobs on Long Island. 

The state currently has 130 megawatts of offshore wind powering Long Island’s grid, and is aiming for 9,000 megawatts of offshore wind by 2035. Currently, the state has the 12-turbine South Fork Wind farm, a LIPA-contracted facility off the eastern coast of Long Island. 

Haugland construction crews have been working for months on a 17.5-mile, land-based cable for the Sunrise Wind project, which is expected to go online in 2026 and will connect to Smith Point.

Exploring a 'possible career'

Shea McNeill-Peck, 18, of Levittown, had a compelling incentive to invest his future in the manufacturing and green energy sector.

Troubled at the prospect of being saddled with student debt, McNeill-Peck took the institute's manufacturing class in November while learning welding at Suffolk County Community College. In January, he completed a national certification course in composite materials.

Working with composites requires a deft hand and attention to detail, said McNeill-Peck, who hopes to become a wind turbine technician.

“They’ve helped me out a lot,” McNeill-Peck said. The institute "took my resume, and they sent it out to multiple different companies.”

For manufacturers reliant on composites, exposing young Long Islanders to local career opportunities, even briefly, is a step in the right direction, said John Smith, president of Cox & Company Inc.

"There are a lot of trade schools where you can go to learn the basics of plumbing or electrical work. That doesn’t really exist for a lot of manufacturing skills," said Smith, whose Plainview company manufactures ice protection systems for airline manufacturers and defense companies.

Without the needed workers, Long Island is "not going to achieve that renewable energy output level that we're hoping to pursue,” he said. 

Both Stony Brook University and Farmingdale State College offer degrees in clean energy. Suffolk County Community College's Advanced Manufacturing Training Center is one of the few training facilities locally that provides students with hands-on training.

Jeffrey Gonzalez, a science teacher at Westbury High School, with...

Jeffrey Gonzalez, a science teacher at Westbury High School, with Ashley Silva Solano. Credit: Barry Sloan

Jeffrey Gonzalez, a science teacher at Westbury High School, said manufacturing programs are vital in exposing young people to potential career paths tied to science, technology, engineering, and math.

“Even though they may not be into aviation, exposure to the world allows your mind to grow,” he said. 

Gonzalez learned about the program through his work with Nassau Community College’s Science and Technology Entry Program (STEP), which aims to increase college enrollment among historically underrepresented students.

Many of the students in his after-school STEP class are English language learners who come from economically disadvantaged homes, he said.

“A lot of my students, they work,” he said. “They are trying to survive, and they also go to school.”

Like Solano, Westbury High School junior Gerard Elizalde Gonzalez, 16, took the institute's composites course. He had no prior inclinations to study manufacturing but said he now has some new paths to consider.

“It might be a possible career choice later on in the future,” he said.

Get the latest news and more great videos at NewsdayTV Credit: Newsday

Snowy mix hits region ... What's the future of NUMC? ... LI Swifties ready for the big game ... Chow down in Charleston ... What's up on Long Island

Get the latest news and more great videos at NewsdayTV Credit: Newsday

Snowy mix hits region ... What's the future of NUMC? ... LI Swifties ready for the big game ... Chow down in Charleston ... What's up on Long Island

SUBSCRIBE

Unlimited Digital AccessOnly 25¢for 6 months

ACT NOWSALE ENDS SOON | CANCEL ANYTIME