NY gives Farmingdale State College $790G for clean energy training
Farmingdale State College will receive nearly $800,000 in state funding to train workers in emerging clean-energy jobs such as natural gas and zero-emission vehicles, Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Tuesday.
The $790,000 in funding to Farmingdale is part of a $6 million distribution to 10 SUNY campuses to support the creation of 10,000 jobs in the clean-energy economy.
An additional $9 million in grants will be awarded through a request for proposal in the coming months and is available to all 64 SUNY schools to provide apprenticeships, internships and educational programs across the state.
Hochul said Long Island was at the epicenter of state's clean-energy initiatives as it continued to recover from superstorm Sandy nearly six years ago and developed research to help prevent climate change.
"We believe in building resiliency and getting it back right and making it stronger than before," Hochul said during a speech Tuesday at Farmingdale. "But also harnessing new forms of energy to make sure we protect our environment better than our predecessors have in the past."
The funds, approved in New York's 2018 budget, are part of Climate Jobs NY, a component of the state's Clean Climate Careers initiative.
Farmingdale will use the funds to develop new certificate programs in its Renewable Energy and Sustainability Center, which is focused on workforce training in clean energy and smart-grid technologies, said John Nader, college president.
The university, he said, will partner with private and public industry to develop programs in such fields as natural gas, renewable energy sources like wind, and hybrid vehicles.
"These are all workforce development programs that will create jobs here on Long Island," Nader said.
SUNY Chancellor Kristina Johnson said the funds would give students "hands-on learning experiences" in vital clean-energy fields.
"Today's awards will enable SUNY to provide the most up-to-date clean-energy education and training to our students," Johnson said. "It will give us the resources to create internships, the apprenticeships and programs across the state."
The only other Long Island school to receive funding through the program was Nassau Community College, which got $234,000 to expand its URGENT program that offers certificate-level courses to women so they can obtain work in the public utilities industry. The funding, school officials said, will allow NCC to expand the training to youth and veterans.
Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.
