The Oct. 23 Massachusetts workforce training grants include awards to Hardigg Industries and DESCO Medical in the Franklin-Hampshire workforce region. Both will train existing workers and project additional jobs by 2028.
For Franklin County, the next question is whether training connects to better-paid work without requiring people to abandon their local communities. Employers and educators should measure the answer after a course ends.
Consider a short supervised project that asks a trainee to interpret a work order, check a digital summary against source records, identify an error, and explain the next step to a supervisor. Pay people for the assignment. Provide an alternative schedule for those who cannot attend a full-day course. Record whether the worker can repeat the task reliably after three months.
The state’s small-business Express Program already offers thousands of approved courses. A short, public scorecard on skills demonstrated, wages, and advancement would help Franklin County employers choose training that makes a measurable difference.
Gleb Tsipursky
Columbus, Ohio