Governor’s office presents citation award

When workers find career success, their families benefit as well

On August 3, 2018, a Maryland Governor’s Citation was awarded to the Jane Addams Resource Corporation (JARC) Baltimore, recognizing the nonprofit’s work providing free manufacturing and construction job training and financial support services to ensure that people who work do not live in poverty. More specifically, the citation recognizes JARC Baltimore’s free vocational training in welding and computer numerical control machining. These efforts are important to expanding the local workforce that supports the manufacturing, construction and offshore wind energy industries.

The Governor’s Citation was presented to the staff of JARC Baltimore during a site visit with the Maryland Energy Administration (MEA) and the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation (DLLR) at the nonprofit’s technical training center in the Park Heights neighborhood. The award was presented by MEA Director Mary Beth Tung and DLLR Secretary Kelly Schultz.

In 2017, JARC Baltimore received a $200,000 Offshore Wind Workforce Development grant managed by the MEA to “ensure Maryland has a ready and able workforce capable of contributing to the construction, installation, and operations and maintenance of an offshore wind energy project,” in official statement from the MEA.

Through its welding training program, with support from the MEA, JARC Baltimore teaches unemployed and underemployed adults the skills they need to earn a living wage via offshore wind energy jobs in the greater Baltimore area. In the last year alone, JARC Baltimore trained 33 welders. Program graduates received an average starting wage of $16.88 an hour, some working with local manufacturers and construction companies committed to the offshore wind industry including Strum Contracting Company (SCC) and Maritime Applied Physics Corporation (MAPC).

“Our mission is to provide opportunity for those who are disenfranchised and lacking skills, education and opportunity,” said Guy Loudon, President of JARC Baltimore and the Jane Addams Resource Corporation in Chicago. “We are grateful that the state of Maryland can offer resources when it comes to new or expanding business for the offshore wind industry.”

“This support from MEA allows us to train qualified adults with barriers to employment in welding, and give them enough credentialing and technical skills to participate in the global offshore wind industry,” said Elaine Carroll, Site Director at JARC Baltimore. “These efforts have multi-generational impact because when workers find career and life success, their families benefit as well.”

Carroll added, “Thank you to the Governor's Office for this incredible honor. We could not be more proud of our team and the impact they've made in Baltimore and beyond.”