Governor Kathy Hochul today announced that the Capital Region, Finger Lakes and Mohawk Valley have been selected to advance to the planning stage of the $200 million One Network for Regional Advanced Manufacturing Partnerships (ON-RAMP) program. The regions join Central New York, in which Syracuse was established as the program’s flagship location, and will create a network of high-impact workforce development centers to connect New Yorkers with careers in dynamic, high-growth advanced manufacturing industries. These workforce centers will equip New Yorkers with the skills they need and create an “on-ramp” to training, internships, apprenticeships and permanent employment and capitalize on the State’s success in attracting and expanding advanced manufacturing companies such as Micron and GlobalFoundries.
“Too many communities in Upstate New York have been left out and left behind for generations – and I’m fighting to bring them back,” Governor Hochul said. “These new ON-RAMP centers will be critical parts of the new I-90 advanced manufacturing corridor, giving New Yorkers the skills and training necessary for a good-paying job. New Yorkers are already seeing the benefits of our economic development strategy: good-paying jobs, revitalized communities and more money in their pockets.”
First proposed in Governor Hochul’s 2024 State of the State, ON-RAMP, which is managed by Empire State Development, was included in the FY25 Enacted Budget with the goal of establishing four new advanced manufacturing workforce development centers. The three regions announced today will receive up to $300,000 in planning grants to develop detailed road maps to establish the new ON-RAMP centers. Upon completion of a business plan, each center will receive up to $40 million in implementation funding.
Training provided through ON-RAMP will be based on the highly successful model developed by the Northland Workforce Development Training Center located in Buffalo. Northland employs a model that is designed to reduce all the major barriers that prohibit students from enrolling and completing post secondary education such as transportation, childcare, academic readiness and affordability. These three centers will combine industry, academia, social services, organized labor and community organizations to provide high quality, in-demand training and the wraparound support necessary to remove these common barriers and empower more New Yorkers with the skills needed for careers in high growth advanced manufacturing industries. Each designee will spend the coming months in a planning phase where they will undertake a comprehensive community and stakeholder engagement process to develop a detailed blueprint for each center.
