The bipartisan legislative Manufacturing Caucus will hold its first meeting at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday in Paterson, it announced recently.
The meeting, in the Rogers Meeting Center, 32 Spruce St., will include presentations on the challenges and opportunities facing New Jersey’s manufacturing industry.
Speakers will include:
- Donald Sebastian, CEO and president, New Jersey Innovation Institute at New Jersey Institute of Technology;
- John Kennedy, CEO, New Jersey Manufacturing Extension Program;
- Judy Savage, executive director, New Jersey Council of County Vocational-Technical Schools;
- And others.
“It’s appropriate to launch our bipartisan initiative to strengthen and expand New Jersey manufacturing in Paterson, the birthplace of American manufacturing,” state Sen. Bob Gordon (D-Fair Lawn), the chair of the caucus, said in a prepared statement. “We need to expand public-private partnerships between manufacturers and our vocational-technical schools and colleges, examine our business incentive programs to make sure they meet the needs of increasingly high-tech manufacturers and address the ongoing shortage of middle-skilled workers by developing the vocational-technical education bond issue that Senate President Steve Sweeney has championed.
“Manufacturing is critical to our economic future, and we need to capitalize on every opportunity.”
