workforce development – A $50 million workforce investment tied to a federal settlement is funding prison preapprenticeships and early education certificates—revealing both the promise and the political tensions around vocational training in the U.S.
CRANSTON, R.I. — Before he returned to custody three years ago for selling drugs, Joe had worked on and off in construction, doing small jobs at home and leaning on the support of his youngest daughter.
When prison leaders offered him a construction preapprenticeship earlier this year, he joined without hesitation. “I always liked working with my hands,” he said, adding that his daughter wanted to help too.
That training has become a rare kind of bridge: a route from jail toward an apprenticeship and. eventually. a family-sustaining job.. But the classroom side of the program surprised him.. “We’re doing things I haven’t done in 30 years, like fractions,” he said.. “It takes a while for it to kick back in.”
His program is run by the Rhode Island nonprofit Building Futures. one of the first beneficiaries of a $50 million investment in local workforce development that Brown University committed to make over the next decade.. The money is tied to a July settlement reached with the Trump administration—one that resolved multiple federal reviews into Brown’s compliance with antidiscrimination law and restored the university’s access to federal funding.
The political framing around “workforce” and “college” is never far away in Washington. and Misryoum readers can see that tension play out in Rhode Island.. President Trump has repeatedly contrasted what he calls the ideological and financial barriers of elite colleges with the practical promise of job training.. Yet critics argue that the administration’s support for vocational education can look selective—and that federal cuts to workforce programs at other points have complicated the picture.
For Joe, the results are concrete rather than ideological.. In the program, he is learning the basics that can translate to work outside the prison walls.. At Building Futures, participants build toward apprenticeship readiness through structured instruction and hands-on tasks.. On a recent weekday. program participants were working through final assessments—hammering. drilling. sawing. and fitting drywall and piping onto frames.. The shop’s noise was deafening, a reminder that technical skills are not learned quietly.
“They call it like our SAT,” said Ian Chase, Building Futures’ chief program officer. “Only instead of measuring college readiness, it’s measuring apprenticeship readiness.”
That distinction matters because it reframes what counts as educational progress.. Joe and others are not being measured for a four-year outcome; they are being prepared for labor-market entry.. And in a city like Providence—where poverty rates are high and incarceration rates remain among the state’s steepest—workforce pathways can determine whether a person returns to the same cycle or finds a different one.
Building Futures did not grow by accident.. Its president. Andrew Cortes. helped create the program model nearly two decades ago in response to two pressures: a shortage of skilled construction workers and persistent unemployment in poorer neighborhoods.. The nonprofit also built relationships with major employers. including Brown. to secure commitments that portions of construction work would be filled by graduates.
Brown’s deal with the workforce organizations is being delivered in a structured way.. Misryoum understands that Building Futures will split $3 million with the Community College of Rhode Island for the first phase of the grant.. CCRI will use its share to expand early educator training. while Building Futures will keep prison preapprenticeships running and also support a “contractor incentive program” that subsidizes contractors who hire new apprentices.. Future grant rounds will be competitive. but in the first round. only these two proven providers were invited to submit proposals.
The prison-centered component is one of the most visible parts of the investment.. Lieutenant Brian Carvalho. who oversees the Building Futures program at a state minimum-security facility. described how participants often begin with gaps far beyond trade basics.. “Most prisoners don’t even know how to read a ruler when they start,” he said.. By the end of a 120-hour program. participants are expected to have enough foundational skills to move into Building Futures’ five-week preapprenticeship when they are released. with the goal of entering a union apprenticeship next.
Misryoum’s reporting lens here is human and practical: skills matter because they change what happens after release.. Carvalho argued that when people struggle to find jobs due to limited education or training, the odds of reoffending increase.. Job training, in this view, is not just employment policy—it becomes a neighborhood safety strategy.
The $50 million commitment is also tied to a larger controversy about how workforce money is moving across institutions—and which colleges count as “the problem.” Trump’s administration has praised apprenticeships and trade-focused training during the campaign and in policy messaging. including an executive order promising to redirect federal funds toward in-demand skilled trades.. At the same time. other proposals have sought to reduce workforce spending for community and technical colleges—institutions that educate many working-class students.
A particularly important example is the administration’s earlier effort to cut colleges out of the Carl D.. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act program.. Under that program. states direct funds to high schools and colleges as they choose. and postsecondary spending—often at community colleges—has been a substantial share.. The administration has also floated changes that would reduce support for adult education and for programs intended to train workers in high-demand industries.
Even so, Misryoum’s story from Rhode Island suggests the political debate does not erase immediate classroom impact.. For example. in a preschool room outside Providence on a March day. teacher Poonam Katoch was being observed while reading “Caps for Sale” to children.. She is finishing a 24-credit certificate in early childhood education through the Community College of Rhode Island.
Katoch’s program is part of the workforce effort tied to Brown’s grant.. Early childhood educators are in short supply, and turnover is high, making hiring difficult.. “Certificate programs like CCRI’s help staff stay committed,” said the academy’s director.. The grant is expected to expand training for new educators over the next three years—support that can help with pay raises and retention.
That ripple effect is also an economic one.. Child care availability shapes whether parents can work, and educator staffing shapes whether child care centers can operate reliably.. “If folks don’t have child care. they can’t go to work. ” CCRI leadership said. translating workforce training into everyday life.
The settlement itself contains another layer of complexity.. Brown’s approach is described as grants to workforce organizations rather than direct payments to the federal government. even as the deal reinstated Brown’s access to federal funds after compliance reviews.. University officials said the agreement reflected both parties’ priorities and was not based on a finding of fault. while federal agencies that signed the agreement did not respond to requests for comment.
Ultimately, the Brown University funding is both a policy signal and a classroom reality. For Joe, the math lessons and workshop practice are stepping stones toward an apprenticeship. For Katoch and other early educators, certificates are a pathway to stability in a field under pressure.
Misryoum sees the broader question now hovering over Rhode Island’s programs: will the next wave of workforce funding sustain these pathways—or will political competition keep job training dollars uneven?. Brown has already begun reviewing applications for a second installment of grants as part of its broader $50 million commitment. but the future of workforce development in the U.S.. remains tied to shifting federal priorities.
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