Community colleges to bolster manufacturing

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP) - Three Connecticut community colleges have been selected for new programs to boost high-tech manufacturing training, an area in which employers expect to need many new workers in the coming decades.

The Connecticut Board of Regents for Higher Education says it's creating manufacturing centers at Housatonic  in Bridgeport, Naugatuck Valley in Waterbury and Quinebaug Valley in Danielson.

They were picked based on their ability to establish or expand manufacturing technology programs, including those in which students are taught high-tech precision skills.

The centers are being created as part of a legislative bill passed last year to bolster Connecticut's job market.

The idea was spurred by the success of a manufacturing center at Enfield's Asnuntuck Community College, where more than 1,000 graduates have taken their new skills into the workforce.