The following excerpt was taken from Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks during the State of the County Address on May 23rd, 2012. Brooks acknowledged the commitment both RocAFC and Mahany Welding Supply share in training skilled workers:
Until every local resident looking for a job can find one, and until every local employer looking for a skilled worker can hire one, more work needs to be done.
That’s why Monroe County has decided to expand our existing Monroe Manufactures Jobs Program, to include a renewed and strategic focus on one of the true growth industries in our community, and all across the nation – precision welding.
As Mike Krupnicki, owner of Mahany Welding Supply will tell you, skilled welders are currently in short supply in our area. To address this challenge, Mahany recently expanded its facility with a 5,000 square foot addition to create the groundbreaking Rochester Arc and Flame Center. The Center is a new training facility dedicated solely to teaching classes in welding, blacksmithing, and glass blowing. It’s the only of its kind in our region and one of the first in the State. Best of all, the Rochester Arc and Flame Center is a private-sector answer to a public employment challenge.
To further enhance the Center’s reach and effectiveness, Monroe County will be forging a new partnership with Mahany Welding to expand our Monroe Manufactures Jobs program.
The program was designed to connect students of MCC’s Precision Machining, Optical Fabrication, and AAS Precision Machining programs with local companies. Monroe County’s new welding-targeted expansion will do essentially the same, instead using the Rochester Arc and Flame Center as the education source, while encouraging local employers to hire its highly skilled graduates. To incentivize the process, both the hiree and the manufacturer will receive a bonus if the employee remains employed at the company for a full year.
Monroe isn’t just manufacturing jobs. Together with strong private partners like Mahany Welding, we are manufacturing a workforce that will prove essential to our future success. Please join me in recognizing and thanking Mahany owner and President of Rochester Arc and Flame, Mike Krupnicki, for his company’s dedication to this exciting new endeavor.