1 Year Later, Warehouse Hums As Trade Skills Hub

In a Fair Haven warehouse, Paul Nunez watched closely as his student drilled a hole into a soon-to-be light fixture — reminding Nunez that less than a month ago, he was the one learning those same manufacturing skills on the same machine at the Manufacturing and Community Technical Hub (MATCH).

Nearly a full year since its kickoff, when city and state officials descended upon what was then an empty warehouse to celebrate the new program, MATCH has grown its programming aimed at providing paid, hands-on training and experience to local adults looking to enter manufacturing pathways.

The Independent visited MATCH’s industrial home in Fair Haven on Monday morning to catch up with the latest with the program. U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal was also there, checking out the community hub to take note of ways to replicate the program throughout the state.

While last September MATCH’s long-vacant building at 20 Mill St. was machineless, it has since acquired several drilling and milling machines with more on the way. That’s according to MATCH board member Lindy Lee Gold, who is helping the program to acquire more equipment from a community college that decided it will not make use of its already-purchased manufacturing machines. 

Just a few months ago, Nunez said, ​“I was looking for a path to go down” after only being able to do maintenance work due to his education in Puerto Rico not transferring over to New Haven. He spent nine years living in New Haven and doing maintenance work. Finally, he decided to pursue his General Education Diploma (GED).

He then began the MATCH program on June 16 to chase a new dream toward manufacturing and get paid while training. He graduated from MATCH’s manufacturing program last week with ​“gold star achievement,” meaning he passed all of his assessments for the program with perfect scores. That’s also when he was hired as an instructor.

Nunez teaches students like Mike Chaves, a current MATCH student who was referred to the program from the prison recenter nonprofit EMERGE. Chaves said MATCH provides him with paid hands-on training, which he appreciates because ​“hands on is the best way to learn, for me anyway.”

While Nunez worked on Monday morning with students practicing their milling, tapping, and drilling, assistant instructor Robert Wards taught small group lessons on measurements by having students lay out pillars, hammers, and screw drivers and showing him what they’ve learned from computer modules about safety and proper use of tools.

On one warehouse wall was the month’s schedule for each day’s lesson with focuses like blueprint reading, fasteners, shop organization, and machine maintenance. 

Also supporting student learning Monday was master instructor Eduardo Melendez of Penn Globe, who also taught all the current instructors who were once students. 

Melendez got into manufacturing work with Penn Globe 26 years ago and said he wishes he had access to today’s MATCH decades ago. Melendez recalled graduating from Wilbur Cross in 1998 and learning quickly after enrolling in college that he did not want to pursue university. He then worked in laundromats and grocery stores until he learned about manufacturing from his father and uncle who later helped him secure the job at Penn Globe. 

He said students like himself, despite not wanting to go to college, ​“have the potential” and just need opportunities like what MATCH is offering to succeed. ​“I think this is the only program that you can come here, learn, and while you’re learning, you’re getting paid also,” he said. 

MATCH’s current manufacturing cohort includes 10 students. The group splits during the day to the first or second floor to complete computer units focused on manufacturing basics and safety, and then have hands-on practice with the first-floor machinery. 

Students milled ​“1 – 2‑3 blocks” to practice their measurements and drilling skills. Next they worked with aluminum casts to practice drilling and tapping. Nunez guided the students through the process Monday morning. 

During daily lessons, MATCH students also learn from Melendez skills like packaging the products they make and then delivering the materials safely. 

MATCH hopes to next work with public comprehensive high schools Wilbur Cross and Hillhouse to develop the school district’s manufacturing pathway for students. Melendez said he plans for New Haven students to visit MATCH to learn in the afternoons and for MATCH cohorts to work in the mornings. 

“This gives them a choice, and not only go four years in college then find out ​‘I don’t like this.’ They can try this stuff here, and if they like it they can pursue it and if not, in the meantime, they get a little bit of money and skills,” Melendez said. 

He added that the skills students learn from MATCH’s manufacturing program can translate well to their personal life with home improvements or car maintenance. ​“All these skills that we teach here are not only for work,” he concluded. 

MATCH board chair Marcia LaFemina and board member Lindy Lee Gold told Blumenthal that MATCH is the place of ​“manufacturers teaching manufacturers.”

Gold added that MATCH hopes to buy its current warehouse building to avoid allowing further gentrification to reach Fair Haven. MATCH partners with local organizations like IRIS, Junta For Progressive Action, and EMERGE to recruit students for its paid training program. ​“We’re trying very hard to stay here,” Gold said. 

By June 2025, MATCH is expected to have trained 123 people for manufacturing jobs, LaFemina told Blumenthal. 

Blumenthal met administrative assistant Shirell Bolden and human resources trainee Sitara Ahmadi on the second floor. Bolden told him about how the nonprofit’s flexibility with work hours allows her to work from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. This gives her the chance to bring her children to school before work or the bus stop and pick them up at dismissal. Ahmadi shared that she’s enjoyed the chance to dive into paid human resource work as a recent refugee from Afghanistan.

“You guys are really important because we desperately need more people to do manufacturing,” Blumenthal told the group of students. 

When asked about his takeaways, Blumenthal said, ​“I visit training centers like this because there’s a desperate need in our state for more skilled workers. We need to invest more in people.”

He said one of the most common requests he hears from employers of small and large businesses around the state is that they need more trained workers. He described MATCH as an inspiring and great model for the state and country. 

“I’m going to take this picture back with me to Washington D.C. and say, ​‘We need to invest in exactly this kind of hands-on program that creates mobility,’ ” he added. 

In addition to bringing economic growth, Blumenthal concluded, ​“we have a lot of young people and maybe older as well who are really looking for work and could become discouraged by the skill requirements for particular jobs when they don’t have those kinds of skills. It’s just creating a sense of hope for people.”