Connecticut is weeks away from a workforce funding cliff that will be felt across the Capital Workforce Partners region and throughout the state. On July 1, 2026, expiring federal investments, namely Career ConneCT, the Good Jobs Partnership, and H-1B workforce grants, combined with other reduc ed workforce funding will force a dismantling of employment and training services, adversely impacting vulnerable residents as well as the businesses and industries that rely on Workforce Development Boards and their partners to coordinate these systems. The negative impact of federal reductions is already unfolding across Connecticut’s workforce system. Workforce investments are essential economic infrastructure and a foundational human need, connecting people to income, stability, and dignity. Yet even as the state moves to protect other basic human needs, workforce development has not been treated with the same urgency, despite being the primary pathway to long-term self-sufficiency. After the pandemic, federal workforce investments gave Connecticut the tools to respond decisively to labor-market disruption. Employers faced acute worker shortages. Residents needed rapid access to training. Entire sectors needed to rebuild talent pipelines. The workforce system delivered. The results were clear. Connecticut’s $70 million Career ConneCT is recognized as a national best practice, training more than 7,000 residents with a 90% completion rate and over 70% job placement with sustained wage gains. From 2022 to 2024, the workforce system served more than 30% more residents, even as employer demand remained strong, with more than 85,000 job postings statewide in high-demand sectors. Those investments were driven by crisis, but revealed what had long been true: Connecticut’s workforce system was undercapitalized relative to the scale of the challenge. The expanded capacity with increased coordination and collaboration that followed should not be viewed as a temporary surge, but as a necessary reset. By July 1, 2026, when about $100-million in federal workforce funds expire, and federal Workplace Innovation Opportunity Act (WIOA) funding continues to decline, training availability and employment supports will be dismantled statewide. To understand what is at stake, consider Jeanette’s story. After more than a decade working in medical records at a state mental health facility, she left the workforce to care for her children after a high-risk pregnancy and the birth of premature twins. When ready to return to work, she needed a new path. Through Capital Workforce Partner’s Career ConneCT, Jeanette enrolled in Certified Driver License training and secured immediate employment as a truck driver. Her return strengthened the high-demand sector, stabilized her household, and reduced reliance on public supports. This is the return workforce investments deliver, not only for individuals and families, but for high-growth business sectors that depend on a steady, skilled talent pipeline. As these federal funds expire, those same industries now face the consequences of a less robust workforce system and a diminished talent pool to support their growth and competitiveness. Jeanette’s success was not accidental. It was made possible by a workforce system intentionally aligned to employer demand and supported by navigation and wraparound services. That integrated approach is now at risk. Federal investments also catalyzed Regional Sector Partnerships across Connecticut, with employers deepening their engagement as co-designers of training, aligning curricula and credentials to real-time labor market needs. Workforce Development Boards, such as CWP, have served as the backbone of this work, convening and coordinating employers, education partners, and community organizations around aligning training pipelines to real employment outcomes. These partnerships are operating infrastructure. In healthcare, manufacturing, transportation, logistics, and technology, they deliver results. But the federal funding that launched them is expiring. Without timely state investment, this progress will be scaled back just as it is taking hold. Demand for workforce services is rising even as capacity declines. Dislocated workers and new SNAP work requirements require additional responses from the system. This is the reality Connecticut faces by July 1, 2026, if no action is taken: training cohorts will shrink, wait times will grow, employers will lose coordinated support, and residents facing the greatest barriers will lose viable pathways back to work. This is a moment that calls for leadership and urgency. Connecticut has shown it can act to protect basic human needs. Workforce development must now be treated with the same urgency. Employment and training are the engine of economic growth and competitiveness. State investments must move decisively to further invest to restore workforce development program staffing; scale sector-based trainings modeled by Career ConneCT; strengthen regional sector partnerships; expand work-based learning and subsidized employment. At the same time, continued federal workforce funding remains critical, and Connecticut must keep pursuing strong federal-state partnerships. When paired with clear state leadership and effective regional systems, these investments have consistently delivered results. Connecticut’s workforce system has delivered results. The state has the experience and capacity to act. Alex Johnson is President CEO, Capital Workforce Partners; Chris DiPentima is President CEO, Connecticut Business Industry Association; David Griggs is President CEO, MetroHartford Alliance; and Matt Hart is Executive Director of the Capitol Region Council of Governments. ...read more read less