Eos Energy Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ: EOSE) ("Eos" or the “Company”), a leading provider of safe, scalable, efficient, and sustainable zinc-based long duration energy storage systems, today announced a joint commitment with Partner4Work, the workforce development organization for Allegheny County and the City of Pittsburgh, to establish a $500,000 training program to upskill the current and future workforce for Eos’ evolving manufacturing facility in the Mon Valley. This initial investment, leveraging federal grant awards including Build Back Better and Department of Labor Green Infrastructure, reflects a true public-private partnership, blending funding and investing it in workers, communities, and regional jobseekers.
“The opportunity presented by Eos’ growth in the Mon Valley is extraordinary and Eos understands the needs to be matched with innovation and upskilling its workforce,” said Roma Desai, Chief People Officer for Eos. “This partnership would give us the tools and knowledge to connect with local communities to provide career growth and development particularly in the STEAM education area.”
The program is designed to provide a framework that aims to enhance the existing programs at Eos as well as to develop new programs to fill gaps in Western Pennsylvania workforce development capabilities. The program will leverage the public workforce system to support incumbent workers, build a strong pipeline of candidates who reflect communities around the Eos facility, and grow local opportunities for clean energy careers for young adults in the region.
“What’s so exciting about our partnership and this innovative framework is that we are matching the journey of individual employees with the journey of the company,” said Edgar Largaespada, Director of Strategy at Partner4Work.
“Smart public-private partnerships like this – coupled with strategic investments in one of our region’s chief assets, its people – are creating the conditions that allow companies like Eos to thrive in southwestern Pennsylvania,” said Matt Smith, Allegheny Conference on Community Development Chief Growth Officer. “One of the region’s communities with a deep manufacturing legacy, pride and expertise, the Mon Valley is being positioned to become an international leader in clean energy innovation and manufacturing and to stand out as a model for equitable, inclusive workforce development.”
Eos and Partner4Work expect initial efforts to include training to upskill existing workers to become proficient in operating advanced machinery and robotics for Eos’ first state-of-the art manufacturing line.