BRAINERD, MN – Two staff members from Consolidated Telephone Company (CTC) attended the Talent Pipeline Challenge Expo at The White House in Washington D.C. on Wednesday, November 2, 2022.

Kristi Westbrock, CEO/General Manager and Jeremy Przybilla, Member Services Technician from CTC joined the Communications Workers of America (CWA) to share information about jobs in the broadband industry and to demonstrate how fiber strands are properly handled, spliced, and tested.

The Talent Pipeline was introduced by the Biden-Harris Administration in mid-June and is a nationwide call to action for employers, education/training providers, and other entities to support workforce development in critical infrastructure sectors like broadband. The Expo highlighted the careers that will be impacted and created because of the federal government’s $65 billion investment in broadband via the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that was signed into law in November 2021.

The funding will support the build-out of critical broadband infrastructure and offer programs to make internet access more affordable for families. These activities will also create thousands of new jobs in the broadband industry.

As part of this effort, NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association announced a new partnership with CWA, Northwood Technical College (based in northern Wisconsin), and the National Rural Education Association to create training, apprenticeship, and education opportunities for rural America’s broadband workforce and K-12 students.

“We were honored to be a part of this amazing event,” said Westbrock. “This is a historic moment in time for our industry. The future looks very bright for our workforce. Now it’s time to find and train them.”

Westbrock is also a member of the Federal Communication Commission’s Telecommunications Interagency Working Group, a one-year committee that’s been charged with developing recommendations that address the workforce needs of the telecommunications industry.