The Step Up Employer Conference came to Naugatuck Valley Community College’s Fine Arts Center on June 23. The event, organized by the Connecticut Department of Labor, brought together 11 state agencies and dozens of employers from the Waterbury region, in an effort to grow businesses and jobs.

“The theme today is employers and all of the services that are out there for them,” said Stephen Romano, regional job center director for the Department of Labor’s Northwest Region. “The old cliché is that ‘we’re here to help,’ but truly we have helped. I always tell employers, when they’re speaking about your services, the best testimony you can get is from another employer, about the great service they got from one of these state agencies here and those stories are all over the place.”

Romano noted that the State of Connecticut has an array of programs and opportunities to help small businesses grow, ranging from tax incentives for equipment upgrades and job creation to low-interest financing under the Small Business Express program. In addition, there’s the popular Subsidized Training and Employment Program (STEP UP)—the namesake of the event—which provides wage reimbursement and training incentives to employers.

NVCC’s Advanced Manufacturing Technology Center (AMTC) also plays a key role in growing the local economy by delivering in-demand job training. The AMTC works closely with local manufacturers to design programs that meet the needs of employers.

“Our results have been excellent… This past May we graduated another 44 from this program. To date, we’ve graduated with an Advanced Manufacturing Certificate 133. And, out of 133, 114 have been placed in full-time jobs,” said AMTC Director Joseph Defeo. “It takes a lot of people; it takes a lot of support. We’ve got a great staff; we get great support all the way up to our President here.”

The Step Up Conference was co-hosted and sponsored by state Sens. Joan Hartley and Joe Markley and state Reps. Larry Butler and Victor Cuevas, NVCC and other stakeholders. Since the conference series began in 2012, it has engaged nearly 1,000 employers, according to the Department of Labor. Five additional conferences are planned for other areas of Connecticut in September 2015.