U.S. Department of Commerce Leader Alejandra Castillo Tours InTech Center

Alejandra Castillo remembers when her mother would return home with small burn marks on her arms from her job as a welder in the 1990s. Her mother lost that job when the company moved overseas, but Castillo – now the U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development - doesn’t want that to happen to others.

She visited the Industrial Technical Learning Center with Congresswoman Norma Torres on July 26 to learn how the federal government can support workforce development in the Inland Empire.

“I come from a working class family and this job is personal to me,” she said.

Numerous other dignitaries have visited the center in the last few years, including Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh. Vice President Kamala Harris, while serving as a U.S. Senator, toured InTech in 2017.

Castillo said that workforce development is not only important to the community, but also to national security because overseas organizations are investing in their people and technologies to define the future of the globe.

“We are in a race, not against ourselves, but a global race and it’s exciting. But we have to get the work done,” she said.

She encouraged schools and other workforce training organizations to apply for federal grants to continue meeting the needs of the region.

“If we don’t have the entrepreneurs that are going to create the supply chain for all these industries of the future, then we are structurally at a disadvantage,” she said.

Several InTech graduates shared their testimony about how the program has helped improve their lives, including Danngely Lorenzana.

Lorenzana described the struggle of dropping out of college when he was 19-years-old when he became a father. He took a job doing warehouse work and logistics, making $17 per hour.

He praised Chaffey for giving him access to free job training, helping him get a position in industrial electrical technology that pays more than twice what he previously earned.

“This program is amazing,” he said.