EAST GREENWICH, R.I.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan 7, 2026--
New England Institute of Technology (NEIT) today announced plans to construct a new Innovation Center for Building Sciences, a major campus expansion designed to meet the growing regional and national demand for highly trained skilled trades professionals.
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Demand for trained professionals in construction, electrical, plumbing, and building engineering technologies continues to outpace supply. The Innovation Center will expand NEIT’s capacity to prepare job-ready graduates in these critical fields, ensuring employers have access to the skilled talent needed to build, maintain, and modernize essential systems.
The project represents an investment of approximately $40 million in a new 53,000-square-foot facility to be built on NEIT’s East Greenwich campus. Groundbreaking is expected in Spring 2026, with construction expected to be completed by the end of 2027. Designed to support hands-on learning, the center will feature modern labs, industry equipment, and flexible learning spaces that mirror real-world job sites.
“Across the country, there is growing recognition of how vital the skilled trades are to our communities – something New England Tech has embraced for more than 80 years,” said Amy Grzybowski, Vice President of Workforce Development and Community Relations. “Our Innovation Center will expand opportunity for the next generation of skilled trade students while ensuring our region has the workforce needed to meet the labor demand.”
Once completed, the Innovation Center will expand NEIT’s total skilled trades training capacity to serve approximately 1,000 students annually from across the country.
Programs housed within the center will include building construction, electrical technology, plumbing, architectural building engineering technology, interior design, and construction management, with degree pathways offered at the associate, bachelor’s, and master’s levels. Students will benefit from hands-on training, state-of-the-art technology labs, accelerated degree options, and strong career earning potential upon graduation.
“New England Tech launched my career in the skilled trades and set me on a path to build my company into Rhode Island’s largest electrical contractor,” said Vin Rossi, President of Rossi Electric. “The new Innovation Center will ensure more students gain the same life-changing opportunities, while helping Rhode Island lead the nation in skilled trades education.”
The Innovation Center for Building Sciences, alongside NEIT’s recent skilled-trade tuition reductions and expanding employer partnerships, underscores the university’s continued leadership in elevating the trades as essential, future-focused careers.
NEIT serves as Rhode Island’s only designated Opportunity College by the Carnegie Foundation, which recognizes institutions that deliver the strongest economic return on educational investment.
NEIT has engaged Neil Steinberg, former CEO of the Rhode Island Foundation and Fleet Bank, as an advisor to support philanthropic development for the project and expanded scholarship opportunities. The project will be funded through institutional resources and philanthropic support, requiring no state funding, while strengthening the region’s workforce pipeline in high-demand trades.
About New England Tech:
New England Institute of Technology (NEIT) is a private, non-profit institution located in East Greenwich, Rhode Island. Accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education, the university offers accelerated associate, bachelor’s and graduate degree programs in fields including skilled trades, automotive & marine technology, health sciences, cybersecurity, computer science, and engineering technology, with 95% of graduates employed in their field of study shortly after graduation. With a strong focus on experiential learning, NEIT prepares students by combining hands-on training with small class sizes and individualized support, so graduates enter the workforce faster and excel in their chosen careers.
New England Tech Announces $40 Million Innovation Center to Expand Access to Skilled Trades Education
New England Tech Announces $40 Million Innovation Center to Expand Access to Skilled Trades Education
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Tens of thousands of people marched in Minneapolis on Saturday to protest the fatal shooting of a woman by a federal immigration officer there and the shooting of two people in Portland, Oregon. Minnesota leaders urged demonstrators to remain peaceful.
The protest was one of hundreds planned for towns and cities across the country over the weekend. It came in a city on edge since the killing of Renee Good on Wednesday by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer.
“We’re all living in fear right now,” said Meghan Moore, a mother of two from Minneapolis who joined the protest. “ICE is creating an environment where nobody feels safe and that’s unacceptable.”
On Friday night, a protest outside a Minneapolis hotel that attracted about 1,000 people turned violent as demonstrators threw ice, snow and rocks at officers, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said. One officer suffered minor injuries after being struck with a piece of ice, O’Hara said. Twenty-nine people were cited and released, he said.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey stressed that while most protests have been peaceful, those who cause damage to property or put others in danger will be arrested. He faulted “agitators that are trying to rile up large crowds.”
“This is what Donald Trump wants,” Frey said of the president who has demanded massive immigration enforcement efforts in several U.S. cities. “He wants us to take the bait.”
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz echoed the call for peace.
“Trump sent thousands of armed federal officers into our state, and it took just one day for them to kill someone,” Walz posted on social media. “Now he wants nothing more than to see chaos distract from that horrific action. Don’t give him what he wants.”
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security says its deployment of immigration officers in the Twin Cities is its biggest ever immigration enforcement operation. Trump's administration has said both shootings were acts of self-defense against drivers who “weaponized” their vehicles to attack officers.
Connor Maloney said he was attending the Minneapolis protest to support his community and because he's frustrated with the immigration crackdown.
“Almost daily I see them harassing people,” he said. “It’s just sickening that it’s happening in our community around us.”
He was among thousands of protesters, including children, who braved subfreezing temperatures and a light dusting of snow, carrying handmade signs saying declaring, “De-ICE Minnesota!” and “ICE melts in Minnesota.”
They marched down a street that is home to restaurants and stores where various nationalities and cultures are celebrated in colorful murals.
Steven Eubanks, 51, said he felt compelled to attend a protest in Durham, North Carolina, because of the “horrifying” killing in Minneapolis.
“We can’t allow it,” Eubanks said. “We have to stand up.”
Indivisible, a social movement organization that formed to resist the Trump administration, said hundreds of protests were scheduled in Texas, Kansas, New Mexico, Ohio, Florida and other states.
In Minneapolis, a coalition of migrant rights groups organized the demonstration that began in a park about half a mile from the residential neighborhood where the 37-year-old Good was shot on Wednesday.
But the large protest apparently did not deter federal officers from operating in the city.
A couple of miles away, just as the demonstration began, an Associated Press photographer witnessed heavily armed officers — at least one in Border Patrol uniform — approach a person who had been following them. Two of the agents had long guns out when they ordered the person to stop following them, telling him it was his “first and final warning.”
The agents eventually drove onto the interstate without detaining the driver.
Protests held in the neighborhood have been largely peaceful, and in general there has been minimal law enforcement presence, in contrast to the violence that hit Minneapolis in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd in 2020. Near the airport, some confrontations erupted on Thursday and Friday between smaller groups of protesters and officers guarding the federal building used as a base for the Twin Cities crackdown.
O’Hara said city police officers have responded to calls about cars abandoned because their drivers have been apprehended by immigration enforcement. In one case, a car was left in park and a dog was left inside another.
He said immigration enforcement activities are happening “all over the city” and that 911 callers have been alerting authorities to ICE activity, arrests and abandoned vehicles.
The Trump administration has deployed thousands of federal officers to Minnesota under a sweeping new crackdown tied in part to allegations of fraud involving Somali residents. More than 2,000 officers were taking part.
Three congresswomen from Minnesota attempted to tour the ICE facility in the Minneapolis federal building on in the morning and were initially allowed to enter but then told they had to leave about 10 minutes later.
U.S, Reps. Ilhan Omar, Kelly Morrison and Angie Craig accused ICE agents of obstructing members of Congress from fulfilling their duty to oversee operations there.
A federal judge last month temporarily blocked the Trump administration from enforcing policies that limit congressional visits to immigration facilities. The ruling stems from a lawsuit filed by 12 members of Congress who sued in Washington, D.C. to challenge ICE’s amended visitor policies after they were denied entry to detention facilities.
This story has updated to correct that the people shot in Portland were not protesters.
Associated Press writers Allen Breed in Durham, North Carolina, and Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin, contributed.
Protesters gather during a rally for Renee Good, who was fatally shot by an ICE officer earlier in the week, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
People place flowers for a memorial at the site where Renee Good was fatally shot by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Jen Golbeck)
Protesters gather during a rally for Renee Good, who was fatally shot by an ICE officer earlier in the week, Friday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jen Golbeck)
Protesters gather during a rally for Renee Good, who was fatally shot by an ICE officer earlier in the week, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Demonstrators protest outside the White House in Washington, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who fatally shot Renee Good in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Demonstrators march outside the White House in Washington, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who fatally shot Renee Good in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Demonstrators march outside the White House in Washington, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who fatally shot Renee Good in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Rep. Kelly Morrison D-Minn., center, Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., second from the right, and Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn., far right, at the Bishop Whipple Federal Building, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey holds a news conference as Police Chief Brian O'Hara listens, on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jen Golbeck)
Protesters gather during a rally for Renee Good, who was fatally shot by an ICE officer earlier in the week, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
Federal agents stand outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building as protesters gather in Minneapolis, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
Federal agents stand outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building as protesters gather in Minneapolis, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
Protesters gather during a rally for Renee Good, who was fatally shot by an ICE officer earlier in the week, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
Federal agents look on as protesters gather during a rally for Renee Good, who was fatally shot by an ICE officer earlier in the week, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
A woman holds a sign for Renee Good, who was fatally shot by an ICE officer in Minneapolis earlier in the week, as people gather outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)
Two people sit in the street with their hands up in front of Minnesota State Patrol during a protest and noise demonstration calling for an end to federal immigration enforcement operations in the city, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Minnesota State Patrol officers are seen during a protest and noise demonstration calling for an end to federal immigration enforcement operations in the city, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Minnesota State Patrol officers are seen during a protest and noise demonstration calling for an end to federal immigration enforcement operations in the city, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Two people sit in the street holding hands in front of Minnesota State Patrol during a protest and noise demonstration calling for an end to federal immigration enforcement operations in the city, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
