Since its launch in 2022, U.S Representative Adriano Espaillat (NY-13) has been a strong advocate for the Charles B. Rangel Infrastructure Workforce Initiative (RIWI) at The City College of New York, whose mission is to prepare the local workforce for the crucial work of rebuilding America’s infrastructure.
Over the past four years, Espaillat’s support for this unique program in his Congressional district, named for his late predecessor Charles B. Rangel, has translated into nearly $13 million in federal funding, with the latest allotment, $2 million, included in the Fiscal Year 2026 appropriations to CUNY. This new money is aimed at expanding the Rangel Initiative’s skills-based workforce development programs for New Yorkers through increased access to computer labs, instruments and career opportunities.
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Overall, the Rangel Initiative provides accessible, industry-recognized training that equips hundreds of New Yorkers each year with essential job skills and professional certifications. This impact opens doors to careers in construction, transportation, clean energy, and more, helping to build a stronger workforce for the future.
“Congressman Rangel and I came together with a vision that City College should have a state-of-the-art international institute. At that time, we weren’t talking about it having his name, but it would train young people in matters pertaining to major infrastructure work that the nation obviously is taking up,” Espaillat said at CCNY.
“We were looking at the Second Avenue Subway Phase Two project, as well as the Gateway Project and several major projects that provide job opportunities for young people. So, CCNY President Vincent Boudreau, in his vision, put together the Charles B. Rangel Infrastructure Workforce Institute. And, I think it has been very successful.
“RIWI has established partnerships with the building trades, which is very important because the building trades have their own training components, and now the institute is one of those training components.”
Through these partnerships, RIWI is able to place graduates of its various programs into various building trades and other positions. One such collaboration is with the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York’s (BCTC), which is the primary resource for direct-entry and pre-apprenticeship recruitment for each affiliate, such as The Edward J. Malloy Initiative for Construction Skills (CSKILLS), Inc.
CCNY’s 13th President, Boudreau was deeply thankful for the powerful support for RIWI from Espaillat and New York’s other congressional and senatorial representatives.
“We had no idea how quickly [RIWI] would grow not just in terms of what its original mandate is, but how it would grow into the fabric of City College,” he said.
Boudreau noted new programs, such as commercial driver’s license training in partnership with the Teamsters labor union, using simulators at CCNY and on union trucks off-site. According to the Teamsters, 70,000 truck driver jobs in the country are currently unfilled.
Another new RIWI program teaches students how to operate ground-penetrating radar.
“So, we will be putting our young people into those jobs,” said Boudreau.
RIWI is led by Angelo Lampousis, its inaugural Executive Director, who said the Initiative was exploring collaboration with international organizations, such as the International Olive Council (IOC), and expanding its portfolio in 2027 in other front-line occupations, including Certified Custodial Cleaning Technician Courses and food handling as part of the new training opportunities in the culinary arts at basic and intermediate levels.
