What is Harbor Corps?
Harbor Corps is a four-month skills training program to prepare members for entry-level jobs in the marine trades. Members learn technical skills and work habits employers are seeking in their entry-level positions. Members will have access to internships with marine industry employers as well as job search support and coaching. If you are accepted into Harbor Corps and successfully complete the program, you will graduate with a certificate of achievement, endorsing your work and personal qualifications from SoundWaters, a 35-year-old highly respected name in the Long Island Sound community.
Funding for Harbor Corps is provided by:
The Brewer Family Foundation, the Bank of America Foundation, the Scripps Family Fund for Education and the Arts, the State Street Foundation, Inc., the TK Foundation, the Palmer Foundation and many individual donors.
Are you:
• 18-26 years old and a high school graduate or on-track to receive your diploma?
• Searching for a career that offers financial security, great growth opportunities and adventure?
• Ready to invest in yourself?
Explore Harbor Corps, your pathway to a fulfilling career in the marine industry.
Your Opportunity is Waiting for You
Long Island Sound drives over 70,000 jobs and $7 billion in economic output every year. These jobs are stable, well-paying and…unfilled because employers cannot find qualified candidates. Harbor Corps will train you for these jobs and help you land a job in this important and well-paying industry.
Boat yards, marinas, tug boats and passenger ferries, commercial fishing operations, dredgers, sailmakers; These are just a few areas where employers are looking for candidates. Harbor Corps graduates will be prepared to work in all these industries.
What do I look for in a new employee? Someone who can work with their hands and who wants to work.
– Jack Brewer, Founder, Brewer Yacht Yards
Harbor Corps will train you with the technical skills and workplace habits that marine employers need.
• Carpentry
• Fiberglass installation and repair
• Small engine and diesel engine maintenance
• Welding and metalwork
• Waterfront and shipboard safety protocols
• Vessel maintenance
• Seasonal vessel launch and winterization
• Electrical and plumbing systems
- Receive personal attention working in a small-group (8-10 members)
- Gain the skills and techniques that marine employers need
- Learn from successful industry veterans and potential employers
- Have access to valuable industry internships
- Graduate Harbor Corps with the endorsement of SoundWaters, a highly respected 30-year veteran of the Long Island Sound community
- Receive compensation as you go through Harbor Corps
- Receive job-search coaching and support
- Be ready to start your career in just four months.
Harbor Corps operates with rolling admissions so if there are approved applicants and there is space, they will start immediately. If there is no space at the time you apply, you should still apply. As soon as current Harbor Corps members leave the program for a job, new applicants will be accepted into the program.
Hours
• Monday-Friday, 9:00am – 3:00pm
Location: Cohen SoundWaters Harbor Center, located on Stamford Harbor (Map)
Take A Virtual Tour
Want to hire a Harbor Corps graduate?
We train Harbor Corps members to build the technical skills and instill the work ethic to thrive in an entry level role in your organization. Over the four-month program, we hold trainees to high standards of conduct, discipline and proficiency in a wide variety of marine trade skills. Upon completion of Harbor Corps, they receive a certificate of achievement acknowledging their instructors’ and manager’s satisfaction with their work.
What Skills Can You Expect?
Carpentry
Boat Exterior Cleaning, Repair and Painting
Welding
Harbor Corps prepared me for Hinckley by giving me valuable experience working in boatyards and helping me present my resume.
– David Luftig, 2023 Harbor Corps graduate
Want to Apply? Have Questions about Harbor Corps?
Harbor Corps is made available at no cost to qualified applicants through the generous support of State Street Global Advisors, Bank of America, The Scripps Family Fund for Education and the Arts, the State of Connecticut Social Equity Council and the United Way of Coastal and Western Connecticut.
