Harbor Corps - SoundWaters

Train for the Future You Want

We are accepting applications for the next session of Harbor Corps starting January 29

What is Harbor Corps?

Harbor Corps is a four-month skills training program to train members for entry-level jobs in the marine trades. Members learn technical skills required by employers for entry-level positions from experienced industry professionals. Members will have access to internships and externships 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 30-year-old highly respected name in the Long Island Sound community.

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.

Apply

• 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

Apply

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.

2023_1115_SR_BoatingTraining_154-771×514

Apply

• January 2024

• May 2024

• September 2024

Hours
• Monday-Friday, 9:00am – 3:00pm

Location: Cohen SoundWaters Harbor Center, located on Stamford Harbor (Map)
Take A Virtual Tour

Want to Apply? Have Questions?

Contact us: harborcorps@soundwaters.org

Harbor Corps is made available to qualified applicants at no cost through the generous support of State Street Global Partners, Bank of America, Fairfield County’s Community Foundation and The Scripps Family Fund for Education and the Arts.

What They’re Saying:

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

Harbor Corps is off to a great start! The Harbor Corps crew is doing great work as they restore our Herreshoff Catboat. It is inspiring to see seven young men and women embrace this opportunity to learn skills and explore the possibility of a career in the marine trades.

– Capt. Michael Bagley

I recently had the opportunity to speak with the members of SoundWaters Harbor Corps. Their challenge was to refit a 1973 Herreshoff sailboat that was in very sorry condition with a timetable of four weeks.

These people had no experience in the marine business, or with boating, yet they expressed an eagerness to learn and to improve themselves. They asked good questions and seemed eager to develop new skills. We talked about opportunities in the boatyard/marina business, and the need for good, versatile people.

I came away with the feeling that this is a very worthwhile endeavor – most important that these individuals could expand their horizons, and also that they could benefit an industry that needs good people. Great program!

-Jack Brewer, Founder, Brewer Yacht Yards