UI, SCG Invest in Bridgeport Youth in Partnership with Cardinal Shehan Center

Companies donate $5,000 in support of Center’s Summer Camp as UI Line Crew and UI Union Scholars invite students to tour UI Bucket Truck


BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — July 31, 2023 — Today, Frank Reynolds, the President and CEO of United Illuminating and Southern Connecticut Gas, subsidiaries of Avangrid (NYSE: AGR) – together with UI Line Crew journeymen, members of UI’s Electric Operations team and the UI Union Scholars – visited the Cardinal Shehan Center Summer Camp in Bridgeport following the companies’ $5,000 donation to the program. In a reflection of UI’s continuing focus on workforce development for high school students in the UI service territory, students in the summer camp had the opportunity to tour a UI Bucket Truck and learn more about a career in the utility industry directly from UI team members.

“Showing the value of a career in the utility industry to the next generation of our region’s workforce is just one of the ways we at UI and SCG invest in our community every day,” said Frank Reynolds, President & CEO of UI and SCG. “That’s why I was proud to see our UI Line Crew and Electric Operations team provide the students at the Cardinal Shehan Center with such a valuable introduction to the work they do day and night throughout our region. I look forward to continuing our long-standing partnership with this important community center and the young people they serve.”

The Cardinal Shehan Center is a nonprofit community organization that has served young people and families in Bridgeport and the greater region since 1962. In addition to the summer camp that UI is supporting this year, the center also offers after-school and Saturday programs in youth development, alternative education, various basketball leagues, tutoring, and many more. With recreational amenties that include an indoor swimming pool, fitness center, and game room, as well as educational facilities including a library, a computer lab, a STEM room, and an economic empowerment zone, the Cardinal Shehan Center is an invaluable community resource for people of all ages in the greater Bridgeport region.

“We would like to thank United Illuminating for coming out to the Cardinal Shehan Center today and providing our Summer Day campers with a wonderful opportunity to participate in a hands-on experience with their equipment,” said Lorraine Gibbons, CEO of The Cardinal Shehan Center. “UI has proven time after time to be an incredible community partner, and we are so appreciative of their loyalty and commitment to our Center. It is truly inspirational to see how their staff members aim to go out of their way to make a difference in the lives of our kids.”

Joining the visit to Cardinal Shehan Center were UI’s Union Scholars, nine high school students from Eli Whitney Technical High School in Hamden and Bullard-Havens Technical High School in Bridgeport who are participating in a 10-week lineworker internship program. The Union Scholars program is an industry-leading internship program that emphasizes the earliest skills lineworker apprentices will need to build a successful career in the utility industry. Upon successful completion of the program and graduation from high school, UI will extend an offer to the Union Scholars to begin as full lineworker apprentices.

“I was glad the Union Scholars had the opportunity to visit the Cardinal Shehan Center today,” said Christine Pariseau, Senior Manager of Regional Operations at UI, who helped to spearhead the program’s development and bring it to fruition. “Seeing the Scholars show off a UI bucket truck and talk about their experience as a lineworker intern with young students is a capstone on the hard and fulfilling work they’ve accomplished so far this summer. I hope we can partner with organizations like the Cardinal Shehan Center to recruit more Union Scholars in the future.” 

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