Governor Baker announces in Fall River new job center system

NEW BEDFORD AND FALL RIVER, MA – The Baker-Polito Administration today announced the transition of the state workforce system brand into one central name – MassHire. Linking state career centers and workforce boards through a single brand will streamline and enhance communications within the network of employment services. The transition to MassHire furthers the Commonwealth’s capacity for creating powerful connections between businesses and job seekers.

“The adoption of a central MassHire brand will make the Commonwealth’s workforce systems more responsive and user friendly for both employees and employers statewide,” said Governor Charlie Baker. “By supporting uniform career centers and workforce boards, we are creating a simple change to develop more jobs and enrich opportunities for Massachusetts residents.”

Prior to the MassHire brand unification, the state workforce system encompassed 29 career centers and 16 workforce development boards, each using different names and logos. The new brand serves to enhance MassHire clients’ ability to navigate the variety of opportunities for employee training, job placement, and career development, as well as the recruitment of highly skilled employees for businesses.

“This transition will help streamline efforts to employ Massachusetts residents and spread economic prosperity throughout the state by furthering our Administration’s regional employment collaboration efforts at the local, state and federal level,” said Lt. Governor Karyn Polito. “We will continue to focus on the skills gap and helping people achieve their goals of meaningful employment.”

The development of the MassHire brand system represents the state’s response to the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. The bill required Massachusetts to design a strategic plan providing access for job seekers to employment, education, training, and support services in order to compete in today’s global economy. Under the MassHire brand, career centers and workforce boards can better serve jobseekers and businesses by increasing access, visibility, and connectivity of workforce services by the MassHire network.

“In addition to our dedicated and resourceful career center staff, Massachusetts is fortunate to have some of the most innovative and passionate workforce development non-profits, businesses, and educational partners in the country,” said Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development Rosalin Acosta. “Thanks to their important work on this project, the MassHire rebranding effort will continue to inform how we proactively provide best-in-class job services throughout the Commonwealth for years to come.”

The MassHire name is accompanied by a vivid green, blue, and yellow mark which corresponds with the colors of the new Mass.Gov website. The new name, logo, and charter were developed as the result of extensive market research and a comprehensive stakeholder engagement process. Career center and workforce board employees, jobseekers, businesses, education and economic development leaders, and strategic partners participated in the development of the brand, and over 700 jobseekers, employers, and workforce professionals participated in the selection of the MassHire name and mark.

Fall River Mayor Josiel Correia noted, “I fully support the Commonwealth’s workforce system rebranding initiative as an important way to shine a light on the great community resource that is the MassHire Fall River Career Center. I am confident the MassHire branding effort will greatly increase awareness of the valuable services that are offered to job seekers and employers right here in Fall River each and every day.”

According to New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell, “The key to developing a highly-skilled workforce is making sure that employers and job seekers alike are taking full advantage of the public sector resources in place to bring them together. That is why I am pleased to support the MassHire brand launch here in New Bedford. Thanks to the MassHire branding effort, more residents and businesses in Greater New Bedford will be able to access our workforce system’s resources.”

Following today’s statewide MassHire brand launch in New Bedford and Fall River, additional local launch events will be taking place over the next few months. For a complete list of those events, please email masshire@mass.gov.

“I am thrilled that Massachusetts is adopting MassHire as the statewide workforce development brand,” said Donna Cupelo, Chairwoman of the Massachusetts Workforce Development Board. “Massachusetts needs highly qualified, skilled talent to meet the needs of our small and large businesses. A unified, statewide brand will help Massachusetts jobseekers and businesses find us easily. In turn, we’ll be able to help jobseekers access quality career pathways, and help businesses develop innovative talent solutions.”

About MassHire
MassHire was created to significantly increase both the awareness and brand affinity for the Massachusetts Workforce System. The initiative to consolidate all state career centers and workforce boards under one, recognizable name was undertaken with two interrelated objectives – help job seekers develop critical new job skills and find sustainable, satisfying employment, and help Massachusetts businesses recruit top talent to fuel growth, productivity, and profitability. The MassHire branding initiative was managed by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development.