Long Island Council of The Navy League Secures US Navy Grant

May 17, 2023

Walter A. Poggi, LI Council Corporate Committee Chairman and President of Retlif Testing Laboratories 30A5573 Photo courtesy of Progressive Marketing Group, Inc.

$2 million for Suffolk County Community College to stimulate workforce training and redevelopment.

At a recent meeting of the Corporate Committee of the Long Island Council of the Navy League of the United States, US Navy Command Master Chief Joshua Sturgill who is Command Senior Enlisted Leader for Team Submarines, announced a $2 million grant for Advanced Manufacturing Scholarships supported by the Navy’s Submarine Industrial Base. The $2 million grant was awarded to Suffolk County Community College and will be funded over a five year period covering tuition of 500 certificate students.

The event represented the culmination of the Long Island Council Corporate Committee’s year-long effort to stimulate workforce training and re-development in alignment with the US Navy’s Accelerated Training in Defense Manufacturing (ATDM) Program.

Walter A. Poggi, Corporate Committee Chairman and President of Ronkonkoma, NY-based Retlif Testing Laboratories said, “members of the Corporate Committee have been diligently working to develop stronger and closer ties with the US Navy, and this grant is a potential game changer for the Long Island economy and Long Island defense manufacturers. It is also pivotal for the US Navy because it will result in an educated professional workforce knowledgeable of the most rapidly evolving technologies in the manufacturing sector of the Submarine Industrial Base (DIB). Their skills and nationally recognized credentials will make them eminently capable of fulfilling the Navy’s goals to develop leading edge submarines and other vessels. These capabilities are direly needed today in American shipyards, with American manufacturers and throughout the U.S. military and maritime industry.”

The event was held at Suffolk County Community College (SCCC), Brentwood, NY campus. A crowd of 60 from more than two dozen Long Island defense manufacturers and defense testing organizations as well as interested parties from higher education and county, state and federal governments, were among the first to learn the welcome news.

In addition to keynote speaker Command Master Chief Joshua Sturgill, other dignitaries who spoke included Rosalie Drago, Commissioner, Suffolk County Department of Labor and SCCC President Edward T. Bonahue. US Navy Rear Admiral Scott W. Pappano, Program Executive Officer, Strategic Submarines, addressed the gathering remotely via zoom conference.

Long Island Council of The Navy League of the United States with CMC Josh Sturgill USN, 5th from left 30A5696
L to R: Michael Griffin - The Griffin Group Global; Michael Cinque - Curtiss Wright; Jim White - Curtiss Wright; Walter Poggi - Retlif Testing Laboratories; CMC Josh Sturgill - U.S. Navy; John Smith - Cox & Company; Philip Duplisey - Business Lens; Bob Arnold Jr. - Arnold Standards Cos.; Roger Noakes - TeamLogic IT Solutions; Owen Watford - Retlif Testing Laboratories; and Bill Nelson - Sector Microwave Industries. Photo courtesy of Progressive Marketing Group, Inc.