Proud to Call New Britain Home and Want to Make It Known?
By David Huck | Correspondent at June 13, 2024 | 8:15 pm | Print
Look no further than the recently re-opened Hurricane Central store that’s located at 115 W. Main St., that features a selection of Central Connecticut State University and “Hard Hittin’ New Britain” clothing and accessories. Items include hats, yoga and sweat pants, jackets, polo-style shirts, and other items.
Working the store are around two dozen students between the ages of 17 and 21 who are enrolled in the school system’s adult education program in pursuit of a GED. Most of the students entered the program as high school dropouts, but will leave with a host of job skills and training.
The store opened several years ago as an initiative with the school district to give students an opportunity to earn money or perform community service, but had closed after grant funding ran out. But a new grant has been secured from the U.S. Department of Labor through the Workforce Investment Act and is helping to give the students real-world experience in the areas of customer service, financial literacy, wholesale operations, and selling.
“They are working on everything here,” according to Donald Marino, a retired New Britain teacher and now the coordinator for the store. “In addition to other certifications they will get on campus, they will end up with a customer service associate certification issued through the National Retail Federation.”
That will give students experience they can place a resume when applying for jobs, such as sales positions, Marino said.
The store is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, with students working different shifts. The students are not paid for their hours, but are given certain incentives like financial bank cards if they reach certain educational benchmarks such as good grades.
Students are also given tutoring and other education preparation while working with CCSU professors, Marino said. Students will also attend certificate programs at CCSU’s Institute of Technology and Business Development. The program is following curriculum know as Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship.
“Based on what we have done in the past, we are expecting this to be a very, very viable store in the downtown area,” Marino said. The shop is currently in the process of obtaining an embroidery machine, so people can purchase a shirt or bring in items like an old sweatshirt and have a logo added to it. Student uniforms can also be enhanced with a school logo, Marino said.
The shop is also getting an advanced laser engraving machine, which will be capable of engraving items like a laptop, iPad, or cell phone.
Hurricane Central is a partnership between New Britain High School, CCSU, and Capital Workforce Partners, which helped secure the funding for the store. The workforce development provider works with students to build and nurture skills in the areas of health care, manufacturing, sales, and information technology.
Marino said officials are also intending to use the store as a way to provide internships for students participating in the new finance academy at the high school.
