If you’re looking for a New Jersey angle on a story with national consequences, start here: The new five‑year federal agreement that keeps the state’s Manufacturing Extension Program alive and well.
On paper, the deal is simple. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (better known as NIST) recently renewed NJMEP’s status as the state’s official MEP Center and committed $3.55 million a year in funding, with the potential to run for five years, subject to annual renewals.
In practice, it’s the payoff from a months‑long, nationwide effort — one that included New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill and Sen. Andy Kim — to convince Washington not to walk away from the one program that sits on the plant floor with small and mid‑sized manufacturers.
A program that has a return on an investment of at least 9-to-1.
Connolly was greatly appreciative of the efforts of Sherrill and Kim.
“This renewed support from NIST doesn’t happen in a vacuum,” he said. “We’re grateful to Gov. Sherrill to Senator Kim and to leaders around the country who understood what MEP means for small and mid‑sized manufacturers — and fought to keep it in place.”
When word first spread last year that NIST’s MEP line was on the chopping block, it caused great concern in manufacturing circles across the country.
The stakes were obvious: No MEP line at NIST meant no federal contracts for the 50 MEP centers. No contracts meant the loss of a national network that has quietly helped thousands of small manufacturers modernize, train workers and compete, including here in New Jersey.
Connolly talked about how he may have to shut his doors — and how all the talk about “reshoring” and “supply chain resilience” didn’t pair with a proposal that would undercut one of the few programs that works to achieve those goals.
New Jersey’s delegation jumped in quickly.
Sherrill, then in Congress, was part of the group making the case that you can’t claim to be pro‑manufacturing while simultaneously pulling the rug out from under the MEP network. Kim, who has made supply chains and domestic production a signature issue, carried the same message in the Senate.
Their argument was straightforward: If you want strong manufacturing, you have to fund the infrastructure that makes it possible.
“They went to bat for manufacturing when it really counted,” Connolly said.
By early February, the tide had turned.
Instead of winding the program down, NIST moved to renew and extend its MEP commitments. For New Jersey, that meant confirmation of the $3.55 million contract and the five‑year runway that now allows NJMEP to make long‑term plans around workforce, technology and regional expansion.
Connolly is hopeful there will be an increase in funding from this year’s state budget, too. He knows how his group can turn a little into a lot.
“We’re not asking for money to keep the lights on,” he said in a recent story in BINJE. “We’re asking for money to turn on more lights — in more classrooms, more training centers and more plants across the state.”
