Mashantucket — Participants in an economic development “roundtable” Friday discussed a two-state region that has jobs and people looking for jobs.

What’s involved, they asked, in combining the two?

Co-hosted by Connecticut state Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, and Rhode Island Senate Minority Leader Dennis Algiere, R-Westerly, the event brought together two-dozen lawmakers, educators and business and tribal leaders who primarily focused on workforce development.

The meeting took place in a conference room in The Fox Tower at Foxwoods Resort Casino.

Algiere, who credited Osten with a keen understanding of the economy “in this neck of the woods,” said Rhode Island depends heavily on southeastern Connecticut’s defense industry and the casinos for employment.

“Not everyone is cut out for a four-year college,” he said. “How do we get Johnny to work at EB as a welder? How do we get Jane to work as a server at a casino?”

Other speakers echoed what they see as a disconnect between public schools’ curriculum and opportunities in manufacturing.

“High school guidance counselors are not doing a good job making people aware of job opportunities,” said Mary Ellen Jukoski, president of Three Rivers Community College.

She said many students don’t realize that they can emerge from community college with little or no debt and the training to start work immediately. She cited Three Rivers’ collaboration with Dominion, the energy company, which helped the school develop a nuclear engineering program.

Graduates of the program can find jobs with starting salaries in the $75,000 to $80,000 range, Jukoski said.

Students need to understand that industry offers not just jobs but careers that provide retirement and other benefits, said Chris Jewell of the Eastern Advanced Manufacturing Alliance, a Franklin-based nonprofit that collaborates with community colleges and technical schools.

Ten years ago, Jewell said, the challenge for employers was to hire 18-year-olds with the skills necessary to fill manufacturing jobs.

“Today, they’re 25 before they have the skills they need,” he said.

State Rep. Mike France, R-Ledyard, said he was encouraged by a trend to reach middle-schoolers in regard to alternative career paths. He said it was important to get them on a “technical track” at that stage “rather than wait until they graduate and then try to fix it.”

Paige Bronk, manager of economic and community development for the Town of Groton, agreed “there needs to be a bigger push to community colleges.”

Tony Sheridan, president and chief executive officer of the Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut, said support for entrepreneurship was as important as support for manufacturing. He said nearly 30,000 eastern Connecticut residents were born outside the United States, drawn largely by opportunities at the casinos and Pfizer.

Many of them want to be in business but lack trust in government, Sheridan said.

“The common denominator is education,” said state Sen. Paul Formica, R-East Lyme, who also lamented many public schools’ lack of vocational programs.

With the casinos’ diversifying, “tourism on the map” and Electric Boat enjoying a resurgence, “we should be poised for explosive growth,” he said.

Osten said the group will meet again, perhaps on a quarterly basis, with the next session likely to take place in Rhode Island. Topics that could be discussed include transportation, tourism and energy.

“I think it’s wise to step beyond borders,” Osten said. “We get so parochial that we forget who we are.”

b.hallenbeck@theday.com