Federal $ Helps Expand Trades' START Program
?More of Madison’s residents in low-income neighborhoods could be boosted into union jobs in the skilled trades with an infusion of federal grant money for the START program.
After demonstrating success in the Allied Drive and Wexford Ridge neighborhoods, the Skilled Trades Apprenticeship Readiness Training (START) program won a $50,000 grant to expand its reach into neighborhoods on Madison’s east and north sides.
The grant from the federal Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) Initiative, administered by the regional Workforce Development Board, also allows START to hire a new instructor for its six-week apprenticeship readiness programs (see also story on right).
This comes at an opportune time, even in the recession, with fewer young people choosing careers in construction and a wave of babyboomers expected to retire over the next several years. Federal stimulus dollars earmarked for construction are also in the pipeline.
Jobs With a Future
“We tell them up front that the economy has to improve before they get into an apprenticeship, so they understand this is an investment in their future,” says START program coordinator Mary Watrud. “When the industry does recover, we’ll be scrambling to fill apprentice positions.”
Watrud knows the construction industry well, having worked as a steamfitter for various union heating contractors for 16 years, and then another five years with her union’s apprenticeship program and training school.
START is partnering with the City of Madison to get residents living in challenged areas into jobs on construction projects right in their own neighborhoods. Watrud is working with Madison’s Community Development Authority (CDA) and its renovation of 71 units of public housing at the Truax Park Apartments. It appears that residents living in the Truax Park complex and START graduates will get a crack at job opportunities on that project, she said.
“With the economy as it is, for the City to step up and provide jobs that we can actually move people into, that’s exactly the right move,” said Watrud.
While continuing its work in the Allied Drive and Wexford Ridge neighborhoods in 2010, START will begin offering its program to residents in neighborhood centers at Truax Park and in the Northport-Packers neighborhood. Notices about the opportunities have already been mailed to residents in subsidized housing by the CDA.
Path to a Better Life
Today, union apprentices earn an average of $16.53 an hour plus health insurance and a pension. Not only will those who are currently unemployed no longer need public assistance, they will be contributing to the tax base. After completing an apprenticeship, journeyworkers make an average of $30.06 an hour with health care and pension benefits.
START began as a project of the Building and Construction Trades Council of South Central Wisconsin and was designed to provide access to construction apprenticeships for women and minorities, particularly those who are locked in poverty.
As of last July, there were 1,175 registered construction apprentices in the Madison area, but only 2% were women and only 5% minorities. With the help of START, the industry is able to meet affirmative hiring goals. It also helps contractors comply with Best Value Contracting ordinance requirements for apprenticeship training on jobs receiving local government funds.
Green Jobs on the Horizon
START is also finalizing a partnership with the Wisconsin Regional Training Partnership-Building Industry Group Skilled Training Employment Program (WRTP-BIG STEP) in Milwaukee to become its partner in South Central Wisconsin. Through that initiative, START hopes to create career pathways within the skilled trades to prepare workers for jobs in the energy efficiency and renewable energy sectors.