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Rebecca Parker may not realize it, but she is something of a role model.

The young women she inspires may not realize it either. They are 275 miles away and probably will never even hear Parker’s name. Nevertheless, they will follow a path that she helped create.

Educators at Rogue Community College in Grants Pass are looking to Parker and other students in Oregon Tradeswomen‘s construction classes to learn how to create a similar program in Jackson and Josephine counties.

The community college has money from the Oregon Department of Transportation to train women and minorities for heavy highway construction work. The money is not a grant, said Shelley Snow, a public affairs representative for ODOT.

ODOT is required to spend one half of 1 percent of the federal highway dollars it receives for on-the-job training. This biennium, that amount comes to $1.5 million. The money is administered through the Bureau of Labor and Industries.

鈥淭hey’re the experts on job training,鈥� Snow said.

Rogue is one of the entities working with BOLI to provide job training, she added.

Specifically, the money comes from the federal government and goes through ODOT and BOLI as well as, in Rogue’s case, the Oregon and Southern Idaho Laborers-Employers Training program.

Bob Estabrook, a spokesman for BOLI, said the Rogue program is getting $112,197.31.

鈥淚 don’t know where they get the 31 cents,鈥� he said.

Rogue already has a construction technology program, but instructor Jeanne Schraub said it has done little specifically to target women and minority students. She and her fellow educators are putting together a pilot class for women and minorities only.

The class will start in March. In the meantime, Schraub is going to school to learn how to put such a class together. That education brought her to Portland last month to watch Oregon Tradeswomen students such as Parker.

Schraub caught up with Parker and her peers as they built a toolshed behind Oregon Tradeswomen’s headquarters in Northeast Portland. The class for adult women draws students ranging in age from 19 to 50-something. They work on a construction project one day a week. Other days are reserved for classroom work or jobsite visits.

Parker, 28, joined the program in search of a steady career. She is still deciding whether that career should be in construction.

鈥淚’m kind of on the border,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 like construction. It intrigues me.鈥�

Connie Ashbrook, executive director of Oregon Tradeswomen, said that one of the great things about the program is that it gives women a taste of real-world construction. Going to jobsites is particularly helpful, she said.

鈥淚t’s a way of telling them, 鈥楾his is what a big site is like.’ It gives them a sense of career.鈥�

Montana Maurice likes that too. The 23-year-old is interested in becoming a carpenter after completing Oregon Tradeswomen’s program.

Those are the stories Schraub said she wants to hear and the kind of program she wants to see at Rogue. The first step is the pilot class.

鈥淲e’ll see what follows after that,鈥� she said.

Getting women and minorities more involved in road construction has been a major priority for ODOT over the past few years. Portland State University sociology professors Maura Kelly and Lindsey Wilkinson in 2010 received a $76,000 ODOT grant for research titled, 鈥淓valuating why women and people of color have lower retention rates in apprenticeships.鈥�

Gender differences in the trades can be significant, Kelly and Wilkinson concluded in a preliminary report issued six months ago.

In apprenticeship programs, they said, 鈥済ender differences also can be seen in union status, region, average credit hours completed, trade, reasons for cancellation, age and education. Women’s agreements are more likely to be affiliated with a union or a mixed program, while men’s agreements are more likely to be non-union.鈥�

Schraub said Oregon Tradeswomen provides a model for addressing such gender differences, one she hopes to follow at Rogue. The first class is planned for at least 15 students.

Ashbrook started Oregon Tradeswomen in 1989 to confront the gender inequities she saw in construction and other blue-collar trades. The adult program graduated 88 students last year. The program costs about $6,000 per student, Ashbrook said, but the students themselves don’t pay anything because of private fundraising.

Mary Ann Naylor, the public relations specialist for Oregon Tradeswomen, said she is glad to see expansion of the idea of helping women get into the trades. It is a pleasure to promote the program, she added.

鈥淚t’s a great organization that changes people’s lives,鈥� Naylor said.

Ashbrook said it is a good model for Rogue and other schools.

鈥淲e graduate women who are highly employable,鈥� she said. 鈥淢any employers comment on how great our graduates are on the job. They’re speedy and quick, so they are ready for industry pace.鈥�