Nike is awarding grants totaling $1.25 million to Portland organizations that support Black communities, and two of the recipients have ties to the building industry.

Portland-based Constructing Hope and the Portland Opportunities Industrialization Center at Rosemary Anderson High School will each receive $250,000. The grants are part of a four-year, $140 million commitment by Nike to racial justice.

Constructing Hope’s executive director, Pat Daniels, received a call from Jerome Brooks, Nike’s social & community impact manager, on Wednesday morning.

“I started crying when he told me on the phone,” Daniels said. “I couldn’t believe it.”

Constructing Hope, a nonprofit, operates a pre-apprenticeship program that provides construction skills training and education. The organization works to “help people of color, unemployed people, the formerly incarcerated and low-income individuals re-enter the workforce and attain middle-class wages,” according to its website.

The grant money will allow Constructing Hope to build its program capacity and hire more staff, Daniels said. Right now, only 13 people are able to participate at one time in the pre-apprenticeship program. The plan is to increase that capacity to 24 people and potentially even 40 down the road, she said.

The grant money also will ensure that pre-apprenticeship program participants each receive a laptop – a useful tool beyond graduation.

“Blueprints aren’t in paper anymore; they’re all on the computer,” Daniels said. “They get to keep the laptop. It’d be hard to loan them a computer, then take it away.”

Nike also is working with Constructing Hope to set up a fellowship, which would allow the organization to pay 10 adults to go through the pre-apprenticeship program.

The Portland Opportunities Industrialization Center provides education, mentoring and employment training. The organization has internships and pre-apprenticeship programs for adults and youths to enter the building trades.

The post Constructing Hope, POIC each receive $250,000 grant appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

Interest in Constructing Hope‘s pre-apprenticeship program is on the rise, and the Portland-based nonprofit is taking action to ensure it can keep pace.

A renovation is under way to improve Constructing Hope’s headquarters – the bulk of a 9,000-square-foot commercial building at 405 N.E. Church St., near the intersection with Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. The project is intended to not only accommodate growth, but also educate the current cohort of pre-apprenticeship students – virtually all of whom are members of Portland’s BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of color) community.

“We were already in a place where we were in more demand,” Constructing Hope Executive Director Pat Daniels said. “So, we’re remodeling our building, and we are going to have a state-of-the-art building. My staff is brilliant; they came up with the idea of remodeling and opening the floor to show the plumbing, the floors and walls. The ceilings will be open for ductwork. It’s going to be amazing.”

The project was designed by Anne Raccine Fishe, Architect; work is in full swing, albeit with some limitations due to COVID-19. Hillsboro Electric employees are rewiring the building following extensive interior demolition by Mack Construction, a local firm that is carrying out its first significant project. Another small local firm, Professional Lath & Plaster, is performing framing and drywall work, Brothers Painting is handling interior painting, and Caliber Plumbing and Mechanical is taking care of plumbing and HVAC work.

“Students are working on the project too, working with contractors that took our curriculum and they turned it into hands-on work on the remodeling,” Daniels said.

Even some bigger firms, including Hoffman, JE Dunn and Pence, have contributed to the effort.

“It’s truly been a community project, where all hands have been on deck, and it’s coming to life,” said Angela Watkins, Constructing Hope’s board chairwoman and owner of Minority Construction Group, the general contractor for the project.

“It’s another piece of Pat’s heart, to be able to create a facility that’s large enough to do the things we need to do,” added Mel Jones, senior diversity and inclusion director for JE Dunn Construction’s Portland office and a Constructing Hope board member. “We want to create a facility that doesn’t look like a prison. Now it’s all brick and beat down, but we want these folks to come and show up and know there’s a future – and part of it was changing that appearance. The other thing was to make it more usable.”

Constructing Hope’s mission is to provide formerly incarcerated Portland residents with construction training and the possibility of a different life. Each class has around 20 students, mostly men. They learn about the construction industry and various trades in a rigorous 10-week course that exposes them to a variety of skills and industry professionals.

“They’ve already been in some extreme situations,” Daniels said. “They’re going to go do whatever it takes to take care of their family, and they find out it’s something they really enjoy, the instant gratification of the work.”

The group has been working out of the 90-year-old building for a decade now. One previous remodel made the space suitable for education. But three years ago, the board authorized Daniels and her staff to seek funding for another renovation in order to better serve students. Some money arrived in 2018 via a Prosper Portland grant, but then a series of setbacks in 2019 – including the temporary loss of nonprofit status – delayed the project. But 2020 saw things turn around in spite of COVID, as further donations came in – including $100,000 from Dave Dahl, co-founder of Dave’s Killer Bread – and contractors were lined up.

“We have stepped up this year as far as what we’ve done with fundraising, branding the program and making sure Pat has a succession plan,” Jones said.

Work is expected to wrap up in late spring, perhaps by May. There will be two new, large classroom and conferences spaces, including one equipped with a huge television. New reception and office space will open onto Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard rather than Church Street, as it was in the past. And the new spaces will have educational purpose: certain walls, floors and ceilings will be covered with plexiglass instead of drywall to allow plumbing, mechanical and electrical systems (plus framing) to be exposed for students to examine.

“It doubles our hands-on training space,” Daniels said.

The project is providing a better future for more than just Constructing Hope, Watkins said.

“I’m a woman of color, and I’ve had to overcome many obstacles,” she said. “And I’m definitely grateful to Constructing Hope for giving me one of my first opportunities to do a larger project. I’m a new company. I’ve been in business for about two years now, and I understand what small businesses go through.”

Whether pre-apprenticeship student or professional contractor, Watkins added, her message – and that of Constructing Hope – remains the same.

“I’m here to help open the door,” she said. “The next step is up to you. You have to be willing to take them in and help them progress to the next step.”

The post A better space for Constructing Hope appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

Sarah Moreno isn’t working much these days.

The heavy equipment operator has three kids – ages 12, 13 and 16 – at home. They would normally be in school, but with schools closed, Moreno is often home with them.

Moreno still goes to work whenever she can. Last week, she worked only one day – at a demolition site with contaminated soils at Portland International Airport for McDonald Excavating.

“You don’t want to use your kids as an excuse to miss work, especially me being a mom in the trades,” she said.

Moreno, an apprentice with Operating Engineers Local 701, moved to Portland from Southern California to take Constructing Hope‘s pre-apprenticeship program. Her kids can stay home by themselves, she said.

“They’re old enough now that I don’t really have to worry about it too much,” she said. “I’m grateful for that, because to find child care, it’s kind of hard.”

Many construction workers are juggling work and children during the COVID-19 pandemic. In recent weeks, contractors and subcontractors also have come to realize that their workers’ child care issues are increasingly their problem.

“I didn’t realize how many of our workers are single parents,” Maurice Rahming, co-owner of O’Neill Construction Group, said last week during an industry conference call that was organized by the Professional Business Development Group. “So with the schools being shut down, they’re responsible for taking care of their kids at home. They have to take the time off because they don’t have anyone else to take care of their kids.”

It can be difficult in the best of times for construction workers to find available and affordable child care. Before the coronavirus began to spread, labor groups in the Portland area were working to provide child care to pre-apprentices entering the industry. The Columbia Pacific Building Trades Council and allies were pitching a program called Labor’s Littles. Willy Myers, executive secretary of the labor council, said the group had asked Metro and other local governments to support the child care effort.

“We struggled to get public funding,” he said.

The COVID-19 pandemic has sharpened those concerns. Schools and day care facilities are closed, and many families are practicing social distancing from grandparents and other family members who would otherwise help out.

Child care is especially needed for beginning workers on labor’s lowest rungs.

“It’s more expensive than people can afford until they reach a certain level,” Myers said.

Meanwhile, the shutdowns of schools and day care facilities have been particularly difficult on women workers, minorities and those with lower incomes. Constructing Hope, a Portland nonprofit that operates a pre-apprenticeship program geared to serve formerly incarcerated people, women and people of color, is speaking with funders to reallocate money for child care.

“There’s really no availability for day care right now,” said Bobby Hamilton, case manager for Constructing Hope.

The pandemic could also slow the entry of new workers into the construction industry.

Anthony Williams, a heavy-machine operator apprentice at the Northwest College of Construction and a recent graduate of Constructing Hope, said he had to take time off from his part-time job at Subway to care for two of his children who live with him, a 7-year-old son and a 5-year-old daughter.

“My child care facility closed,” he said. “I wasn’t able to work for about two weeks until I figured it out. I was forced to try to find someone who does in-home care.”

Williams began taking online classes earlier this month at the Northwest College of Construction. The move to online education has slowed what’s usually a four-year process to become a journeyman.

“Things are moving real slow as far as classes go,” he said.

Williams, 41, entered construction after attempts to have a white-collar business career ran aground because of a 15-year-old felony on his record.

“Construction is the only thing you can go through that you can make a living wage,” he said.

Construction firms in fact have seen some employees come back to work after they were unsuccessful in obtaining unemployment benefits, said Robert Camarillo, executive secretary of the Oregon State Building and Construction Trades Council.

“We saw a lot of folks ask for voluntary layoffs early on,” he said. “What I’m hearing now, the reports that I’m getting, is a lot of those people that asked for those layoffs realized the unemployment system wasn’t there yet, wasn’t ready to be the safety net they were hoping. And so a lot of them have started to return to work.”

The post Work and children: a balancing act appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

The city of Portland has pledged to provide $631,321 in grant funding to local groups engaged in workforce development, criminal record clearing and expungement and re-entry housing services.

Allocation of this second round of city cannabis tax revenue was approved by the City Council at its Oct. 23 meeting. Up to $100,000 will go to nonprofit Constructing Hope to help it provide construction training for up to 50 individuals.

“Construction is one of the few industries that will hire people with a criminal record,” Constructing Hope President Pat Daniels stated in a press release. “But that record bars graduates from many projects, such as federally-funded contracts. With city of Portland support, we will help our participants reduce or remove their criminal records history and secure their driver’s license in a timely manner.”

The Portland Opportunities Industrialization Center and Rosemary Anderson High School, which previously received grant money in the first round of funding, will also receive up to $100,000. Officials anticipate 48 to 60 low-income youths and young adults of color being able to take part in the program to obtain construction-specific job skills, hands-on experience, industry certification and apprenticeship eligibility.

The post Constructing Hope lands city grant money appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

Last week was National Apprentice Week in the United States, and it’s an apt recognition of those just starting out in the construction trades.

But how do people get into the trades in the first place?

In recent years, it’s been a haphazard process that normally differs from trade to trade. One common denominator, however, is that the widespread abandonment of promoting the trades as a career option by public schools has, in part, been a key contributor to the ongoing shortage of skilled trades men and women in the industry.

“I’d definitely say there is a lot of work to be done,” said Katrina Cloud, the director of student services and apprenticeships at the Northwest College of Construction in Portland. “A lot of parents help guide that as well, so really the first one who has an opportunity to have an impact is the parent and also the teacher and counselor. So if they know about those options, that this is another viable option without any debt that is incurred to the apprentice.”

The NWCC recently hired new Director of Education James Reyes in part to forge stronger ties between the building industry and the educational sector. Reyes said the proportion of apprentices with college experience or even a degree is much higher than many would assume. He attributes this to the single-minded focus of educators on the college track, largely at the expense of other options for kids who may not be well-suited for an academic environment.

“The average age of apprenticeships is much higher than you think it is,” Reyes said. “There’s a lot who go to community college or maybe university, and they’ll get so far in debt and then they figure out we’re around and they apply. And they realize they’re making more money than they can with a degree. And they don’t find that right out of high school with the college track.”

To change that, Reyes and the NWCC are busy forging different types of programming at school districts throughout the metro region. In addition, the college works with pre-apprenticeship programs and non-profit groups to draw new apprentices.

“We align with a number of pre-apprenticeship programs,” said Reyes, who formerly was the lead instructor and trainer at Constructing Hope, a Portland-based pre-apprenticeship program that specializes in working with low-income and formerly incarcerated individuals. “We have schools that interface with our facilities, K-12, and some of them do have vocational training programs.”

In addition to hosting pre-apprenticeship classes for Constructing Hope and Oregon Tradeswomen, the NWCC hosts the Portland Opportunities Industrialization Center‘s pre-apprenticeship students and provides instruction. The college also works hand-in-hand with Portland Youth Builders to assist that group with its mission of educating at-risk youth about the possibilities existing in construction and technology.

Reyes said the college also is trying to build stronger ties with Portland Public Schools to bring more vocational training to the state’s largest school district.

The college also jointly offers CTE education in Vancouver’s Evergreen Public Schools district, while bringing high school students from around the metro area directly to the college for instruction through externships.

“They can go into a registered apprenticeship,” Reyes said. “That’s key. You can go to work anywhere, for any company.  That doesn’t mean it has an apprenticeship program, but the goal is to get a skilled labor force out there.”

Exacerbating the industry’s problems in attracting talent is an aging workforce that still is reeling from the loss of hundreds of thousands of skilled workers in the aftermath of the Great Recession. Overall construction job numbers still have not returned to the glory days of 12 years ago, leaving an ever-increasing proportion of trades workers on the verge of retirement.

“If you look at the stats, in ‘99 about 10 to 12 percent of skilled trades workers were getting retired,” Reyes said. “And now it’s about 25 percent. You have had a doubling as they’ve gotten behind the eight-ball where they weren’t bringing in apprentices for the long term.”

The industry is increasingly looking to women and minority candidates to fill the gap, and with increasing success. This is boosted by public sector hiring regulations that help ensure those candidates find work.

It’s working, Cloud said, boosted by both traditional and social media advertising.

“Most of our programs these days are between 30 and 50 percent minorities,” she said. “We’re doing some really unique things. Everybody is doing social media these days, and we’re trying to relate to millennials, folks of all age ranges. We’re also looking at ways to get people connected with contractors right away; how do we make the needs of both meet?”

The post Establishing new pathways to apprenticeship appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

A Portland affordable housing developer is partnering with a pre-apprenticeship program to bring workforce training to a Northeast Portland project and connect low-income youths and adults to living-wage careers in the building industry.

Innovative Housing Inc. plans to break ground next month on Magnolia 2, a 50-unit project at 415 N.E. Fargo St., at the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. The project will include a 1,000-square-foot maker space for residents and community members to work on building projects, participate in classes and workshops, and take classes conducted by pre-apprenticeship program Constructing Hope.

The idea for the maker space was sparked, IHI Executive Director Sarah Stevenson said, by a market-rate project in another city that included space for residents to work on projects.

“We thought that people who are in apartments are sometimes constrained by what they can do,” Stevenson said. “They can’t get it all dirty. They can’t make a lot of noise. They don’t have saws and hammers. So we wanted to create a little workshop space for our residents.”

In exploring the possibilities of how to maximize the community benefits of such a space, the nonprofit developers were connected with Constructing Hope after consulting with National Association of Minority Contractors-Oregon Executive Director Nate McCoy, who realizes the potential for the maker space to boost youth and minority participation in the trades.

“Getting the chance to learn things firsthand and see people that look like you on the project that’s being built next door to you just provides a bit more hope and guidance for those who maybe don’t know about this industry,” McCoy said. “It’s a dual effect of potentially helping people get to a point of wealth creation and economic development by having a good, living-wage job, and hopefully going into homeownership so they can free up an affordable unit for the next person or family.”

Constructing Hope provides 10-week pre-apprenticeship training classes geared to provide a pathway to the trades for adults who have faced economic and social barriers to living-wage jobs, as well as a five-week summer camp for teenagers. The maker space at Magnolia 2 will provide much-needed space for teaching hands-on skills as a way of introducing people of all ages to the trades, Constructing Hope Executive Director Pat Daniels said.

“When you think about construction, we can talk about it all day long, but we don’t have a place where you can come and do a project,” she said. “Millennials have to be engaged, and for us to just come and talk, that’s not engaging them enough.”

A lack of shop space for hands-on learning has always been an issue for pre-apprenticeship programs in the area. Daniels believes the maker space can be used to introduce residents and community members to building industry opportunities, and dispel stereotypes about the nature of construction work.

“We made it out to be an ugly job and just for people who weren’t smart enough, when actually you have to be very smart to be in any of the trades,” she said. “Remember, we pulled construction out of the schools a long time ago. So the average person doesn’t know what a carpenter does. They don’t even know what the average wage of a carpenter is.”

Constructing Hope will offer training and outreach to the Northeast Portland community, while NAMC-Oregon will link trainees and community members with its contacts in the contracting community.

“It’s going to take a good five to 10 years for us to see meaningful utilization of more minorities in the industry,” McCoy said. “So to have a maker space that could allow kids unfettered access to these resources and opportunities is really going to be a game-changer, I think.”

Magnolia 2 is the second phase of what will become a 100-unit apartment building. The first 50-unit phase was completed in 2013, and Magnolia 2 will join it to create a single 100-unit structure. It is a family-oriented development, with 17 one-bedroom units, 23 two-bedroom units, and 10 three-bedroom units.

The approximately $16 million project was designed by LRS Architects and will be built by general contractor Bremik Construction, which worked with Steve Malany and the Associated General Contractors Oregon-Columbia Chapter Foundation to secure a $4,600 grant to purchase tools for the maker space.

Magnolia 2 represents the achievement of a long-held goal of IHI, which in addition to housing, provides services intended to keep its residents stable and successful. As a developer that works closely with contractors, IHI has sought to connect its residents with its construction contacts, but has had trouble identifying a meaningful way to do so.

“We’ve talked about it for a long time with different partners and within our own offices, how great it would be to leverage all these construction contacts we have to help all these residents … access higher-paying, skilled work,” Stevenson said. “With the maker space it just all came together, because suddenly we have a space where we can bring the construction partners and the residents together.”

The post Affordable housing, construction training unite appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

Registration is now open for Oregon Tradeswomen Inc.‘s 2018 Diversity in the Construction Trades Summit. The event will take place Nov. 8, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., at the East County Family Services Center, at 11826 N.E. Glisan St.

OTI and presentation partner Constructing Hope aim to stress that construction projects are a critical component in providing increased economic opportunities to all members of the community. The goal is to ensure that workers of all classes have equitable chances to secure work on public projects as well as increase their skills and leadership. The hope, OTI Communications Director Mary Ann Naylor said, is for the summit to ultimately lead to creation of state-certified MWESB contractors.

Individuals interested in attending can learn more and register by visiting: .

The cost is $100. Financial assistance is available; contact Emma Brennan at emma@tradeswomen.net to gain more details.

The post Construction diversity event scheduled for this fall appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

The construction labor pool in Oregon can expect to see more new faces once Constructing Hope finishes a planned expansion of its training facility in Northeast Portland.

The nonprofit, which helps connect people with jobs in construction, will use $300,000 from Prosper Portland to help pay for the $500,000 project. When work wraps up, Constructing Hope expects to be able to double the number of people graduating from its pre-apprenticeship program, from 100 each year to 200.

Constructing Hope provides free 10-week training programs to prepare people to enter construction trade apprenticeships. The majority of students in the program have faced barriers to jobs that pay middle-income wages due to a lack of higher education, experiences in the criminal justice systems and race discrimination in the workplace.

Graduates from the Constructing Hope pre-apprenticeship program receive assistance with job placement and career advancement from the nonprofit.

Constructing Hope leaders said they plan on tapping women- and minority-owned companies and small emerging firms to work on the expansion.

In addition to the money from Prosper Portland, Constructing Hope will pay for the expansion with a combination of other grants and donations.

The post Expansion on tap for Constructing Hope appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

When it comes to providing entry-level training for people looking to step into careers in the construction trades, Montie Boyer knows there’s no substitute for real-world experience.

That’s why Boyer, the manager of craft instruction at the Northwest College of Construction, has made it a habit to try to find projects for the school’s students that provide hands-on experience while giving back to the community.

The most recent of those efforts is under way at Pleasant Valley Elementary School in Gresham, where the construction college’s students are building a boardwalk and trail system so that students from the grade school and people from the community can easily access a 10-acre site called Wildside.

Since 2007, Pleasant Valley science teacher David Scharfenberg has been working with his sixth-grade students to turn the field from a tangle of blackberry brambles and weeds into a place that is equal parts outdoor laboratory and forest restoration project.

At least twice a week, students leave the classroom and head out into Wildside to conduct experiments. Scharfenberg and his students have planted 4,200 trees and conducted studies to monitor their health. They’ve studied, identified and removed invasive species and worked to re-establish native plants in the area.

The work to transform the site has offered other lessons outside the world of science. With a limited budget to improve Wildside, Scharfenberg’s students have learned to write grants. Those efforts have resulted in drumming up about $225,000 from agencies that include Metro, the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board and the Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District.

They’ve also learned about the intricacies of developing and building in sensitive natural areas as they’ve started to use some of the grant money to install a boardwalk and trail system that will allow others to visit – and learn – about Wildside.

“We had to go through a huge permitting process,” Scharfenberg said. “We discovered it doesn’t matter if you’re a for-profit developer or a nonprofit – you still have to pay for fees.”

In order to stretch the grant money they received for the boardwalk project, Scharfenberg and his students had to get creative. Working with a Tualatin-based company called Western Wood Structures, they found a basic design and a pin-pile foundation product called Diamond Pier that minimized the amount of concrete that would have to be poured to create a foundation for the boardwalk.

The teacher and his students also needed to minimize the cost to actually build the boardwalk and trail system. Scharfenberg had been in talks with ACE Academy to have students in the school build the boardwalk. But the school ended up closing before the projects reached the construction phase. A plan to work with pre-apprentices from Oregon Tradeswomen Inc. also fell through because the school was too far outside of OTI‘s coverage area.

Then Scharfenberg remembered the building he’d passed by near Northeast 82nd Avenue more than once – the Northwest College of Construction. He figured someone there might be able to point him to a new resource. He contacted the college, and soon he and Boyer were discussing how the school and the college could work together on the boardwalk project.

The students at the construction college first began gaining field experience through community projects about 10 years ago when an instructor at the school told Boyer that volunteer help was needed to build the Heroes Memorial in Gresham. For Boyer, the project provided a solution to the challenge of evaluating how students would perform on a real project while providing them with hands-on experience to support their classroom learning.

“For our concrete students, it’s really hard to give them experience with concrete; you can’t pour concrete in a shop,” Boyer said. “So I started trying to get them opportunities outside of the school.”

Soon after the construction college’s students wrapped up a year of working on the Heroes Memorial, more community project opportunities came their way. Although the flood of community projects dried up during the recession, it resumed about four or five years ago, Boyer said.

The Pleasant Valley boardwalk project is more than just a basic hands-on experience, though. It also is providing students exposure to new techniques as a result of working with the Diamond Pier system, which Boyer said he had never worked with until now.

The project also has offered an opportunity for the college to begin to forge a new partnership with Portland Youth Builders and Constructing Hope, which also are providing pre-apprenticeship students for the work crew.

“It’s just opened up a whole new avenue of opportunity,” Boyer said.

The boardwalk project, which includes construction of between 1,000 and 1,200 square feet of gravel trail, is approximately one-third of the way toward completion. Work is expected to wrap up by the time the school cuts a ribbon to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of Wildside.

In the meantime, Scharfenberg’s students are already busy on their next project.

“(They’re) writing grants for monitoring equipment,” he said. “They want to install game cameras to capture images of both human and animal users.”

The post A walk on the Wildside appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

Earlier this month, Oregon Tradeswomen Inc. announced the winners of its first “Woman on the Rise!” awards to spotlight exceptional women participating in apprenticeship programs in Oregon. To mark National Apprenticeship Week and Women in Apprenticeship Day, the 91��Ƶ asked the four winners to share their stories and offer some insight and suggestions for companies looking to attract and retain women in the construction trades. Here’s what they had to say:

Name: Isis Roshon Harris

Status: fourth-term apprentice

Trade: Electrician

Union affiliation: IBEW Local 48

91��Ƶ: How did you end up in an apprenticeship in the construction trades?

Harris: I was originally exposed to the construction industry as a student of YouthBuilders. … I was a single parent of two by the age of 17, so it was a very hectic time in my life and my focus wasn’t as heightened as was required to be successful.

In 2005-11 I served a sentence at Coffee Creek Correctional. During my incarceration my two teenage sons began to get in trouble with the law and were in and out of youth facilities. I used my time behind bars as effectively as I could. I enrolled in school before I came home (March 3, 2011) and was sitting in class at Portland Community College (25 days later).

In December 2013 I was unemployed, and near eviction, when my oldest son was shot in the face. He survived but is badly scarred and was jailed again as a result of collateral damage caused by his trauma. My youngest son was already incarcerated and facing a lengthy sentence.

By January 2014 I enrolled in Constructing Hope Pre-Apprenticeship program. It was unpaid and I was broke, but I knew if I didn’t make a change in my life I was going to self-destruct in a hailstorm of depression guilt. … I tested to get into the apprenticeship training program twice. I failed the test the first time and had to wait another six months to retest. … I spent a year and a half waiting to enter apprenticeship. … I’m now in the Inside apprenticeship program, which is where I’ll finish.

91��Ƶ: It’s widely acknowledged that it can be harder for women (than men) to succeed in the world of construction trades. Why are you willing to enter a field where you may have to work harder – or smarter – just to be given a fair chance at creating a career for yourself?

Harris: I’m personally willing to work hard and use my head doing it because I have no choice but to push a hard line at this point in my life. I not only have something to prove to myself – that I am capable, strong and smart with the perseverance to stay the path – but also to my sons so that when they do come home they will know that despite their past mistakes they can create a beautifully fulfilling future. I have to be the example of that.

91��Ƶ: What do you think building industry players should be doing differently or better to attract more women to careers in the trades? To retain them?

Harris: I think the key to attracting more women to the trades is showing them other women in the trades, having face-to-face interactions. Mentorships would be very useful in providing support, information and encouragement to women interested in pursuing a trades-related career. Ongoing training for staff and rank-and-file members on inclusion, equity and harassment-free workplaces should be standard.

Retention of women in trades could be helped with mentorship, safe and confidential reporting systems for harassment. … I do believe there should be an open communication channel for women to be able to give feedback without fear of repercussion about what helps them to learn and retain information.

Name: Katie Kuchta
Status: journeyed out Nov. 3

Trade: Laborer
Union affiliation: Oregon and Idaho Laborer 737
91��Ƶ: How did you end up working in the construction trades?

Kuchta: I always knew I (was meant) to do something wonderful; I just didn’t know what it was. I was tired of being a bartender not having a retirement or pension or barely being able to take care of myself and my son. I knew I wanted to make an honest living wage and be able to provide solely for my son and not rely on anybody else. I grew up around a lot of construction workers and didn’t know there was a spot for me in this world in the construction industry (until) I met somebody who told me about Oregon Tradeswomen Inc. (OTI) and I jumped on it! I first became a laborer in July 2015. I first did dispatch as a subcontractor for Skanska. I knew to work very hard and it would pay off, and it did – three months into my apprenticeship, I got (hired) by Skanska and now I’ve worked for (the company) for two and a half years.

91��Ƶ: Are you involved in any industry-related volunteer work?

Kuchta: I now mentor women at OTI and whenever I can out there, in grocery stores, at gas stations, and just on the streets.

91��Ƶ: It’s widely acknowledged that it can be harder for women (than men) to succeed in the world of the construction trades. Why are you willing to enter a field where you may have to work harder – or smarter – just to be given a fair chance at creating a career for yourself?

Kuchta: Being a woman on a job site is actually pretty empowering. When you go to a job site and there are other women, they’re so happy to see you that there’s none of this egotistical (stuff). I feel the best part about being a laborer is, at the end of the day you look back and you’ve made your job site a better place to be.

When it comes to dealing with men trying to pick up on you at work or belittling you because you’re a woman, I haven’t much run into that, but I’ve heard of it happening. I just let them know that I’m here to make an honest living wage and to make a better life for myself. Luckily I work with a great crew and team. We’re family … we look out for each other and protect each other (and) make sure at the end of the day we all go home alive.

91��Ƶ: Is there anything else you’d like to share?

Kuchta: My biggest goal on the job site is to work harder than the boys. Women can do it, too. The guys are always there to help and willing to teach you how to do things as well. … You put your foot down from the start, let them know where you stand and that you’re willing to learn and you can do it, too. Someday we women will be superintendents and higher-ups. Just remember, I got you, sister!

Name: Heather Mayther Perez

Status: eighth-term apprentice

Trade: Carpenter

Union affiliation: Local 1503

91��Ƶ: How did you end up in an apprenticeship in the construction trades?

Perez: Since I was 15 I worked as a painter’s helper for my Uncle Chris’ residential painting company. I enjoyed working with my hands and learning new skills. I worked in an office for a few years and didn’t like that environment. When I was 28 I gave birth to triplets. I knew I needed a career that I could advance in, make a good wage, and have health benefits for them. I saw an ad for (Oregon Tradeswomen Inc.) and gave them a call. Have yet to regret it!

91��Ƶ: What, so far, have been some of the biggest challenges?

Perez: Moving through the different aspects of carpentry can be challenging. For example, finish carpentry looks nothing like concrete work, which is what I do now. Having children and trying to balance overtime or having to say “no” to more hours is difficult. I’m self-conscious about being “the mom” on the crew who has doctors’ appointments or if I have to leave when one (of my children) gets hurt, etc.

91��Ƶ: Are you involved in any industry-related community or volunteer service and/or organizations/affiliations? If so, what are they?

Perez: I am focusing on making my monthly union meetings and forging a path within my local.

91��Ƶ: It’s widely acknowledged that it can be harder for women (than men) to succeed in the world of the construction trades. Why are you willing to enter a field where you may have to work harder – or smarter – just to be given a fair chance at creating a career for yourself?

Perez: Creating a life full of experiences for my kids drives me. It pushes me to want to be successful in the trades. Peeps who choose this path are naturally hard workers and not looking for an easy road per se. Having some really incredible journeymen have been invaluable to me. My greatest mentor yet was a superintendent, Duwayne Gilbert, who never let me take the easy way, and encouraged me.

91��Ƶ: What do you think building industry players (including project owners, general contractors and unions) should be doing differently or better to attract more women to careers in the trades? To retain them?

Perez: Having a zero-tolerance harassment policy that is actually enforced sets a tone. Women deal with this in many forms, but the hesitation comes when you hear current tradeswomen share their (negative) experiences and what little repercussions there are.

91��Ƶ: Is there anything else you’d like to share with 91��Ƶ readers?

Perez: We all have something that motivates us. Encouraging each other is important in this difficult work. If we build each other up like we build the Portland city skyline, we’d have that many more … skilled journeymen.

Name: Carly Rush

Status: third-year apprentice

Trade: sheet metal

Union affiliation: Local 16

91��Ƶ: How did you end up in an apprenticeship in the construction trades?

Rush: I did mostly office work after becoming a mom and was never content after the challenge of learning a job was complete. A family friend is an electrician, and she encouraged me to apply to the local IBEW at a time when I was very unhappy at an apartment management job. I had worked for Safelite Auto Glass for four years before I had my first child and had enjoyed warehouse work and being a rock chip repair tech, so the trades didn’t seem like a stretch to me.

I qualified for the apprenticeship but did horribly on my panel interview, which landed me in a very low rank on the pool of eligible apprentices. I was pointed in the direction of Oregon Tradeswomen in order to boost my rank in a re-interview later on. While in the OTI pre-apprenticeship class I found that being a sheet metal worker interested me much more than being an electrician.

91��Ƶ: What, so far, have been some of the biggest challenges?

Rush: Believing in myself. I am my worst critic, and I’m much too hard on myself. I constantly have to remind myself I’m learning and it’s OK to mess up – that’s the best way to learn.

91��Ƶ: It’s widely acknowledged that it can be harder for women (than men) to succeed in the world of the construction trades. Why are you willing to enter a field where you may have to work harder – or smarter – just to be given a fair chance at creating a career for yourself?

Rush: The first reason I’m willing is to provide for my family. I get fair pay and excellent benefits for my whole family. Despite being my worst critic, I know I can be just as good as any man at my job. It can be stressful at times knowing I have to work harder than a male counterpart to be considered just average at my job, but I thrive when I’m being challenged.

91��Ƶ: What do you think building industry players should be doing differently or better to retain women in the trades?

Rush: Give women more opportunities. I sometimes feel like I’m not given a chance to do harder work because I am good at keeping a job organized and get stuck in that role. Women need just as much experience and knowledge in all aspects of the work. Treat us as you would any co-worker.

I don’t feel that I’ve been bullied or harassed, but I do feel that I’ve been pigeonholed at times. One of my strong suits is organization and at times I’ve felt stuck there. I am lucky to have had journeymen that I’ve worked with that have advocated for me to get more well-rounded experience when I haven’t felt comfortable speaking up as an apprentice. I want to be treated the same as any other apprentice, so stop offering to carry things for me. I will ask for help if I need it.

The post Words of wisdom from women ‘on the rise’ appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.