With face coverings and masks on, more women are training to join the construction trades.

Mary Ann Naylor, communications & marketing director for Oregon Tradeswomen Inc., said demand is high for the organization’s pre-apprenticeship classes, despite cancellations of in-person recruitment events due to the pandemic.

Over the past decade, the percentage of women entering the trades industry has been steadily increasing. In 2019, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 10.3 percent of workers in construction were women.

Organizations such as OTI have served as a workforce pipeline by providing advocacy and training. OTI’s eight-week pre-apprenticeship programs are offered four times a year.

Even now, in a socially distanced world, OTI is continuing its work via a hybrid model. Students take field trips to workshops, but they complete all classroom work remotely through Zoom.

One of OTI’s ongoing initiatives is to get more tradeswomen to the forefront of the industry and thus show other women that they can get their hands dirty.

“Culturally, we started degrading trades jobs 40 years ago,” Naylor said. “Parents didn’t want their kids to go the trades.”

Recruitment of women to join the industry has been a battle on multiple fronts, Naylor said. There’s been a cultural bias against trade jobs as well as the notion that getting one’s hands dirty mean’s one isn’t smart enough, she said.

Meanwhile, women don’t see other women doing the work, Naylor said. She recommended that company officials review their advertisements and online presence to see who’s represented.

OTI typically holds an annual career fair in which tradeswomen work with middle school students, high school students and adults. It’s an important recruitment event, Naylor said, because women can see others doing the work. But the event was cancelled both last year and this year because of the pandemic.

Holding recruitment events amid COVID-19 is challenging, said Bridget Quinn, workforce development coordinator for NECA-IBEW. The most impactful part of informational meetings, she added, is when they become social events and women in the industry give tips and tricks to those interested.

As more women get into the trades, others become increasingly interested, Quinn said. It turns into a word-of-mouth phenomenon where women in the industry begin referring friends, family members and neighbors.

In 2011, women made up 12 percent of NECA-IBEW’s workforce. By 2020, they made up 14.1 percent.

“It’s a lot harder to message to women to what has been traditionally a male occupation,” Quinn said.

OTI centers its programs on prepare women sufficiently for careers in the trades. For instance, students are encouraged to be vocal.

“As women, we’re not socialized to be loud and take up space,” Naylor said. “You need to be loud on construction sites yelling out stuff going on – People have to be able to hear you over the machines.”

OTI also collaborates with Fulcrum Fitness to train pre-apprentices for the profession’s physical demands.

In a typical year, OTI graduates 120 students; however, last year there were just 60 because of the pandemic. The group is looking to create freestanding modules and a pipeline navigation program to increase the number of women entering the industry, Naylor said.

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Oregon Tradeswomen Inc., founded 30 years ago, is finally getting its own training facility.

The nonprofit group, known primarily for training and advocating for women in the building industry, in mid-January will move into a remodeled building in Gresham’s Rockwood neighborhood.

Central Bethany Construction, a division of project developer Central Bethany Development, is carrying out tenant improvement work at an 8,000-square-foot space on Southeast 187th Avenue, near the intersection with Stark Street. YBA Architects carried out design work for the project.

“It’s been a personal goal of mine, and an agency goal, to do this and we’re really excited,” OTI Executive Director Kelly Kupcak said. “We serve more and more women who are living in poverty and are coming to our program for answers. So it’s a critical opportunity for us to shift the way we do business and the way we reinvest back into our community and region.”

Crews broke ground on the OTI project in June, around the same time workers began tackling Rockwood Rising nearby; that mixed-use project also is being developed by Central Bethany Development.

OTI has inked a five-year lease for the new space, which will have a large shop, meeting rooms, staff space, and locker rooms for students. The group will not only have a better place to train women in pre-apprenticeships, but also space to host public workshops and other events while partnering with the cities of Gresham and Portland and other entities.

“We’re really looking forward to those things,” Kupcak said. “But the other piece that is really important to us is that we will be able to train our women at night and on weekends, which is huge for the women who are working toward new careers.”

OTI has encountered serious challenges in bringing women with day jobs into pre-apprenticeship training, Kupcak said. The new facility will help immensely, she added.

The group also will focus more on working with people simply looking for work or an opportunity.

“We are serving folks who are houseless, and we didn’t used to do this before,” Kupcak said. “Over the last two years we’ve made a lot of change about intentionality and about removing barriers for our clients; we wanted a welcoming physical space for the public and for tradeswomen.”

Kupcak praised the efforts of Central Bethany Development General Managing Partner Roy Kim and his firm.

“They really wanted a workforce development partner in there, and they’ve been incredible to work with,” she said. “Everyone’s talking about Rockwood being poor; we all know that. But it’s also the most diverse neighborhood in the region, and there is a young population, so there are huge opportunities there.”

Demolition was carried out at the site some time ago, Central Bethany Construction Superintendent Steve Wahle said, but real tenant improvement work began last month. The building was once part of a former Fred Meyer store that closed over 15 years ago, he said.

“We took it down to the studs, took out all the ceiling – and we had a lot of rot, so we did repairs there,” Wahle said. “Then we had a floor plan from our architect, and that’s what we have going here now.”

A large roll-up door separates the entrance from a large classroom on one side and staff space on the other. The building’s north end holds the shop and training area. Currently, drywall is being installed in preparation for painting and finishes.

“This warehouse side is a big space,” Wahle said. “We’re just waiting for the Sheetrock to get done and the finishes to start. It’s a little rough still, but it’s a big thing for them and for the city, the area of Rockwood; it’s all transforming right now.”

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Oregon Tradeswomen Inc. is set to host its 12th annual Tradeswomen Leadership Institute event, which offers workshops on leadership development, advocacy and unity among women in the architecture, construction and engineering industries.

This year’s event will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Dec. 7, at the Sheet Metal Institute Training Center at 2379 N.E. 178th Ave. in Portland. Tickets are $35, and include breakfast and lunch. Child care vouchers are available upon request. Registration will close Nov. 26.

During the “Thriving and Surviving in Apprenticeship” session, a panel of tradeswomen will talk about community services that can help workers find child care, address jobsite harassment and enter the industry after incarceration.

Other workshops will include “Advancing Your Professional Career,” “Public Policy and Advocacy – She Runs” and “Financial Toolkit for the Trades.”

Prospective attendees can learn more by emailing Kelly Kupcak at kelly@tradeswomen.net.

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Building industry professionals are invited to swap their tools and work gear at an event hosted by Oregon Tradeswomen Inc. It’s scheduled for Nov. 14, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., at the nonprofit’s offices at 3934 N.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd in Portland.

Attendees can bring their own functional tools and gear to either trade or donate. Food and drinks will be provided while they browse available items.

Donated items will be distributed on a first-come-first-serve basis; swaps will be determined by tools’ current owners. Any equipment left over at the end of the evening will be donated to students in OTI‘s pre-apprenticeship programs.

OTI also will be celebrating its selection as one of the 150-some nonprofits to participate in Willamette Week’s annual Give!Guide campaign. A donation of $10 to any of the nonprofits in this year’s campaign will yield a 12-month subscription to the Chinook Book app.

People can learn more about the tool swap by contacting Kim Neel at kim@tradeswomen.net or 503-335-8200 (extension 123).

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In Gresham’s Rockwood neighborhood, on the east side of Southeast 187th Avenue near its intersection with Stark Street, an existing single-story commercial building is being refurbished to accommodate a host of new tenants. One will be Oregon Tradeswomen Inc.

The Portland Opportunities Industrialization Center, Mt. Hood Community College Small Business Development Center and Micro Enterprise Services of Oregon will occupy space in the building. OTI plans to move its operations there from Northeast Portland sometime between December 2019 and January 2020, according to OTI communications director Mary Ann Naylor.

“This new location will allow us to have our offices, our classroom, as well as our workshop (together),” she said Wednesday. “Right now, the way we handle the hands-on training portion of our pre-apprenticeship classes, we partner with other nonprofits that need help with their projects because we want to give our students an authentic building experience to really prepare them for the jobsite.”

But that also means students currently have to travel to various jobsites and training facilities around the metro area. However, in Rockwood, with space of their own to work in, students generally won’t have to travel as much.

“Having a workshop will allow us to standardize that training and bring our partners in to conduct specific trainings,” Naylor said. “We will actually have a place to train our students. It’s just going to give us all the flexibility we’ve been wanting for the last few years to really better serve our students and industry.”

Naylor also noted that OTI originally established its headquarters in Northeast Portland because that area of the city was considered blighted and socioeconomically disadvantaged. As the area gentrified and property values shot up, however, the same women OTI sought to serve were priced out.

“In the 20 years that Oregon Tradeswomen has had offices in Northeast (Portland), it was perfect because that’s where our people used to be,” she said. “But as we’ve developed in the Northeast, a lot of those people have moved out (to east Multnomah County).”

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Oregon Tradeswomen Inc. held its annual career fair on Friday and Saturday, drawing hundreds of students and women interested in the trades to the NECA-IBEW Electrical Training Center in Northeast Portland.

More than 70 companies and organizations hosted exhibitions, and 40 interactive workshops and activities were available to attendees at the two-day event. 2019 marked the 27th annual career fair, which is intended to introduce young women to career opportunities in the skilled trades. More than 100 volunteers contributed to OTI‘s event this year.

On Friday, high school students from around Oregon attended the career fair. Then on Saturday, OTI welcomed the general public.

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There’s no end in sight to the shortage of skilled tradespeople in the construction industry. That, in short, is motivating supporters of Senate Bill 82 in the Oregon Legislature‘s 2019 session. It would direct the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries to establish a new program that would provide supportive services for pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs throughout the state. The program would be funded by a pass-through fee attached to certain public works projects subject to prevailing wage rates.

Kelly Kupcak, executive director of Oregon Tradeswomen Inc., worked with representatives of other pre-apprentice groups to help craft the bill. While with the Chicago Women in Trades, Kupcak in 2006 helped push for the passage of similar legislation supporting pre-apprenticeships for women and other disadvantaged groups by linking funding for training in a larger infrastructure bill.

“In Illinois they were able to get enough support from the state Legislature and governor’s office to institute a set-aside from capital improvement projects for pre-apprenticeships,” Kupcak said. “There is this ongoing demand for skilled labor, and report after report that says we can’t meet that demand.”

In some ways, SB 82 is quite similar to the Illinois model. But SB 82 also offers a wide range of support for people receiving training. This includes assistance with the cost of transportation, lodging, child care, job supplies and equipment, and even housing stabilization services.

“We had suggested this is an opportunity to have an assurance of a pool of dollars that would ebb and flow based on demand,” Kupcak said. “If the state has a lot of capital projects on the books, there is an obvious need and a funding stream to get them in. In a lot of ways the model is simple, but it makes sense.”

Money from the pass-through fee would go into a new State Apprenticeship and Training Supportive Services Fund. From there, money would be disbursed to qualifying pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs.

The legislation also calls for establishment of new standards for approving so-called “qualified” programs.

While there would be no year-to-year guarantee of funding, the program would funnel more money into training programs at times when demand for construction workers peaks.

John Rakowitz, director of public and strategic affairs for the Associated General Contractors’ Oregon-Columbia chapter, told the 91��Ƶ he has not yet reviewed SB 82. But he noted that given AGC‘s obvious support for workforce development, it’s likely the organization would back that bill. He added that it is just as important for the Legislature to fully fund the high school career and technical education programs that were brought to life by the passage in 2016 of Measure 98.

“We’ve been at the forefront of advocating for career technical education, and we supported Ballot Measure 98 for that reason,” Rakowitz said. “And we want Measure 98 to be fully funded; that’s where our focus has been.”

Shawn Miller, a lobbyist for Associated Builders and Contractors’ Pacific Northwest chapter, shared similar sentiments.

“We’re very supportive of apprenticeships and legislation that will increase workforce development and getting folks into the trades,” Miller said. “So, generally we’ll be supportive of a lot of those bills and support the Legislature. We can’t comment on specific bills, as we haven’t got all the positions down, and there may be another 1,000 bills introduced. There will be a lot of bills surrounding the construction industry.”

SB 82 was introduced for a first reading Jan. 14 and referred to the Senate president’s desk. The following day, the bill was referred to the Senate Workforce Committee, where it awaits a hearing.

“I’m excited about it,” Kupcak said. “We’ll be reaching out to legislators in the coming months to say, ‘Hey, here’s the impact this investment can mean for the state.’”

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A Northeast Portland building that for years hosted a complex of adult entertainment businesses is undergoing demolition. An affordable housing facility to be built in its place is the result of years of work by Cully neighborhood residents and nonprofit organizations to transform the site into a positive community asset.

Located on a triangular lot at the intersection of Northeast Cully Boulevard, Killingsworth Street and U.S. Route 30, the site was formerly home to the Sugar Shack strip club, which was a haven for prostitution and human trafficking.

A team of community nonprofits, including Hacienda CDC, Habitat for Humanity Portland/Metro East, Verge and the Native American Youth and Family Center, formed a coalition called Living Cully and purchased the property in 2015. Hacienda CDC bought the property from the partnership two years later and is planning to redevelop the site with a 140-unit affordable housing complex.

Much of the building’s interior has already been demolished: Oregon Tradeswomen Inc. used it in years past to teach hands-on demolition skills to pre-apprenticeship students. Before structural demolition commenced last month, the ReBuilding Center held a community giveaway for salvaged materials and furniture reclaimed from the site.

General contractor LMC Construction is overseeing the demolition. Abatement contractor IRS Environmental of Portland removed asbestos roofing and interior materials, and demolition contractor Lauzon Contracting last week began structural demolition work.

The 67-year-old building’s exterior walls are made of 18-inch-thick cast-in-place concrete formed with dimension lumber.

“It’s actually a pretty stout old building,” said Art O’Leary, a project superintendent with LMC Construction.

The 26,000-square-foot building will be taken down to the slab by next week. The new affordable housing project is still in the development phase. Salazar Architect is designing a four-story, 140-unit apartment building with three floors of residential units over at-grade parking, community space and residences. Plans also call for food cart vendors involved in Hacienda CDC’s Micro-Enterprise programs and an urban plaza/green space.

In an effort to honor women and bury the exploitive nature of the site’s past, the new development will be named Las Adelitas in homage to a group of women who participated in the Mexican Revolution as soldiers, medics and spies.

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Rochelle Sadler received a birthday gift this year that could not be more fitting for a dedicated tradeswoman.

And true to form, her modesty prevents her from making a big deal out of it.

“I journeyed out on my birthday, on June 25,” said Sadler, who is employed by Jacobs Heating & Air Conditioning as a sheet metal technician. “I finally accomplished something by age 30, whether it’s a huge accomplishment or not.”

Earning journey status in any trade is a big deal. But not only did Sadler reach a milestone in own her career, in earning that distinction she also became the first African-American woman ever in Oregon to reach that status in the sheet metal trade.

“I feel proud. It’s a stupid word, but I do know the history of black people in the trades and how they fought to be even welders,” Sadler said. “They put black people through the gauntlet; just the history, the fight that was fought to even do the worst jobs, I guess this is the result of that.”

Sara Brady is the director of apprenticeships for the Portland-based Associated Builders and Contractors‘ Pacific Northwest Chapter. She watched firsthand as Sadler earned her journey card the old-fashioned way through the ABC‘s sheet metal apprenticeship program.

“She’s amazing,” Brady said. “She struggled at first, and it was hard. She had a lot of life happen, and she worked harder than a lot of people I’ve seen go through her apprenticeship.”

Sadler’s journey began over five years ago, back in the days when she was struggling to get by each month. She was receiving public benefits, including food stamps, and had no idea where to turn for a fulfilling work experience, let alone a career.

“I was on food stamps, so they make you go to the job center,” she said. “I didn’t know what skills I had, and I jokingly said I wanted to be an electrician.”

That offhand remark ultimately led her to discover Oregon Tradeswomen Inc. and that group’s pre-apprenticeship course for prospective trade workers.

“I went through the pre-apprenticeship program and I essentially chose sheet metal because all the other women were choosing carpentry,” she said. “I thought I’d go off the beaten path, but honestly, I didn’t know what sheet metal was.”

After not working steadily for the past three years, however, the idea of an apprenticeship had a strong appeal for Sadler. And after moving to Oregon from St. Paul, Minnesota, she needed to make her own way in the world.

“I didn’t even know what an apprenticeship was,” she said. “I didn’t even know this is how things work, and I wish they’d introduce this to the schools more because parents aren’t teaching.”

James Reyes, the new director of education at the Northwest College of Construction, said Sadler’s experience is not unusual among those who are attracted to the college’s various apprenticeship programs.

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

Sadler’s own experience sticks with her, mainly because it mirrors Reyes’ description.

“My dad always told me to become a doctor, but he didn’t lay out the plan of how I’m supposed to do that,” she said. “And that angers me, because how else would I know how to do it? So, I guess just even seeing women doing sheet metal or whatever, I think that lets people know it’s possible.”

Katrina Cloud, director of student services and apprenticeships at the Northwest College of Construction, said there are two main things the industry can do to help move its recruitment efforts out of the current paradigm.

“One is definitely getting the high school counselors and teachers involved,” Cloud said. “They’re such good advocates, and that’s on everybody’s radar now. The other half of that is the employment office and WorkSource Oregon.”

Cloud said that the state could greatly increase its efforts to expose job seekers to the trades using WorkSource Oregon, which serves the unemployed.

“It would be great to see some of those folks in places that touch a lot of people to be able to share a wide variety of opportunities with them, including apprenticeships in general,” she said. “A lot of these people who are looking for something just haven’t found the right thing yet.”

Marcy Huxtable, commercial division manager for Jacobs Heating & Air Conditioning, hired Sadler and watched as she finished her apprenticeship through the ABC and Northwest College of Construction. Huxtable is on the ABC’s apprentice board and had already seen what Sadler was capable of.

“I had known her and her name had been kicked around,” Huxtable said. “So she came back and went to work through another company, but she came here and applied and I just really liked her and thought she had the potential. So we encouraged her to come over here and finish her schooling.”

She eventually left Milwaukie firm HVAC Inc., dabbled in architectural sheet metal work and finally joined Jacobs.

Most recently, Sadler and her fellow Jacobs’ employees have been installing heating and air conditioning at the Vancouver Apartments project in Northeast Portland being built by general contractor Marathon Construction Services of Wilsonville. The two-building project features heating and air conditioning ductwork throughout both structures, which has meant a lengthy stay onsite for Jacobs. It has also allowed Marathon site superintendent Jay Coalman to get to know the trade workers swarming his job site.

“She’s a great gal,” Coalman said, describing Sadler’s work as outstanding.

With feedback like that, Sadler’s is likely to generate plenty of momentum as she progresses in her career.

“I like to keep my options open,” she said. “I’m using the job I’m at right now to learn as much as possible.”

Sadler freely admits she also is looking ahead with an eye on advancement.

“My main goal is to get my feet in the mud,” she said. “I know a lot of women who are project managers and they’ve never been in the field and there’s a lot of disconnect there, so I want to eventually get out of the field and into project management.”

The keys to doing just, she added, are personality and communication.

“I think that there are a lot of women who could do the jobs physically,” she said. “But then the personal or relationship aspects of coworkers are where a lot of women fail.”

For Brady, Sadler’s accomplishments are a victory not only for women and minorities, but the power of perseverance.

“We were just excited,” Brady said. “There’s such a push to get women and minorities into the program and she’s such a cool person anyhow and worked so hard to do it, and she did it. She worked hard, she had a take a leave, and a lot of people, when they do that, they don’t come back and finish.”

“I feel like people assume I can’t do it,” Sadler added. “I don’t feel pressure to prove it, but I get irritated; let me show you I can do that.”

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For the women who complete Oregon Tradeswomen Inc.‘s eight-week Trades and Apprenticeship Career Class, the experience often is life-changing.

Formerly timid personalities are cast aside, leadership skills are learned and confidence is gained.

“So many different levels of anxiety and fear and different barriers I’ve had through my whole life came up, and I faced them,” said Sadie Wood, a 35-year-old single mother and a new TACC graduate. “And it changed me inside a lot for the better. And now I’m determined; I’ve never been so determined in my entire life.”

Amid a prominent shortage of skilled labor in the construction industry, the 91��Ƶ is taking a closer look at how OTI is making a difference with its Trades and Apprenticeship Career Class, which is offered quarterly through the Pathways to Success Program. In the final part of a three-part series, recent graduates discuss what they’ve learned and how they hope to apply it in the construction industry. And one OTI official explains how graduates can pursue numerous career opportunities in the trades.

Skills create opportunities

Wood has applied to the Sheet Metal Workers International Association Local No. 16 to become an apprentice; she’s awaiting an interview soon at the union hall. It’s an opportunity that she says never would have appeared without the opportunity offered by OTI. New grant money from the Community Childcare Initiative even allowed Wood to attend the course without having to worry about how she would take care of her two daughters.

“I’m grateful I did this because I had no idea I was capable of the things I’ve done,” Wood told her assembled classmates and their supporters Wednesday night during a graduation ceremony at the NECA-IBEW Electrical Training Center. “Using a chop saw was terrifying. But using a torch, I found out I was incredibly in love with metal; I think I didn’t know I liked metal and fire so much.”

Wood and her classmates were introduced to a variety of trades, unions and the very essence of the construction industry and its workplace culture.

And through OTI’s industry contacts it has established over the years, it’s now just as common for contractors to approach the group for leads on possible workers as it is for TACC graduates to try and make those contacts on their own.

“If they go to an apprenticeship, those contractors sign on with the apprenticeship programs and that’s hands off for us,” said Kim Neel, a career counselor for OTI for the past six years. “If not, in some ways they rely on us because we have contractors and employers who are calling us constantly telling us, ‘Hey, we want to hire your graduates.’”

There’s so much demand for TACC graduates that an online job board now lists the work available; all of those postings come from outside contractors.

Some of these recent graduates have already applied for a variety of apprenticeships with union-backed programs. Those connections were made during the initial stages of the TACC as students were given field trips to various training centers and job sites to expose them to as many trades as possible.

That’s how Courtney Newberg decided she wanted to become an ironworker. The 28-year-old Michigan native said that from the beginning she was instantly attracted to the subculture.

“I looked at different trades and what my personality lends itself best to,” she said. “Ironworkers are tough, gnarly dudes, and there’s something that’s very glamorous about that to me. I’m attracted to being a part of that tough group of people. I did Oregon Tradeswomen with an open mind, but I did the eight weeks and at the end of it that’s still what I want to do.”

Newberg has submitted her apprenticeship application to Ironworkers Local 29, and because she has already completed a pre-apprenticeship program she is eligible for open entry to the union. Now, she’s waiting for her interview and the chance to get to work.

“For me, going in and applying it was the stereotypical people applying – big, strong white men,” she said. “So, I go in there and I’m like, ‘I look different,’ which was intimidating. But I have this extreme confidence because I have an in. I’ve worked my butt off for the chance to get in, so I’ll likely get to work before these guys and that’s super empowering and amazing.”

Different ways into the trades

Of course, not all pre-apprenticeship graduates choose to apply for a union-backed apprenticeship. Some go the open shop route. But one way or another, a solid majority wind up in the trades.

“They’re all a little bit different,” Neel said.

With IBEW Local 48, she said, once applicants are ranked, they attend a boot camp. If they do well, in some cases they can be on the job within the next week. Ironworkers and operators have a similar boot camp, while some contractors run their own version.

“In some apprenticeships, like the sprinkler fitters, you get on with an employer first,” Neel added. “And if they like you, they’ll bind you into the union afterward.”

Because of the myriad ways to enter the workforce, the experience and contacts brought into play by OTI staff are critical to students’ success. And that support certainly doesn’t end with graduation and job placement.

“I’ve been here almost six years and I still hear from people from my first year,” Neel said. “They still come back with questions, with issues, and when there’s something I don’t know, we as a team figure it out.”

Knowing that support will always be there, Neel added, really helps graduates mitigate the difficulties typically found when entering the trades.

“As long as they’re out there, they can come back here and they know they can,” she said. “And it gives them confidence knowing we’re here to support them, and I think that is key.”

One issue that remains a problem in recruiting new workers into the trades is simply getting the word out. With the demise of vocational classes in public education, the ways in which people find their way into programs like OTI’s remain a bit random.

Elizabeth Applegate graduated from the University of North Carolina with a degree in journalism and absolutely no idea of what the skilled trades were all about. More recently, she found herself working at a dog day care facility. It wasn’t fulfilling, she said.

“I literally one night just Googled ‘how to learn how to build a house in Portland Oregon’ and Oregon Tradeswomen popped up,” Applegate said. “I took a look and thought this looks cool and signed up.”

Now, Applegate is planning to apply for entry in the IBEW Local 48 apprenticeship program, along with seven other TACC graduates. One is Uneka James, who previously worked in a chicken processing plant – at times on the facility’s heavy machinery. She found out about the OTI program through her family.

“My sister told me about it, and she said, ‘You might have to do some exercise with it,’” James said with a laugh. “And I was like, ‘Hey, wait a minute now; I don’t know about that.’”

That didn’t keep James from completing the class. She was even tabbed as one of two student speakers at Wednesday’s graduation.

“I went from being scared of math to I’m a math queen now,” James told her classmates. “Being scared to use a Skilsaw? Not anymore. And when you have the wonderful ladies in the program, they’re the most supportive women you could ever have. It inspired us.”

For Wood, the thought of simply being able to buy school clothes for her daughters and eventually take them to Disneyland has been a driving force behind her determination.

“I turned in my application today actually,” she said. “I made the decision this morning and I woke up really nervous, because sometimes we mistake excitement for fear. So, I decided I was just going to be excited about it, and it’s been a really good day.”

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