{"id":222,"date":"2018-09-24T12:10:08","date_gmt":"2018-09-24T12:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/djcoregon.com\/skilledmag\/?p=222"},"modified":"2021-08-24T15:45:47","modified_gmt":"2021-08-24T15:45:47","slug":"a-training-program-begins-to-build","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/djcoregon.com\/skilledmag\/2018\/09\/24\/a-training-program-begins-to-build\/","title":{"rendered":"A training program begins to build"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Portland

Portland Opportunities Industrialization Center instructor Torre Sathrum, a former general contractor, leads pre-apprentice students through a lesson in laminates at the Northwest College of Construction. (Josh Kulla\/91ÊÓƵ)<\/p><\/div>\n

Workforce development has become more than a topic of discussion among contractors; it\u2019s now a mantra.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone is looking for skilled labor and not finding it,\u201d\u00a0Northwest College of Construction President Bob Strader said.<\/p>\n

But nonprofit\u00a0Portland Opportunities Industrialization Center (POIC) Inc.\u00a0and\u00a0Rosemary Anderson High School\u00a0have partnered to make a difference in the situation. They are offering a pre-apprenticeship course to young people ages 17-25, most of whom are minorities and come from disadvantaged backgrounds.<\/p>\n

Work Opportunity Training classes kicked off at the Northwest College of Construction in Northeast Portland in the spring, and the 12-week program concluded in June. At that point, graduates were able to start work or continue their training in a formal apprenticeship program.<\/p>\n

And even though the program just started, contractors from throughout the Portland-metro area already are expressing interest in connecting with the students, according to Torre Sathrum, a POIC instructor.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been flooded with inquiries,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been overwhelmed.\u201d
\nFor 26-year-old\u00a0Benson Polytechnic High School\u00a0graduate and program participant Trayvayae Cason, there is little time to waste.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m the old one in here,\u201d he said with a laugh. \u201cI want to become an electrician. So, first, I\u2019m going to start off here and work my way into a union and their apprenticeship program if I can. I could also do carpentry or HVAC.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cason said many of the men in his extended family have taken jobs in skilled trades. And at Benson, known for its construction course and other vocational programs, he developed an interest in trades that survived having two children and a stint in California before a return to the Northwest.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you enjoy learning it\u2019s the best thing to do,\u201d he said. \u201cYou can learn how to build your own house or whatever structure you want. It\u2019s always good to have something to pass on to your children.\u201d<\/p>\n

A training program evolves<\/strong>
\nThe POIC is an affiliate of the national\u00a0Opportunities Industrialization Center of America, which was founded in 1958 in Philadelphia to help young black men and women obtain employment training and work opportunities. The Portland affiliate was established for the same purpose a decade later, and currently serves more than 700 students and work trainees each year.<\/p>\n

Three programs are offered to young adults (up to age 25) in Portland: Rosemary Anderson High School, for those in need of a diploma; POIC Work Opportunity Training, for those in need of career training; and Rosemary Anderson Transitions, for graduates in post-secondary education in need of mentorship and support.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur focus has shifted over the years toward youth,\u201d said Lanya McClintock, director of employment and training for the POIC. \u201cWe work with students who have not had success in traditional high schools. And we\u2019ve always had a focus on employment and training.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to the new pre-apprentice program, the POIC also offers family services, young parent education, street-level gang outreach and other initiatives geared to help people in poverty.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor a while we have wanted to train youth for a specific career path,\u201d McClintock said. \u201cThere\u2019s such a need in Portland to fill these construction jobs, and especially with young people of color and women, that\u2019s really where this came from. The wages and opportunities are so great in the trades and construction, it\u2019s really a pathway out of poverty.\u201d<\/p>\n

Expectations and experience<\/strong>
\nDuring the program, the 10 students visited a new POIC space. Remodeling is under way in the former home of a Gresham Police gang outreach office at the corner of Southeast 187th Avenue and Stark Street. Located in the heart of Rockwood, in east Multnomah County, the new space will give the POIC a seat in the Rockwood Rising development poised to rise soon. It\u2019s a central location that likely will attract additional job seekers. The site visit gave the students a glimpse at what construction is like in the real world.<\/p>\n

Sathrum said students, who must pass an application process, must be at work or in the classroom by 6:30 a.m. each morning. Attendance is compulsory, just like an employer would demand. And students are expected to adhere to industry safety standards and regulations while they work.<\/p>\n

Each student gets a paycheck during the entirety of the course, along with the skills needed to step into an apprenticeship either via another training course or with a company looking to fill a labor gap.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like a real job for them,\u201d Sathrum said.<\/p>\n

Sathrum knows full well the value of pre-apprentice and apprentice programs like those offered at the Northwest College of Construction. He\u2019s worked as a general contractor as well as an instructor. And in the latter role, he said, he has often seen students quickly succeed in construction after completing their training.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of those guys come back here and the first year they\u2019re driving new trucks,\u201d Sathrum said. \u201cAnd then the second year they\u2019re looking to buy a house.\u201d<\/p>\n

Opportunities are out there<\/strong>
\nThere is an increasing emphasis on getting minorities and women into apprenticeship programs and jobs in the field, in part because of increasingly rigorous public project workforce requirements.<\/p>\n

For instance, subcontractors working on the ongoing\u00a0Multnomah County Courthouse\u00a0project are required to employ at least 20 percent minorities and 6 percent women on the job. And that\u2019s among the journeymen working; for apprentices, the numbers are even more aggressive: at least 20 percent minorities and 25 percent women, said Justin Paterson, a project manager with\u00a0Hoffman Construction.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s this message out there and that is: \u2018Get out there and get women and people of color into trades,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a big systemic issue we\u2019re not going to solve completely on this project. But more and more, people recognize it. Public agencies like the county are pushing for it, and we\u2019ll push the needle on projects like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Strader agreed, saying construction in the public sector is what is driving students to the Northwest College of Construction.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe demand generator is the U.S. government,\u201d he said. \u201cA third of everything that\u2019s built is owned by the public, and the public agencies require prevailing wage; they require 20 or more percent of the hours on a job be dedicated to training. That\u2019s what creates the demand, and that\u2019s what has me in business.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some contractors working entirely in the private sector still send students to training schools like the PNCC. But that represents a \u201csmall minority\u201d of the industry, Strader said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are contractors that don\u2019t perform public works that still send their students,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it\u2019s based on getting their people skilled up, not based on public works.\u201d<\/p>\n

Outreach to young adults<\/strong>
\nMoney for POIC\u2019s pre-apprentice program comes from\u00a0Worksystems, a Portland nonprofit that focuses on workforce development. Worksystems receives money from local, state and federal governments and distributes it to workforce development programs around the region.<\/p>\n

Further,\u00a0Metro\u00a0and\u00a0Mortenson Construction\u00a0have chipped in to help develop the program so that it would be able to complete the\u00a0Bureau of Labor and Industries\u00a0pre-apprenticeship program certification process.<\/p>\n

This allowed POIC students like 23-year-old Jennifer Geisler, who commuted daily from Kelso, Wash., a chance to achieve something meaningful. Geisler said she enjoyed the experience and it was interesting being the only girl there. \u201cThe first day it was (intimidating), but after I got to know everyone I was like, \u2018This is fine.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Unlike her twin sister, Geisler added, she had to navigate through a number of life obstacles before finding herself responding earlier this year to an online ad for the POIC program.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had a few bumps in the road,\u201d she said, admitting to a yearlong stint in a juvenile facility as a teenager. \u201cNow I\u2019m just trying really hard to find somewhere that I\u2019m comfortable. I\u2019m trying to stick with something. I don\u2019t even care what type of job it is, if it\u2019s going to make me money and pay my bills I\u2019m going to stick with it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Workforce development has become more than a topic of discussion among contractors; it\u2019s now a mantra. \u201cEveryone is looking for skilled labor and not finding it,\u201d\u00a0Northwest College of Construction President Bob Strader said. But nonprofit\u00a0Portland Opportunities Industrialization Center (POIC) Inc.\u00a0and\u00a0Rosemary Anderson High School\u00a0have partnered to make a difference in the situation. They are offering a …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5138,"featured_media":224,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18615],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/djcoregon.com\/skilledmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/djcoregon.com\/skilledmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/djcoregon.com\/skilledmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/djcoregon.com\/skilledmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5138"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/djcoregon.com\/skilledmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/djcoregon.com\/skilledmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/djcoregon.com\/skilledmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/djcoregon.com\/skilledmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/djcoregon.com\/skilledmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/djcoregon.com\/skilledmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}