{"id":63,"date":"2018-09-18T15:58:50","date_gmt":"2018-09-18T15:58:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.djcorprod.wpengine.com\/skilledmag\/?p=63"},"modified":"2018-09-24T12:37:56","modified_gmt":"2018-09-24T12:37:56","slug":"rejuvenating-lives-reinforcing-an-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/djcoregon.com\/skilledmag\/2018\/09\/18\/rejuvenating-lives-reinforcing-an-industry\/","title":{"rendered":"Rejuvenating lives, reinforcing an industry"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Brianna<\/a>

Brianna \u201cBrie\u201d Joseph, foreground, participates in a physical fitness session during Oregon Tradeswomen Inc.\u2019s latest Trades and Apprenticeship Career Class. After attending for just a few weeks, Joseph now envisions a career in sheet metal. (Josh Kulla\/91视频)<\/p><\/div>\n

When Sadie Wood found herself down to just one or two days of work a week after trying numerous jobs, she had finally had enough. There had to be another way forward and a better way to live, she thought.<\/p>\n

A good friend suggested Wood try construction and the skilled trades. Her friend even told her where she could start: Oregon Tradeswomen Inc.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI was struggling with my income and my work was really slow,\u201d recounted Wood, 35, who lives in Gresham with her two daughters, ages 10 and 8. \u201cJust a couple of months before this class started, a friend of mine who is amazing told me about it. She mentioned it to me and it was right what I needed to hear when I needed to hear it. I was ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wood signed up for OTI<\/strong>\u2019s Trades and Apprenticeship Career Class (TACC), which is offered quarterly through the Pathways to Success<\/strong><\/a> program. Participants are introduced to numerous construction trades like welding, sheet metal fabrication, carpentry, plumbing, concrete and more.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery single person that is in our program is there because they\u2019re making a major life change,\u201d Pathways to Success manager Abby Bandurraga said. \u201cWhatever it might be, there are so many different reasons. But, really, it\u2019s not just a job; they\u2019re changing their life in some way or they want something different for themselves, so I\u2019d say that\u2019s a huge motivator both in terms of how they do in class here as well as when they leave here.\u201d<\/p>\n

The most recent TACC started July 10 and runs through the end of August. Over the course of eight weeks, lives change, preconceptions about the trades melt away and those who graduate \u2013 over 1,200 women since the program\u2019s inception in 2004 \u2013 are poised to begin a new chapter in life.<\/p>\n

Amid a prominent shortage of skilled labor in the construction industry, the 91视频 is taking a closer look at how OTI is making a difference with its Trades and Apprenticeship Career Class. In the first part of a three-part series, students and industry insiders speak about why they believe the TACC is a vital piece of the workforce development puzzle.<\/p>\n

The attraction of training<\/strong><\/p>\n

John Hurd is the talent acquisition manager for Lakeside Industries<\/strong>, a heavy highway contractor with asphalt plants scattered around the Portland-metro area. Pre-apprenticeship programs like the one offered by OTI are popular, he said, because of how they prepare motivated students to enter the industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are folks who typically have gone out into the workforce, have held jobs that are not high-paying, don\u2019t come with benefits, are not what they really want,\u201d he said. \u201cThey feel disengaged, dissatisfied with what they\u2019re doing and they\u2019re looking to make a change.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pre-apprenticeship programs, Hurd continued, allow participants to brush up on their math skills, improve their physical fitness, become familiar with tools and acquire other knowledge essential in construction.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt gives them exposure to a wide variety of trades so they can make an educated choice on what they want to do,\u201d he said. \u201cSo, yeah, pre-apprenticeships are great because these are people who are investing in this career path.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like Wood, many of the students in this class are in their 30s or older. That\u2019s typical for the TACC, Bandurraga said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a certain level of motivation because of the type of students,\u201d she said. \u201cThey bring that attitude when they go out to apprenticeships or into careers. But we also teach them very industry-specific soft skills. We do that while educating them all the way, and it is a different caliber of entry-level worker.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wood\u2019s biggest motivators are her daughters.<\/p>\n

\"Sadie<\/a>

Sadie Wood works out during a required physical fitness session in Oregon Tradeswomen Inc.\u2019s latest pre-apprenticeship course. Wood, a single mother, is interested in pursuing a career in ornamental sheet metal. (Josh Kulla\/91视频)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a single mother, and I want them to know as women they can support themselves doing whatever they want to do,\u201d she said. \u201cHonestly, it wasn\u2019t really until last week that I realized \u2013 you know how they say you can do anything you want if you put your mind to it? I\u2019m realizing that\u2019s true. I\u2019m capable of this and I want them to know it. I\u2019m tired of living and barely making it and living off my family. I\u2019d like to take care of my parents when they need it; that\u2019s always been something I\u2019ve wanted to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brianna \u201cBrie\u201d Joseph, 28, is also a TACC student. She left Pasadena, California, a decade ago to attend the University of Oregon and play varsity soccer. Once her stint as a Duck finished, however, she encountered difficulty forging ahead with a career. She was stuck serving burgers until recently.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know how life goes,\u201d she said. \u201cYou just keep working.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then one of Joseph\u2019s friends mentioned the possibility of signing up for the TACC. As Joseph pondered the idea, something clicked when she saw an ad for OTI on the side of a MAX<\/strong> light-rail train.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw the lady in the hard hat and I thought, I can definitely see myself doing it,\u201d Joseph said.<\/p>\n

Word of mouth, Bandurraga said, is responsible for well over 50 percent of the students in any given TACC cohort. Others are referred from WorkSource Oregon and some even come from Coffee Creek Correctional Facility in Wilsonville.<\/p>\n

A peek at potential careers<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the third week of the course, students really start to dive into the nuts and bolts of the various trades. The strict schedule follows industry standards for punctuality, safety drug testing and more.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe beauty of the third week is you start seeing it coalesce into a group of trades workers,\u201d Bandurraga said. \u201cThe first week they\u2019re all wide-eyed, and the second week they\u2019re a little more comfortable. And by the third week they realize, \u2018OK, this is a community that\u2019s here for me.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also the point where preconceptions start to melt away and future paths become visible. For example, Wood\u2019s initial interest in becoming an ironworker or carpenter quickly changed as she learned about new concepts. She calls herself an artist who loves to paint, so a recent visit to Portland\u2019s Sheet Metal Institute<\/strong> and Local Union 16 was pivotal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was like what can I do?\u201d she said. \u201cI talked to a carpenter and asked, \u2018Would I do the same thing over and over?\u2019 And I don\u2019t want to do the same thing over and over. So when I found out sheet metal has a variety of stuff to do, I was like, I\u2019m in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joseph, too, is attracted to sheet metal work. She wishes only that she had been presented the possibility of a career in the trades sooner.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you start introducing people to trades in high school it\u2019ll free up their mind to actually pursue what they\u2019re passionate about,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Editor’s note: In the next story, scheduled to appear Aug. 20 in the 91视频, Oregon Tradeswomen Inc. officials will speak about the skills being taught and how they prepare students for careers in the trades. Industry professionals will add how contractors benefit by hiring pre-apprenticeship graduates.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Sadie Wood found herself down to just one or two days of work a week after trying numerous jobs, she had finally had enough. There had to be another way forward and a better way to live, she thought. A good friend suggested Wood try construction and the skilled trades. Her friend even told …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5138,"featured_media":171,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18615],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63","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\/63"}],"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=63"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/djcoregon.com\/skilledmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/djcoregon.com\/skilledmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/djcoregon.com\/skilledmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/djcoregon.com\/skilledmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/djcoregon.com\/skilledmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}