Repost: The women behind the construction project

Women take a key roll in building a 497,652-square-foot nine-story library built by Turner Construction in San Diego, CA.

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By Marion Moss Hubbard, San Diego Public Library

Thursday, September 26, 2013

The new 497,652-square-foot nine-story Central Library is one of the largest municipal projects in the city’s history. To successfully construct it within three years took an immense amount of coordination, teamwork and leadership.

While the construction field is still primarily led by men -- and there were many men who played prominent and vital roles on this project -- several women in key positions were instrumental in moving the Central Library project to completion.

Carmen Vann, project executive with Turner Construction, provided the oversight of intricate workflows and detailed schedules to keep the project moving as quickly and efficiently as possible. As the person in charge of the construction project, she had to coordinate among the various trade professions onsite, including carpenters, ironworkers, concrete workers, electricians and infrastructure experts. Vann grew up in Washington, D.C., and has always had a fascination with buildings. “I do what I do out of passion for people, and it is way beyond bricks and mortar,” she said.

Kristine Wunder was Turner Construction’s safety manager on this project. She instilled in the entire team the importance of maintaining a clean and safe worksite throughout construction. Her commitment to safety was key to Turner’s impressive safety record on this project of more than 1,000 days without any injuries. A former Army aviation officer and UH60 Blackhawk helicopter pilot, Wunder has a long history of commitment to leadership and passing on her expertise to others. She is a mentor with the ACE Mentor Program, which mentors professionals from leading design and construction firms.

Cynthia Meinhardt is the city of San Diego’s project officer with public works, engineering and capital projects, and helped oversee this $185 million Capital Improvement project. Through her oversight, she assured that the architectural and engineering services -- including technical and operational support, design and construction -- were performed with the highest degree of quality, while remaining on schedule and within budget. Throughout her career, Meinhardt has been committed to making sure that building projects are designed to enhance our overall quality of life and communities.

Deborah Barrow, library director for the San Diego Public Library, worked closely with all of these exceptional women. She also worked with the architects, other Turner Construction professionals, other city departments, outside consulting organizations and partnering organizations to assure that what was built actually met the needs of the community and goals of the library.

A native San Diegan with more than 20 years of experience in public library management, Barrow is no stranger to library building projects. She has managed the design and construction of several new libraries, including the South Chula Vista Library.

All of these extraordinary women came together in their careers at just the right time and place to help make this new library a reality. Through this remarkable accomplishment, they will serve as role models for young women who will be inspired to achieve their own great success.

To read the original article, visit http://www.sddt.com/news.

Career Opportunities: The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority is Hiring

The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority is currently accepting applications for the following positions:

OB POSTINGS	APPLICATION DEADLINE
JVA #6532, Program Manager, Water Quality Assurance	09/26/13
JVA #6531, Jr. Civil Engineer	09/26/13
JVA #6454, Plumber/Pipefitter	09/25/13
JVA #6519, M&O Specialist	09/24/13
JVA #6526, IT Project Manager, III	09/18/13
JVA #6523, Operator	09/18/13
JVA #6506, Sr. Staff Engineer, Electrical	n/a

Visit http://www.mwra.state.ma.us to submit your application.

Repost: China's Women Workforce

Reuters recently posted a slideshow of beautiful photos that capture women construction workers in China. Here's one of the twenty-nine photos:

To view the full slideshow, visit http://www.reuters.com/.

Yesterday Cleveland Signed Community Benefits Agreement

Community benefits agreement aims to keep construction work local

By JAY MILLER
1:46 pm, September 16, 2013

A group of Cleveland’s leading institutions, some of the city’s largest contractors and the building trades unions today formally endorsed an agreement designed to provide what Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson described as “a self-help approach to economic development.”

Called a community benefits agreement, or CBA, the memorandum — signed by 10 organizations that expect to spend billions of dollars on construction projects in the next several years — sets standards designed to encourage the use of local labor and local contracting firms, in particular minority and female workers and firms.

It also would expand apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs and study best practices for improving diversity and inclusion in the construction industry, which Mayor Jackson said is critical for training Cleveland residents for jobs in the building trades.

“Never before have you seen the private sector step forward and voluntarily say they would participate in a program that would result in community benefits,” Mayor Jackson told Crain’s Cleveland Business. “We need to keep those dollars local and spend them in a way that creates jobs and support businesses. Not only will this construction activity support local construction firms, but they have to buy their goods and materials” locally as well.

University Hospitals Health System, in its Vision 2010 construction program, laid the foundation for this community benefits agreement when it made a concerted effort to ensure that as much as possible of the $1.2 billion it spent on construction between 2005 and 2010 benefited local businesses and workers.

“This is really about culture change,” said Steven Standley, chief administrative officer of UH, who was among the signers of the CBA this morning in the Red Room at Cleveland City Hall. Mr. Standley said the hospital system believes it needs to play a role in developing the next generation of local construction workers, construction firms and even health care workers.

“It’s really about pipeline,” he said. “Everybody is starting to figure out that we don’t have the next generation of people ready to take over and everyone is starting to realize” they must help support that next generation locally.

In addition to UH, endorsers of the seven-page CBA memorandum of understanding were William Peacock, chief of operations for The Cleveland Clinic Foundation; Scott Miller, vice president of Dominion East Ohio; Fred Geis, president of Geis Cos.; Michael Heise, president of The Medical Center Co.; Julius Ciaccia Jr., executive director of the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District; Stephen Campbell, vice president of campus planning and facilities management at Case Western Reserve University; and Eric Gordon, CEO of the Cleveland Municipal School District.

The CBA has been in the works for several years and the memorandum of understanding that was endorsed last February by the city of Cleveland, the Greater Cleveland Partnership, the Construction Employers Association, the Hispanic Roundtable, Hard Hatted Women, the Urban League of Greater Cleveland, Cuyahoga Community College, and the Cleveland Building and Construction Trades Council.

To view the original article, visit http://www.crainscleveland.com/.

Save the Date: "Building Economic Security for Low-Income Women" Roundtable on Fri, 9/27/13, 9:30-11:30am

Budget Buddies

Center for Women & Work at University of MA, Lowell

Jeanne D’Arc Credit Union

The U.S. Department of Labor Women’s Bureau

INVITE YOU TO AN IMPORTANT ROUNDTABLE:

BUILDING ECONOMIC SECURITY FOR LOW-INCOME WOMEN

Friday, September 27, 2013

9:30 to 11:30 a.m.

Corporate Offices of Jeanne D’Arc Credit Union

257 Father Morissette Blvd, Lowell, MA

The roundtable will bring thought leaders in the Greater Lowell area together to discuss potential pathways to financial stability for low-income women once they’ve learned essential money-management skills. During this time we will break into four work groups that will consider the following topics:

   1) How do we help women find flexible work situations?
   2) How can women qualify for higher-paying jobs?
   3) What opportunities are available for women in “green” jobs?
   4) How can we help homeless women veterans reenter the work force?

Attendance is free but registration is required. Space limited to 25

RSVP: To register, please send an e-mail to kathrynbrough@verizon.net by close of business on September 23 and include your name, organization, and telephone number. Please also indicate your preference(s), if any, for the work group you’d like to join.

Repost: Apprenticeships lead to higher pay, but only for men

Young Canadian women who apprenticed had lower incomes than high school and college grads

Canadian men who complete an apprenticeship can expect to earn more than men who have only a high school education, more than men with trade qualifications and even more than many college graduates, according to a working paper on apprenticeships based on the 2006 census.

But the story is much different for women, with females who complete apprenticeships earning less than women with high school or college degrees or women in trades, according to the report Returns to Apprenticeship.

The study by University of Toronto researchers Morley Gunderson and Harry Krashinsky found male apprentices, who tend to be in the construction and mechanical trades, earned 24 per cent more than men who had a high school degree.

They brought home 15 per cent more money than those in the trades who were not apprenticed and two per cent more than college graduates. University graduates continued to outstrip those with apprenticeships, with incomes 40 per cent higher than high school graduates, though that number may be changing as the opportunities for university graduates diminish.

The results emphasize the value of apprenticeships, which many provinces are promoting as an alternative to college or university. With construction booming, businesses are reporting skilled trades shortages.

Unemployment among young people in Canada is now above 14 per cent.

Still, only a small percentage of the Canadian workforce has completed an apprenticeship — about 7.7 per cent of men and 1.6 per cent of women. The system of fostering apprentices is more common in Europe, but the study questioned why so few young men take on apprenticeships when the benefit appears to be so clear.

Canadian women were better off just completing high school, the study found. For women taking "an apprenticeship yields lower returns than simply completing high school and substantially lower returns than completing community college, likely reflecting the fact that female apprenticeships tend to be in low-wage jobs in industries like food and service," the study found.

The areas where women apprenticed were professions such as hairdressing and chef’s assistant. Those who completed apprenticeships earned 25 per cent less than women who completed college and 6.6 per cent less than high school graduates, the study found.

To read the full article, visit http://www.cbc.ca.

Repost: Female pipefitter in training gives thanks for Trade-Up’s pre-apprenticeship program

By David Pendered

on September 1st, 2013, 11:38 pm

As the United States pauses to honor workers on Labor Day, one Atlanta mother is thankful and proud that she’s on her way to becoming a pipefitter.

Jacquelyn Treadville-Samuels is changing careers after working as a forensic science technician in Atlanta and Alabama. She lost her taste for that work after caring for her cancer-stricken mother in Alabama. She returned to Atlanta and became homeless while looking for a job.

“This is a dream come true,” Treadville-Sanders said outside the auditorium where members of Georgia Stand-Up had just applauded the first all-female class of pre-apprentice trainees in its Trade-Up program. “I’ve prayed for something like this, but I never knew is would be like this.”

Students in the first all-female pre-apprenticeship program
offered by Georgia Trade-Up stand beneath a banner
of an iconic tradesman: Tyeshia Foster (left to right);
Lisa Brooks; Jacquelyn Treadville-Sanders (president);
Leslee Shepherd (coordinator); Janell Carter; Joanne Barker;
Chamena Johnson (secretary). Photo credits: David Pendered

Treadville-Samuels took a few moments outside the I.B.E.W. auditorium in downtown Atlanta to count her blessings. Even as she looks ahead to a good job that will enable her to provide for herself and her 8-year-old son, she’s contemplating how to give back to the community.

“I want to offer low-income housing for single parents because, if you’re not a husband and wife, you just can’t afford to buy a house,” Treadville-Samuels said.

“I want to go on and open my own business, and the only thing I ask is that I am able to take another woman under my wing and pay it forward,” she said.

“I want to teach our community that you can be better and do better, and there are people in our community who can help you do that,” she said. “There are so many people in our community who need an opportunity, or want an opportunity.”

Treadville-Sanders is enrolled in Georgia Trade-Up. It’s a pre-apprenticeship and workforce development program that teaches job-readiness skills to men and women who plan to enter construction trades apprenticeship programs or the construction industry. The program lasts eight weeks.

The all-female class in which she’s enrolled is funded by Goodwill Industries International. Goodwill, in turn, received the funding through the Department of Labor’s Women in Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Occupations program, according to Deborah Scott, executive director of Georgia Stand-Up and founder of Trade-Up.

Georgia was the only southern state to receive any of the $1.8 million the Labor Department announced in 2012. Goodwill received $300,000, the amount awarded each of the six programs nationwide, and promised to place at least 100 participants over the life of the two-year program into a registered apprenticeship program, according to a DOL statement.

These are good jobs in a field that’s anticipated to have labor shortages, Scott said. According to Scott, the Governor’s Office of Workforce Development has predicted openings for 82,000 skilled tradespersons by 2016. Some of those openings are due to workers who retired during the recession and aren’t expected to return to the field, Scott said.

To read the remainder of this article, visit http://saportareport.com/.