US Department of Labor announces $300,000 grant to Action for Boston Community Development Inc. to support women in nontraditional occupations

WASHINGTON ‒ Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis announced awards of $1.8 million in grants to consortia in six states through the Women in Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Occupations program.  Among the grantees is Action for Boston Community Development Inc. in Boston, Mass., which will receive $300,000.

“Apprenticeship programs are effective pipelines into growing industries. But too often, these programs are not as accessible to women. The federal grants announced today will better connect women with apprenticeships, helping them to gain skills in fields that offer long-term career opportunities,” said Secretary Solis. 

The grants will support innovative projects that improve the recruitment, hiring, training, employment and retention of women in apprenticeships in industries such as advanced manufacturing, transportation and construction. Within these industries, the grants will fund activities focused on three occupational areas: existing occupations expected to experience primarily an increase in employment demand, existing occupations with significant changes to work and worker requirements, and new and emerging green occupations.

The six grantees are community-based organizations, each of which has formed a consortium with a local Workforce Investment Area and at least one Registered Apprenticeship program sponsor. This consortium-based approach is intended to ensure that women served by WANTO grants have access to a range of supportive services and training, as well as to specific nontraditional employment opportunities.

Each grantee will be required to place at least 50 participants annually and at least 100 participants over the life of the two-year grant into a Registered Apprenticeship program. 

The grants are jointly administered by the Labor Department’s Women’s Bureau and its Employment and Training Administration’s Office of Apprenticeship. For information about the department’s range of employment and training programs, visit http://www.doleta.gov.

Women in Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Occupations Grants

Grantee City    State   Funding Amount 
Action for Boston Community Development Inc.    Boston  Mass.   $300,000       
Chicago Women in Trades Chicago Ill.    $300,000       
Goodwill of North Georgia  Inc. Atlanta Ga.     $300,000       
Oregon Tradeswomen Inc. Portland        Ore.    $300,000       
West Virginia Women Work        Morgantown      W.Va.   $300,000       
Women In Non Traditional Employment Roles       Los Angeles     Calif.  $300,000       
Total   $1,800,000     

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U.S. Department of Labor news materials are accessible at http://www.dol.gov. The information above is available in large print, Braille or CD from the COAST office upon request by calling 202-693-7828 or TTY 202-693-7755. 

Women Get Skills to Break Into Traditional Men’s Trades

Retrieved from: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/business/2012/01/women-get-skills-to-break-into-traditional-mens-trades/

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Image credit: Scott Shulman/ABC

In the shadow of a Long Beach, Calif., power plant, a dozen women step into tool belts, don hard hats and learn  how to carry a bucket of cement up a flight of stairs to get a leg up on trades usually dominated by men.

According to a 2009 Department of Labor report, while gender equality has made headway in the executive ranks — a quarter of CEOs are women — less than 1 percent of 77,000 U.S. ironworkers and steelworkers are female.

Sherron Ballard, 55, used to be a real estate agent — now she wants to work in construction.

Ballard told ABC News that she was making the job switch for the higher income, which would help her raise her daughter.

She is participating in a grueling 10-week program by Women in Non Traditional Employment Roles, or Winter. The Los Angeles group, in its 15th year, trains women to become plumbers, electricians and ironworkers — well-paid, blue-collar occupations previously dominated by men.

At one California construction site, 250 men worked alongside two females.

Winter’s goal is to tip that balance. The women earn safety certificates, learn about timekeeping, what to wear on construction sites and how to handle discrimination.

“When they go out there for their first job, a lot of people are gonna look at them and say: ‘Why aren’t you home? What are you doing here? Are you sure you’re in the right place?’ And they need to learn how to brush it off and continue on with their work,” said Berta Campos, a program instructor. “I think we need more women in order for men to change their mind and we have to prove them wrong.”

“Women have to go out to work,” said Donna Williamson, who recently graduated from the program. “I have a child. I have to support him.”

Williamson, a 41-year-old single mother, used to make minimum wage selling skateboards in a bike shop. Now she’s an apprentice ironworker making $28 an hour, and her wages will are sure to increase as she progresses in her career.

“I used to drive around and I’d look at the guys on the beams, on the high-rises, and it’s one of those intriguing things,” she said. “There are not a whole lot of women in the construction field. At the end of the day, you are dirty, you are sweating, you don’t smell the greatest and that’s fine with me.”

“I love my job,” Williamson said. “If I can do it, they [women] can do it. And I’m only 5’2.”