Repost: Hundreds of girls try out nontraditional jobs at career fair

Congratulations to our colleagues at Oregon Tradeswomen, Inc. for bringing over 2,000 women and girls to their recent Women in Trades Career Fair!



Here's a short recap from nwlaborpress.org:

"More than 2,000 women and teenagers were introduced to careers in 'non-traditional' trades such as construction worker, lineman, and firefighter at the 22nd annual Women in Trades Career Fair held May 8-10 in Northeast Portland" (Northwest Labor Press, 14 May 2014).

Visit http://www.katu.com/news, http://nwlaborpress.org/, and http://www.tradeswomen.net/Fair/ to learn more.

Repost: Why Toy Startup GoldieBlox's Historic $4 Million Super Bowl Ad Win Matters

If you paid extra close attention to the commercials during Sunday’s Super Bowl, you’ll have seen a genuinely history-making 30 second spot amid the annual cavalcade of supermodel breasts and beer-drinking bros.

Toy startup GoldieBlox, which makes construction and engineering kits for little girls, had the distinction of being the first small business to air an ad during the Super Bowl.

The Oakland, Calif.-based company beat out more than 15,000 rivals in a contest run by Intuit and ultimately decided in a public vote.

The personal finance software firm footed the estimated $4 million bill for the ad, which was seen by a record 111.5 million viewers, according to Nielsen.

For GoldieBlox, the Super Bowl ad represented the culmination of a dizzying 14 months.

The company’s founder, Stanford-trained engineer Debbie Sterling, now 30, launched a Kickstarter campaign in the fall of 2012 after a particularly horrifying visit to a toy store, where she realized little had changed in the girls’ aisle since she was a child: it was all pink and pretty, with little to engage the brain.

“We are taught from a very young age that we want to become princesses,” explained Sterling in a 2013 TED talk. At present, 14 per cent of the country’s engineers are women, according to a 2012 congressional report. As she told a rapt TED audience: “Just because this is the way things are doesn’t mean this is how they have to be.”

Armed with both her engineering degree and a stint in marketing, Sterling set herself a goal of “disrupting the pink aisle” — with the eventual aim of encouraging more girls to pursue careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math).

Fast forward to 2013. After raising far more than her original $150,000 crowdfunding goal on Kickstarter, Sterling and her small team set about getting her toy prototype manufactured.

Each GoldieBlox kit combines a construction toy and a book that features Goldie, a smart young girl wearing a tool belt who helps solves problems by building machines. Soon enough, Toys ‘R’ Us came calling; more recently, Target agreed to start carrying GoldieBlox.

The startup’s trajectory hasn’t been without controversy. Since November, GoldieBlox has been mired in a back-and-forth battle of lawsuits with hip-hop group The Beastie Boys. The toy company used a parody version of the rappers’ hit song ‘Girls’ in an ad that swiftly went viral.

There has yet to be a decision on whether GoldieBlox had fair use rights to the 1987 hit after changing the lyrics to empower future scientists. For some pundits, Sunday’s Super Bowl ad represents a victory over naysayers.

“It must be sweet, sweet vindication for them after all that backlash,” said Rachel Sklar, an attorney and media critic who has written about the case and believes GoldieBlox was within their rights.

Sklar sees the huge success of GoldieBlox this past year as representative of a greater movement away from gendered toys — that is, blue building blocks for boys and pretty princesses for girls. She hopes this unprecedented exposure during the Super Bowl will help speed the demise of the pink aisle.

“It’s such a refreshing change to see empowered, active, fierce little girls — a departure from the representation of women in general during the Super Bowl,” she said. “It offsets GoDaddy and the like. And relaxing the strict framework in which the media depicts women feels like a vacation.”

Read the remainder of this article at http://www.forbes.com/.

Toys for future tradeswomen!

Check out this great ad from Goldie Blox that targets future female engineers:



Read more about this advertising campaign in this Slate article.
Learn more about the Goldie Box company at http://www.goldieblox.com/.

When Young Women and the World of Construction Meet, It's "MAGIC"

The San Diego Chapter, NECA is getting ready to participate, once again, in the Mentoring A Girl In Construction (MAGIC) Camp hosted by theNational Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC). San Diego's fifth annual MAGIC?Camp runs June 20-29 at the Stanley E. Foster Construction Tech Academy.

Thirty-three area high school-aged young women will join forces with countless construction trade association mentors, including our own San Diego Electrical Training Center's ace instructors. Experts in skilled fields, provide hands-on training, allowing the young women to learn basic construction skills in a variety of trades ranging from electrical to carpentry to sheet metal.

The intense summer day-camp experience gives a glimpse of what the construction industry has available for today's women and the many career paths to explore. Participants will have an opportunity to sample the tools of the trades, including building a construction project on the high school campus.

NECA San Diego has long been supportive of women in construction and encourage women to enter into their apprenticeship programs offered by San Diego Electrical Training Center or participate at the university level in the NECA Student Chapter programs.

Past graduates of the MAGIC experience have continued their education at San Diego State University in the J.R. Filanc Construction Engineering and Management Program. MAGIC graduate and SDSU coed Ana Sical joined the NECA National Green Energy Challenge as part of the SDSU-NECA Student Chapter competing against the best and brightest students from major universities nationwide.

"The MAGIC program continues to introduce young women to the many possibilities available to them that will lead to a solid career," said Karen Prescott-Loeffler, San Diego NECA's director of business development and SDSU-NECA Student Chapter representative. "For many of these young ladies, this is a reason to stay in high school and earn that diploma."

Today's construction is a highly skilled field which includes the many career paths in renewable energy. Many would agree, there is no other program quite like MAGIC Camp, where a young woman can experience the future.

Women In NECA (WIN). NECA’s national organization is also supportive of women involved in our industry. Formerly known as the NECA Women's Peer Group, Women in NECA (WIN) was created to provide a collaborative forum for all women affiliated with NECA-member companies, NECA chapters and local NECA-IBEW Labor-Management Cooperation Committees (LMCCs). WIN supports the professional development of women working in the electrical contracting industry through educational and networking events; promotes diversity in the industry; and encourages women to explore careers in electrical contracting. For more information on WIN, please visit www.necanet.org/education/women-in-neca/

Retrieved from: http://www.necanet.org/index.cfm?fa=newsAboutNecaItem&articleID=5333

Women’s career fair revs up girls’ interest in trades

POSTED: Thursday, May 17, 2012 at 01:42 PM PT

BY: Lindsey O'Brien
Tags: Oregon Tradeswomen, students

Some girls covered their ears as a jackhammer emitted loud blasts and sent streams of dust into the air, but Breah Etherly’s eyes lit up during a concrete breaker demonstration on Thursday.

Eighth-grader Ka'Terria Phillips, left, gets a lesson in tying rebar from Kirk Bearden, an ironworker with Local 29, during the 20th annual Women in Trades Career Fair. (Photo by Sam Tenney/DJC)

If you go:

What: Nontraditional career fair connecting girls and female job seekers to apprenticeship and job training opportunities in building, construction, mechanical, technical and utility trades.
When: Today, for registered high school girls; Saturday, for the public from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Also on Saturday, at 1:30 p.m., Oregon Tradeswomen Inc. will present an information session about its free seven-week pre-apprenticeship class for women.
Where: NECA/IBEW Electrical Training Center, 16021 N.E. Airport Way in Portland
Cost: Free.

“It’s nice to say you tried something new,” said Etherly, an eighth-grader at Harvey Scott School. “Working with different tools is good exposure for girls.”

The jackhammer workshop, led by women from the Oregon and Southern Idaho Laborers and Employers Training Trust, was among dozens of events taking place during the 20th annual Women in Trades Career Fair at the NECA-IBEW Electrical Training Center in Northeast Portland.

Nearly 600 girls from 21 middle schools revved up power tools, climbed electrical poles, built birdhouses and learned about careers in the trades to kick off this year’s event.

“Our efforts over the years have meant that Oregon has two times the number of women in trades compared to other states that don’t have similar efforts,” saidConnie Ashbrook, executive director ofOregon Tradeswomen Inc., which started the fair in 1993.

Although many of the middle school students at the fair said they aren’t planning on pursuing careers in the trades, one of OTI’s goals is simply to expose more young women to the construction industry.

“Most of the girls have never used a power tool before and are afraid of the noise at first,” said Aida Aranda, an apprentice coordinator for the training trust. “But once they get out here, it encourages them to open their eyes.”

Zakeiba Ofusu, left, and Zharia Hale, both eighth-graders at the SEI Academy, learn to repair a broken water main at a station sponsored by the Portland Water Bureau. (Photo by Sam Tenney/DJC)

She added that middle school girls are becoming increasingly receptive to careers in the trades, especially as the industry ramps up its outreach through Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

On the other side of the fair, roofers from Local 49 set up a table to demonstrate some of the materials and processes they use to build green roofing systems, which many of the students from H.B. Lee Middle School didn’t even know existed.

“These roofs actually help the environment and make things better for people,” seventh-grader Karly Emmett said.

The middle school girls built flowerpots using adhesives, primers and single-ply sheets that roofers use on the job.

Tationia Thompson, left, learns to connect structural beams under supervision from Kat Lakey, an ironworker with Local 29. (Photo by Sam Tenney/DJC)

The goal Thursday was mainly to demonstrate that “girls can do anything,” said Heidi Kameroff, a roofing apprentice who is directing the Local 49 workshop this year. But today, she added, the event will host hundreds of high school girls, who are more focused on career possibilities.

“We figure the middle school girls are just exploring at this point, so it’s good to give them a taste of what we do,” Kameroff said. “The high school girls will actually do some heat welding – it’s going to be really cool.”

A few high school students are ahead of the game, however. Juniors and seniors from ACE Academy led a workshop on Thursday, helping younger girls build wooden puzzles.

ACE, a shared-time program for juniors and seniors interested in entering the building industries, is seeing more interest from girls. The school’s director, Mike Bryant, said the growth is a direct result of events like the Women in Trades Career Fair.

“Our population of female students has doubled this year,” he said. “Why? These events are having an impact; they’re changing the construction industry.”

Retrieved from: http://djcoregon.com/news/2012/05/17/womens-career-fair-revs-up-girls-interest-in-trades/

Girls Get Up-Close Career View At Boston Area School Project

03/26/2012

By Johanna Knapschaefer in Dedham

Text size: A A

Courtesy of Nitsch Engineers

Engineer Christine Breen boosts industry's prospects to students, ages 10 to 18.

Avery Elementary School, an $18-million project in Dedham, Mass., was the site on March 14 for a hands-on classroom in which 150 middle- and high school girls learned how engineering directly affects their world and about the potential for a career in the industry. In the annual program sponsored by Nitsch Engineering, female professionals shared their passion for the work and the challenges of doing technical jobs that involve teamwork.

This year's event—co-sponsored by Consigli Construction, WSP Flack + Kurtz, GEI Consultants and the Engineers Design Group—showed students how different engineering skills are applied inside and outside a building, including, for example, traffic flow and stormwater management, says Nitsch President Judith Nitsch. Jennifer Rand, a Consigli assistant project manager, told the girls about green building and how many materials for the project—the state's first LEED Gold elementary school—had to come from within 500 miles of the site.

Nitsch notes the students' curiosity and enthusiasm, adding that past attendees have gone on to study engineering at MIT, Boston University and the U.S. Naval Academy, among other top schools.

"It was cool talking to people and asking questions about watershed management," says Jenna Glen Wixson, 13, of Kittery, Maine. "I don't know what I want to do in the future, but now I know something about engineering when I didn't really know anything before."



Retrieved from: http://enr.construction.com/business_management/workforce/2012/0326-Girls-Get-Up-Close-Career-View-At-Boston-Area-School-Project-.asp

December Organization to Watch: SAW Youth Program

Quick read: The SAW Youth Program is a community program in the Boston area that supports young women aged 14-24 to build life skills to become successful community members, advocates, and tradeswomen.

Have you heard of the SAW Youth Program?

November 29, 2011

Dear Friends and Supporters:

The SAW Youth Program is seeking financial sponsors whose contributions will enable us to build and continue our program year round. Since the commencement of the program last year, we have established strong partnerships with other community organizations and incorporated many collaboration efforts that not only benefit our program but also strengthen the communities in which we live, work and are most effected. The SAW Youth Program was established for at-risk young women, ages 14-24 from seven neighborhoods in the Boston area: Roxbury, South End, Jamaica Plain, Dorchester, Mattapan, Hyde Park, and Roslindale with the goal of getting them off the path of destruction and onto the path of construction. Through our program we promote life skills, health education & physical fitness, self-esteem, relationship building, secondary education planning, job readiness, television production, financial literacy and offer an array of awareness workshops such as anti-bulling, medical insurance basics, environmental awareness as well as an opportunity to consider a career in the building trades - in a safe and supportive environment. Currently all of our participants are from low-income families.

The SAW Youth Program is located at the Blackstone Community Center in the South End of Boston. This facility allows us to provide a safe haven for our participants to learn and grow to their full potential. In our first summer cycle, our goal was to enroll 24 at-risk young women in our program with a 100% completion rate. We are pleased to report that we had a success rate of 92%. Two of our participants acquired full time employment, one participant was accepted into a trade program and one participate was accepted into a GED program. The remainder of our participants returned to school and became valued members of our first Alumni Class. The Alumni Class was able to continue to use valuable resources throughout the fall which included but was not limited to, health and wellness training, post secondary education workshops, job search assistance, mentoring, tutoring, Drivers Education Training, computer training and membership to the Roxbury Boys & Girls Club now the Yawkey Club of Roxbury. It is now clear that our approach demands a 12 month involvement during which time we continue to build on the “Alumni” services which are needed in our communities.

SAW truly appreciates the support we have received from so many of you during our first two years and encourage you to remember the SAW Youth Program with its path of construction in your year-end charitable giving. State funding has been drastically reduced for teen programs while at the same time parents’ ability to pay their children’s way has become even more difficult. In order to continue to offer this unique program free to our participants, SAW will need all of our friends to give - whether they be churches/temples, foundations, city/state entities, local businesses or individual donors.

Please consider a tax-deductible contribution to help us expand and keep our program running at its highest level in 2012. Our fund-raising goal for this effort is $137,000. Thank you for your interest and investment in our young women of Boston.

Sincerely,

Me’Chelle “Mikey” Myles, Executive Director

How dads can help their daughters get a job in the trades

Posted on 17/11/2011 by Your Rights at Night

Retrieved from http://yourrightsatnight.com/2011/11/17/how-dads-can-help-their-daughters-get-a-job-in-the-trades/

The call has been issued to fathers of Australia to teach your daughters to use hand tools. The call, issued by SALT – Supporting and Linking Australian Tradeswomen – coincided with the inaugural Women in Industry Conference, held in Sydney last week.

Maxine Winkley caught up with founder of SALT, Fiona Shewring, to find out more about SALT and how dads can help.

Download interview

http://saltaustralia.org/