Thank you to Rovente Pizzeria!
Here at OTI we love Rovente Pizzeria! Their kind staff has generously agreed to work with our small budget to provide delicious pizza for our quarterly speed mentoring events.
In early May, our current Trades and Apprenticeship Career Class students and 13 tradeswomen who came straight from work to share their wisdom about the construction trades industry came hungry, but everyone was happy and full by the end of the night!
We are so grateful to community members like the folks at Rovente Pizzeria who provide us with such generous support! Thank you so much!
TACC Field Trip to the Operating Engineers Training Center!
On Wednesday, April 12th, OTI’s current group of Trades and Apprenticeship Career Class students had a fabulous field trip to the Operating Engineers training center! The students heard from Brenda Bartholomew, who was an operator and is now an instructor at the training center. The students were also shown a short film that focused on the portrayal of female Operating Engineers who work in the industry and on what they love about the work they do.
Students had the opportunity to look at the text books and some of the survey equipment used by operating engineer apprentices in the classroom and afterwards they got to try their hand at operating some of the heavy machinery; including 2 cranes, loaders, and a forklift, among other pieces of equipment. Current apprentices had the opportunity to teach our students how to operate the machinery and gave our students lots of time to ask questions. It was awesome to see students teaching students! Before this field trip most of the students had not considered a career as a Heavy Equipment Operator and they now consider it an option. Needless to say, our students had a great experience on this field trip and have given a lot of positive feedback. Special thanks to the Operator Engineers Training Center staff and apprentices for taking the time to help our students learn about another great option for a career in the construction trades!
An International Women’s Day Gift from Waterleaf Achitecture
In honor of International Women’s Day, March 8th, 2017, staff at Waterleaf Architecture set a goal of raising $1,000 within one week to support our Pathways to Success program and to show their support for our work in increasing the number of women in the construction trades in our state!
Ellen Krusi, now a Waterleaf Job Captain, wrote the following quote about her experience attending our Annual Women in Trades Career Fair as a high school student;
“When I was in high school I attended the Women in Trades Career Fair put on by Oregon Tradeswomen, Inc. I was inspired by the idea that one day the construction sites I would be visiting would be populated by an equal mix of men and women. Unfortunately today it is still rare to see a woman out there doing the “dirty work” on construction sites. (Cheers to those I know who are out there!) I know it’s not because women aren’t capable or willing. That’s why I’m proud to support this organization to get women the training they need to do these important jobs!”
We love that Ellen’s experience has stuck with her over the years and are so grateful to have been chosen as the recipient of this kind gesture! Check out the amazing work the folks over at Waterleaf Architecture are creating!
OTI Alumnae Spotlight: Meet Lori Bauman!
Lori at the 2016 Women in Trades Career Fair
Forty five year old Lori Bauman is a brilliant tradeswomen, vegetarian, animal lover, gardener, and above all, a skilled story teller. She was born in the deserts of California and moved around a lot as a child, settling in Atlanta, GA for the bulk of her early adulthood. She remembers her time in Georgia fondly but also shared that living in the South as a Queer woman proved difficult at times. She also noted that Georgia was the last place she lived before making the decision to change her lifestyle and get sober.
Lori held a myriad of service industry jobs in her life and worked at a Starbucks as a barista for many years. In her quest for recovery, she transferred to Portland 8 years ago, where she got sober. While working at Starbucks, making $200 a week, Lori saw an ad for Oregon Tradeswomen and didn’t waste any time signing up. This day changed Lori’s life and began her lifelong love affair with supporting her fellow tradeswomen and diversifying the industry.
After graduating from OTI’s Trades and Apprenticeship Career Class (TACC) at the age of 35, Lori planned to pursue a career with the Laborers Union and entered the Laborers Boot camp. Lori entered the boot camp with 22 of her peers and made it to graduation as one of only 6 women who finished. She was confident that her ability to complete the boot camp was a positive indicator that she could make it in the industry but she was unable to find work due to the slow times of the great recession. As an alternative, Lori chose to enter an open shop sheet metal apprenticeship. During this time, Lori unfortunately endured unsafe working conditions and constant harassment and bullying from her male coworkers. On top of this, she felt pitted against her female peers on the job site as well, due to what she calls a survival tactic on the work site where women separate from each other in order to try and integrate into the male-dominant culture of the industry. Consequently, she felt very alone and was losing her drive to continue on in a field that was so hostile to women. She ended up getting laid off after about 6 months on the job and didn’t have any plans to return.
During this time Lori called Aida Aranda at the Laborers Union to ask if they had any work for her and was brought on as a Union Laborer Apprentice with a $6/hour pay raise. Her first job was on the Bonneville Dam, working almost entirely underground pouring concrete. Though her days often started at 4:00-5:00 in the morning and she was exhausted by the end of the work day, she noticed many differences from her previous job. Most importantly she felt much safer on the job site and was inducted into a different culture in which she was part of a family; though she still had to work very hard to prove herself on the job site to earn the respect she was given. After this job was completed, Lori went on to work on many bridges in Oregon spanning from The Dalles to the Portland Metro Area. She journeyed out while working on the Oregon City Bridge in 2012. During her best year as a laborer, she brought home nearly $71,000 dollars.
Lori on the job at the Oregon City Bridge, where she worked for about 22 months and journeyed out! Photo credit: Dawn Jones Redstone
Throughout her career as a Tradeswoman Lori has remained a great friend and supporter of OTI and has worked hard to connect with and support other local tradeswomen. Her deeply held belief that one must “lift as they climb” has been integral in her life in order to support other tradeswomen. In her words it is imperative that “women must always believe their fellow tradeswomen, have their backs, and be there for one another”.
About three years ago, Aida Aranda contacted Lori and asked her to apply for her position, which she was leaving, as an Apprenticeship Coordinator for the Laborers Training Center. Lori reported that she knocked the interview out of the park. Although she didn’t get this position, this interview and her positive ties with many people in the community, she was invited to several more interviews before landing her current position as a Field Representative for Liuna Local No. 737.In her role, she spends her days driving to various job sites to ensure that union contracts are being upheld, provides conflict mediation when necessary, and acts as an advocate for the workers on site. Lori works in a very inclusive office where she feels her voice is heard and respected and she loves the freedom her job affords. She also believes that she is in a position where she can help create tangible change in the culture of the union that she was unable to do working on the front lines as a laborer. Not only does Lori love her new job, but it also pays leaps and bounds higher than her highest pre-trades industry wage of $9/hour. She feels incredibly happy to have a sense of financial security higher than she ever imagined she would have without a college degree.
When asked what advice she has for future tradeswomen, Lori replied “Be sure that it’s what you want and then go hard and fast at it”. As for her future career plans, Lori wants to be the best at what she does as a Union Field Representative. She also wants to lead social change within and between unions and someday she would love to step into a leadership role within the union. She states that positive culture shifts are already happening within the leadership of the union and she hopes to help trickle these changes down to all members, so that everyone in the industry feels they are respected and safe on the job site no matter their race, gender, sexual orientation or nationality.
For Lori, her recovery from drug and alcohol abuse and being a tradeswoman are her two most passionately held identities. They give her a sense of a higher purpose and she spends as much time as she can giving back to fellow tradeswomen and people seeking their own recovery.
We are so excited to announce that Lori has recently accepted a seat on OTI’s Board of Directors! She states that she feels very lucky and honored to be invited to hold a seat on the board and intends to keep the seat warm for as long as she is able. We at OTI have no doubt that Lori will be a force to be reckoned with in the industry and we are incredibly proud that she started her journey with us!
OTI’s Next Executive Director
Thank you for all of your well-wishes, congratulations, and other kind words when we announced OTI founder and Executive Director, Connie Ashbrook’s, forthcoming retirement last October.
We are pleased to tell you that Oregon Tradeswomen’s Board of Directors has hired OTI’s next Executive Director.
Kelly Kupcak, from Chicago Women in Chicago Women in Trades, will take the reins of Oregon Tradeswomen on July 10, 2017. She brings more than two decades of nonprofit management experience to her new role as Executive Director of Oregon Tradeswomen.
Kelly holds a fundamental belief that economic equity and gender inclusion are critical to building strong women, strong families, and strong communities. Kelly brings considerable skills in strategic visioning, collaborative leadership, and outcomes-driven planning, and looks forward to expanding OTI’s impact in workforce development and building diversity in Oregon’s construction trades workforce.
From Left: Sharon Latson (Chicago Women in Trades), Kelly Kupcak (OTI’s Incoming Executive Director), Melissa Jennings (Volunteer), and Olivia Porter (Volunteer)
Most recently, Kelly served as the Director of Technical Assistance for the National Center for Women’s Equity in Apprenticeship and Employment at Chicago Women in Trades. She managed a highly competitive, multi-year U.S. Department of Labor ten-state regional grant-funded initiative and a U.S. Department of Labor contract, national in scope, to improve outcomes for women in nontraditional sectors through technical assistance to industry partners including employers, registered apprenticeship, workforce system, career technical system, and government entities.
Connie will continue to be involved with national policy by serving as co-chair of the Taskforce on Tradeswomen Issues and conducting training, providing technical assistance and other consulting services to help employers, apprenticeship programs, unions, and government agencies diversify their workforces, and assisting Career and Technical Education (CTE) trade programs to attract and retain more women and girls.
Kelly plans to visit the 25th Women in Trades Career Fair on May 19 and 20, 2017, and she will officially start in her new role with Oregon Tradeswomen on Monday, July 10, 2017. Kelly looks forward to meeting you soon, whether at the Women in Trades Career Fair or another event later in the year.
OTI Alumnae Spotlight: Meet Vanessa Enos!
Vanessa Enos is both an accomplished artist and journey level tradeswoman! She grew up on the Umatilla Indian Reservation in NE Oregon and went to high school there, and after graduation, attended Blue Mountain Community College on a basketball scholarship. After a year in community college, Vanessa decided to move to Philadelphia, PA to attend Moore College of Art and Design to focus on illustration. While she loved art school, Vanessa made the decision to leave after her first year but, continued to live and work in the city for another four years. This was an important time in Vanessa’s life where she was discovering her strengths and passions, and realizing she didn’t want to stay in the retail and service industry jobs that kept her in the stressful cycle of living paycheck to paycheck.
After being on her own for five years, Vanessa moved back to the reservation to work as a Head Start teacher while also serving as a Wildland Firefighter for four seasons during her summers. Vanessa was drawn to this work because it was a passion of a close family friend who passed away and she wanted first hand experience of the work he loved so much. She candidly recalls how hard the training was and how many people doubted that she would make it due to being a woman and her small stature. But, with her now legendary grit and determination, Vanessa passed the test and proved herself as a Wildland Firefighter.
After her fourth summer of Wildland Firefighting, Vanessa craved a change of focus in her life as she was slipping into a hard-partying lifestyle that no longer served her. She moved to Portland to attend treatment at NARA Rehabilitation Center and found under the table construction work that helped her get back on her feet. Years before her move to Portland, Vanessa had received a call from her friend Feather Sams-Huesties, who frequently did career outreach for women and was a professional contact of Connie Ashbrook, OTI Executive Director. Feather told Vanessa about OTI’s Trades and Apprenticeship Career Class (TACC) and about what a great fit she would be for the program. Vanessa remembered this conversation and reached back out to Feather once she was settled in Portland to learn more about OTI and how she could get started.
When she is asked by people “why the laborers union?” Vanessa confidently replies, “If you want to be great you’ve got to start at the bottom”.
With encouragement from Feather, Vanessa enrolled in OTI’s Spring 2014 TACC class when she was 32 years old and was accepted into a laborers apprenticeship program before she even finished the program. When she is asked by people “why the laborers union?” Vanessa confidently replies, “If you want to be great you’ve got to start at the bottom”. She loves her trade for the variety of skills she is able to learn and the fast paced atmosphere that has allowed her to become a “jill of all trades”.
Today, three years after finishing OTI’s TACC program, Vanessa is a Journeyman Laborer with a soft spot for concrete. She candidly explains, “not many females do it (concrete work), but I love it!” Currently she’s working as the Vibrator Hand for Howard S. Wright on the old Grove Hotel Building in China Town, making $28.77 an hour. She is getting to do exactly what she hoped to be doing, which is climbing the columns and pouring the walls of the structures she works on. But, she had to work hard to get to this place.
In her past job, Vanessa noticed she was being passed over for more skilled roles on the job site, leaving her stuck with mucking concrete even after journeying out. She asked her foreman why she wasn’t able to do what the new guys were doing and if it had anything to do with the fact that she was a woman. One of her coworkers chimed in, stating, “Vanessa, we’re all thinking it but we can’t say it. Yes, it’s because you’re a girl”. This is not something that Vanessa was willing to accept and she advocated for herself to ensure she was learning the skills she needed to be successful in her field. Unfortunately, Vanessa was slowly being transitioned to cleaning crews and pulled from more and more skilled tasks on the job site.
“No matter how hard you try to prove yourself in the trades, when you want to do something you typically get a million excuses why you can’t. It’s called pigeon holing; they never let you go to your full potential”.
This can be a common experience for women in the trades, but luckily not all companies function this way. Vanessa called up her old supervisor at Howard S. Wright and let him know she wasn’t happy in her current job and laid out the terms of what she would need to switch to a different company. He enthusiastically accepted and Vanessa felt really empowered to have left a job that wasn’t offering her the opportunities she was seeking and successfully advocate for a job that would build her skill set.
While Vanessa loves her career, she finds that sexual harassment on the job site is still extremely prevalent, “there’s all sorts of harassment out there, it’s just about you setting firm boundaries and nipping it in the bud”. She notes that dealing with issues of harassment in such a direct way can be hard for new apprentices, but at the end of the day, it’s important to let your coworkers know that “I’m not here for your entertainment or for your pleasure. I’m not here for eye candy”. Apprentices are there to work and learn skills so they can advance and earn a living just like all the other workers.
When you ask Vanessa about her goals for the future she excitedly answers, “the sky’s the limit!” She would like to work her way through the ranks to become a foreman, noting that her union has a lot of plans for her and the leadership she has the aptitude to grow into. She would also like to work as a recruiter to get more women into the trades; especially focusing on outreach to Native American women on reservations.
While Vanessa is a bad-ass tradeswoman by day, she is also a talented artist with a piece of work in the Smithsonian! She wants to further nourish her passion for art and to continue to leave her mark on the world as an artist through her favored mediums of print-making and oil painting, while also advancing her trades and career building skills. We agree that the sky is the limit for Vanessa and we are excited to see all that she is bound to accomplish. Check out Vanessa in our Intro to Apprenticeship Video!
OTI Alumnae Spotlight: Meet Eleni Vournas!
Change seems to be a powerful constant in Eleni Vournas’ life. Originally from Honduras, she was adopted at a young age by a Greek/ American family and spent a few years on a ranch in Montana. When she was four years old, her family moved to Kalamata, Greece, where she spent the rest of her childhood and adolescence. It was in Greece where her passion for traveling was cemented. At twenty years old, after completing two years of computer programming college course work at the University of Piraeus, Eleni decided to move back to the United States to restart her degree. Four years later she graduated from University of Portland with a major in Mathematics and a minor in Psychology.
Following graduation, Eleni went to Haiti to volunteer for 16 months. While living there, she worked on many construction projects and quickly fell in love with carpentry. It was her goal to continue in the construction field when she returned to Portland, but to her dismay, she found it was nearly impossible for a young woman to find work in the field with the level of experience she had. Given this barrier, Eleni chose to pursue a career that would allow her to use her degree in Psychology. She began working at a local non-profit as a Pediatric Psychiatric Technician; she was paid $11.83 an hour at this job. Though Eleni enjoyed aspects of her job, she found herself getting burned out and still dreaming about a job in the construction field that would allow her to continue to fund her passion for traveling.
A couple years ago, when Eleni was 27 years old, her aunt sent her a newspaper article in The Oregonian about Oregon Tradeswomen, Inc. (OTI). After learning about the pre-apprenticeship program offered by OTI she immediately enrolled and has never looked back! Eleni graduated from the Trades and Apprenticeships Career Class with perfect attendance, high praise from her instructors and peers, and was also asked to be the student speaker at her graduation. She was honored to receive this recognition and enthusiastically organized a flash mob with her peers – to the delight of the OTI instructors, friends and family in attendance!
Today, just two years after graduating from OTI’s pre-apprenticeship class, Eleni is 80% finished with her general carpenters apprenticeship and is now making $29.25 an hour — more than double the highest wage she made, with a college degree, before entering the trades. Eleni works for Hoffman Structures Inc. on an exciting new project at the campus of Oregon Health and Sciences University. Eleni has also taken advantage of the free trainings she is able to access though her membership in the Northwest Carpenters Union and has completed a rigging certification, which she finds to be really exciting work.
For Eleni, OTI opened the door to the Carpenters Union, provided her information about all of her options, and also answered all of the questions she was struggling to answer on her own before enrolling in OTI’s program. Eleni was also given access to a support group of strong female instructors and peers who share a passion for work in the trades. She still keeps in contact with many of them today.
If Eleni could give advice to other women who are considering work in the trades, she would tell them that it is definitely worth trying! She believes that the tangible skills she learned while in the trades as well as the things she has discovered about herself are priceless. She also feels really proud to be representing OTI on the job because people in the industry know and respect the advocacy work OTI does to get women started in high-skilled trades careers.
From a practical point of view, she also believes that graduating from the Trades and Apprenticeships Career Class helped her get hired faster due to the legacy that OTI holds in the Portland Community.
In the future, Eleni plans to complete her apprenticeship to become a journey level
carpenter and would eventually like to move up to a foreman position. But, Eleni’s passion for traveling and her inspiring ability to take risks has not been tamped out. Eleni dreams of also pursuing a degree in the medical field and coupling that knowledge with her existing construction skills in order to bring much needed services to third world countries. We applaud her ambition and vision! For now, Eleni is loving her life as a member of the NW Carpenters Union and finds the work she does to be thrilling.
OTI Alumnae Spotlight: Ash Jimenez
We were so excited to see OTI alumnae, Ash Jimenez, featured in the spring 2017 edition of Portland Community College Communities! In an article titled Made of Metal: Forging the path for a new generation of women welders, Ash talks about her path to a career in the trades industry and where she sees herself headed in the future.
Ash graduated our Trades and Apprenticeship Career Class in 2015 and was able to attend thanks to a generous scholarship provided by Metro. After graduation, Ash got a job with REACH Community Development, as a maintenance technician making $17/hour. While Ash enjoyed her job and the financial stability it offered, she knew she wanted to continue to hone her construction skills in order to advance her career and was particularly interested in learning more about welding.
The author of the article, Celeste Hamilton Dennis, writes
“When she (Ash) found out about a new scholarship opportunity to continue her studies at PCC, she knew she had to go for it. “I’ve never welded before. I didn’t know if I’d even like it, if I’d be good at it, or if I could ever do it”, she said. “Luckily I’m very stubborn so that helped.” Jimenez is the first recipient of a new PCC Foundation scholarship created by prominent community leader and educational champion Evelyn Crowell. The scholarship supports students who are underrepresented in the trades, including women and students of color. Jimenez couldn’t be prouder to carry on Evelyn’s legacy as a trailblazer for women. “I can’t disappoint all these people who are so proud of me,” she said.”
This scholarship enabled Ash to study welding at the PCC/Vigor Maritime Welding Center, where she attended night classes in order to learn TIG welding. When asked why she chose welding she said, “I love that welding is definitely not a woman’s world,” she said. “I like knowing I’m continuing to break through.”
Dennis also writes, “Much of Oregon’s aging welding workforce is expected to retire, leaving a gap for a new generation to step up and take their place” and graduates like Ash “are able to exit the program prepared for a living wage career as a welder whose work will literally create the steel bones of ships, barges, buildings, and bridges”.
“Jimenez’s ultimate dream after completing the program is to weld stainless steel fermentation tanks for brewers and winemakers”, what an awesome dream! In the meantime though, we were proud to hear that Ash’s hard work has paid off and she has accepted full time work with Steelab as a Welder and Fabricator.
Ash’s success has been earned by her hard work and determination, but it is also a great example of what can be achieved when women are provided the information, training and support needed to enter nontraditional careers.
You can find the full article online in the spring 2017 edition of Portland Community College Communities!
2017 Construction Equity Day
On February 23rd, staff and students from Oregon Tradeswomen, Inc., Portland Youth Builders, and Constructing Hope bused down to the State Capitol in Salem, OR for Construction Equity Day! This group of 80 people spent their day educating State Legislators about the importance of pre-apprenticeship programs and advocating for their continued funding. Measure 98, which promotes Career and Technical Education (CTE) and SB 292/HB 2167, which focuses on reducing bullying and harassment in the workplace, were also a major focus of advocacy efforts. Students had more than 20 scheduled meetings with legislators and navigated them with confidence; sharing their personal stories about how the trades industry has changed their lives. Some highlights for students included listening to a speech from Tim Frew, the Executive Secretary of the Oregon Building and Construction Trades Council, and meeting with Tina Kotek, Speaker of the House as well as Democratic Representative, Tawna Sanchez.
We at OTI are so proud of our Trades and Apprenticeship Career Class (TACC) students. They, along with the other students in attendance, led with power and demonstrated how to use their “construction voices” to advocate for the necessity of creating a more diverse workforce. The success of the day is truly owed to them! Special thanks to Alice Bartlett from the League of Women Voters for speaking with students about the importance of lobbying and legislation and to the Multnomah County Bar Foundation for providing the funding to make this event possible.
We would also like to thank our four legislative meeting leaders who just graduated from the most recent Trades and Apprenticeship Career Class. These students spent time preparing for this day and led their peers in developing their stories and meeting with Legislators – Nora Aguilar, Freedom Moreno, Nora Sackett, and Sumer Smith.
OTI Alumnae Spotlight: Meet Jess Kurtz!
Jess Kurtz grew up in Oakland, California in a low-income neighborhood with an underfunded school system and fewer opportunities. But, Oakland was also a socially conscious community with a deeply embedded awareness for radical activism that made a lasting impact on Jess’s life and sparked a lifelong interest in human rights. Her grit and determination helped her find her way to pursue work that would eventually lead her to land a very lucrative job in corporate marketing with a great salary, but little work-life balance. While in this position, Jess was in a terrible accident and was sent to Portland, OR for reconstructive surgery at OHSU. Following this life changing experience, Jess decided to stay in Portland and leave her 80-90 hour a week career in the corporate world behind in hopes of finding a job that mirrored her passion for women/worker’s rights, and bringing manufacturing jobs back to the United States.
Once settled in Portland, Jess purchased some goats and started a nonprofit now known as the Belmont Goats, which is near and dear to the hearts of many in the Portland community. Jess also held a job as a union negotiator at Communication Workers of America Local 7901 where she met Madelyn Elder, the current CFO at Oregon Tradeswomen Inc. She kept in touch with Madelyn over the years and when she learned about OTI she kept the organization in the back of her mind.
Later, Jess worked at a glass and metal manufacturing facility where she was introduced to welding by a coworker. She fell in love with the trade and enjoyed learning a tangible skill. During this time, Jess was in involved in an abusive relationship with her partner who was also a coworker. When she was assaulted on the job, Jess’s sense of safety in her workplace was compromised. Like many employers, Jess’ did not have the skills or knowledge about how to deal with intimate partner violence in the workplace. Although Jess liked her job and felt a sense of loyalty to her employers, she ultimately chose to leave.
Upon leaving that job and taking some time to heal, Jess was motivated to continue working towards her goal of being a welder and called Madeyn to learn about how OTI could help her. Jess enrolled in OTI’s first Women in Metals and Manufacturing cohort and finished the course with high praise from her instructors and a deeper appreciation for the importance of women in the trade industry. She finished the program in 2015 while also working on finishing up her Associates in Applied Science in Welding Technology at Portland Community College. After taking some time off to travel in Europe, Jess is back in Portland and just accepted a job at Big Marine with hopes of entering the Boiler Maker apprenticeship as soon as possible.
Jess’s future goals include becoming a journeyman welder and a Certified Welding Inspector with the hopes that she can be an independent contractor and work abroad. She would also someday like to have her own welding company so that she can provide a safer workplace for women, people of color, and members of the LGBTQ community. Jess is a champion for the work that OTI does and hopes to be able to give back by being a mentor for other women who want to enter the trades.
When asked what her advice would be for women who are considering a career in the trades she said “entering the trade of your choice by way of an apprenticeship is the most valuable thing you can do in regards to making more money and being a professional in your trade”. She also spoke about the skill of learning how and when to stand up for yourself as a woman in the industry while also learning when to bite your lip and follow orders in order to gain more respect from your peers.