Reward OTI with your Fred Meyer Points
Oregon Tradeswomen, Inc. is now part of the Fred Meyer Community Rewards program! Now when you do your shopping at Fred Meyer stores, you can link your rewards card to OTI and contribute to a quarterly donation!
Fred Meyer is donating $2.5 million per year to non-profits in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington, based on where their customers tell them to give. Here’s how the program works:
• Sign up for the Community Rewards program by linking your Fred Meyer Rewards Card to OTI at www.fredmeyer.com/communityrewards. You can search for us by our name or by our non-profit number (87334).
• Then, every time you shop and use your Rewards Card, you are helping Oregon Tradeswomen, Inc. earn a donation!
• You still earn your Rewards Points, Fuel Points, and Rebates, just as you do today.
• If you do not have a Rewards Card, they are available at the Customer Service desk of any Fred Meyer store.
Pacific Power Awards Grant to OTI
Oregon Tradeswomen, Inc. is pleased to announce a $5,000 grant awarded by Pacific Power Foundation for our Pathways to Success program.
The foundation awards grants to nonprofit organizations in the categories of education; civic and community betterment; culture and arts; and health, welfare and social services.
With a focus on apprenticeship, our Pathways to Success program offers the Trades and Apprenticeship Career Class (TACC). It is a 7-week, pre-apprenticeship training class that helps women prepare for a high skill, high wage career in construction.
This generous award will help fund student support services, such as books, work boots, tools, rain gear, and bus vouchers and assist staff in placing our students in trades careers and apprenticeships as well as develop relationships with local employers. Students graduate from the state-certified program with everything they need to start working in the trades, from to tools and work boots.
Learn more about our TAC Class or sign up for an information session about the class, the first step to enrollment in the program.
OTI thanks Pacific Power Foundation for its support of our program!
New Seminars for Educators and Employers at the Women in Trades Career Fair
In addition to providing learning opportunities for students and job seekers at the Women in Trades Career Fair, Oregon Tradeswomen is proud to announce a new seminar series taking place on May 14th for educators, employers, and career guidance counselors. In Apprenticeship 101, teachers and career guidance counselors will learn the basics about “the other 4-year degree” and how to help students successfully prepare for a meaningful career in the trades.
Employers, apprenticeship trainers, community college educators, and CTE professionals will be interested in attending Recruiting Women and Girls to Apprenticeship and Career & Technical Education (CTE) — an introduction to practical techniques used to increase the number of women and girls in traditionally male-dominated industries.
Our seminars for practitioners will take place right in the middle of all of the action at the Fair. In addition to learning in a classroom setting from expert apprenticeship trainers and Oregon Tradeswomen’s founder and executive director, seminar attendees will receive a guided tour of the Women in Trades Career Fair. They’ll also participate in hands-on workshops alongside the 1,000+ students that attend the Fair every year, and get to view the fun and inspiring Tradeswomen Work-Wear Fashion Show. Oregon Tradeswomen is also honored that Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian will join our group at the end of the day for a Q&A session for seminar attendees!
Whether you are a teacher or guidance counselor who’d like to learn the basics of apprenticeship, or you’re an industry veteran interested in learning more about diversifying your workforce, we know that you’ll learn a lot at the Women in Trades Career Fair Practitioner Seminars, and you’ll leave inspired by the energy of the tradeswomen and girls that make this event so special.
Register by clicking the purple button below:
AmazonSmile
Oregon Tradeswomen, Inc. is excited to announce another way to support OTI!
AmazonSmile is a program where Amazon donates 0.5% of the purchase price of eligible products to OTI. Visit AmazonSmile to shop for your favorite books and support your favorite non-profit organization!
Get Involved in the 2015 Women in Trades Career Fair
Oregon Tradeswomen, Inc.’s Women in Trades Career Fair is our largest (and most fun!) event of the year. With more than 30 interactive, hands-on workshops, it is a great way for girls and women to discover a future career. We serve about 2,000 women and girls over the course of three days. Without the help of volunteers, OTI wouldn’t be able to put on this event each year. Volunteers keep the event running smoothly and help with a variety of tasks. More than 100 volunteers cover 175+ shifts. Last year a volunteer commented on their participation in the Fair:
“I could tell that I was really needed to help the workshops run smoothly. There are a lot of schools in the building all at once and my presence let the workshop leaders do their job – teaching the girls. This was one of the better volunteer experiences I have had and I can’t wait to come back next year! Plus, you get lunch and really cool t-shirt.”
Please sign up to join the ranks of people who volunteer during the Women in Trades Career Fair and help us produce another fantastic event in 2015.
Guest Blog: Shaley Howard
Shaley Howard is a tireless supporter of Oregon Tradeswomen, Inc.. She has immense creativity, amazing energy, and she recently embarked on a little campaign to raise awareness and support for our mission. So…. we asked Shaley to contribute a guest blog post to share more about her generous efforts. We hope you enjoy Shaley’s inspiring words and these wonderful images.
Thank you, Shaley!
Why I Support Oregon Tradeswomen
Oregon Tradeswomen (OTI) is hands down one of my favorite non-profit organizations of all time! As a woman and self identified butch lesbian, I personally have found myself marginalized throughout my lifetime. And whether it’s some form of sexual discrimination or homophobia, I’m familiar with living in an intolerant, often ignorant world that tries to dictate what a woman’s role should be both personally and professionally. Luckily I was raised by a strong, intelligent, professional mother, four obnoxiously assertive and opinionated sisters and am surrounded daily by loads of powerful and strong-minded female friends. So the idea that any woman is pre-assigned a particular role or vocation in the world is asinine to me – and OTI.
I first learned about OTI when my friend Amy James Neel began teaching there years ago. I honestly had never heard of OTI before she started there, but the more I learned about the organization, the more I loved it. An all female run organization that brings in women from all walks of life, teaches them skills in the trades and then find them living wage jobs – that’s huge. I also know how important it is for children to have positive, strong and working parents as role models. OTI gives women the ability to obtain high wage paying jobs in the trades, enables them to provide for their families and show their kids that a woman can do anything a man can do. If we want to fight poverty, racism and sexism and to teach women skills that are applicable to the world we live in and give them above average living wages – then give them a support system like OTI has in place and make sure they are able to get and keep jobs.
As someone who doesn’t actually work at OTI yet whole-heartedly supports them, the best thing I can do is help raise awareness about what they offer to women and our community. Over the years I’ve tried to come up with creative ideas – anything from making my birthday a big OTI fundraiser to volunteering at their Women in the Trades Fair to writing blogs about OTI for PQ Monthly. I’ve also brought in coffee, cupcakes and other goodies for the hardworking women that work there – if anyone deserves the occasional treat it’s these women.
My latest idea came when I was lucky enough to be selected to be on a Timbers billboard for the Portland Timbers Football Club. I thought since the image is me looking all super tough and warrior like, what better way to shout to the world who the REAL strong warriors are – the women of OTI. So I put a challenge out to anyone and everyone who took a selfie in front of my billboard, posted it and donated to OTI – I would in turn donate $5 myself. And it seems to be working! Not only are we raising some money for OTI but perhaps more importantly we’re spreading the word about all the amazing things OTI does. Hopefully the next time I’m randomly talking about OTI I won’t get the question – what is OTI?
If anyone wants to take the Timbers billboard selfie challenge it’s located at Sandy and Burnside and NE 12th.
I cannot thank all the women of OTI enough for all you do for women and our community. Go on with your badass warrior selves and change the world!
Wells Fargo Awards Grant to OTI
Oregon Tradeswomen, Inc. is pleased to announce a $2,500 grant awarded by Wells Fargo for our Pathways to Success program.
With a focus on apprenticeship, the Pathways to Success program offers the Trades and Apprenticeship Career Class (TACC). It is a 7-week, pre-apprenticeship training class that helps women prepare for a high skill, high wage career in construction.
Upon graduation, OTI career counselors assist TACC graduates with their job search and application to apprenticeship training programs. OTI career counselors also provide individualized employment counseling throughout the entire course of the graduate’s trades career.
Learn more about our TAC Class or sign up for an information session about the class, the first step to enrollment in the program.
OTI thanks Wells Fargo for its support of our program!
A new way to support OTI: Donate Your Car!
Charity Connections is a program run by Volunteers of America Oregon, a nonprofit social services agency providing a hand up to more than 17,000 men, women and children in our community.
It supports more than 200 of Oregon’s top rated charities by processing their vehicle donations by working closely with a local auction house to get the most out of the donation for the designated nonprofit.
By donating your vehicle you will save yourself the hassle and expense of selling your vehicle. At the same time, you will be supporting a cause that you are passionate about: helping girls and women explore their opportunities to pursue living wage jobs in the trades. When you donate your car, boat, motor home, or motorcycle, Oregon Tradeswomen, Inc. will greatly benefit from your donation.
This kind of donation is a substantial gift and will help offset costs in our programs that empower women to learn about working in the trades. Visit Charity Connections to make your donation. Thank you!
In Kind Donations Make a World of Difference
Oregon Tradeswomen, Inc. relies on the support of community on a number of levels. We welcome financial support from donors, private foundation, government granting entities and private business.
Thank You!
We also receive generous gifts in the form of goods and services from local businesses and community based organizations like Atomic Direct and The Rebuilding Center.
Atomic Direct donated tools and miscellaneous gear for our recent Social Hour Tool & Gear Swap. The towels, assorted hand tools, drill kits and other gear were very popular with the tradeswomen who attended the event. Atomic Direct builds brand awareness for a variety of clients using direct response television and is based in Portland. The company was also one of our partners in last year’s Give!Guide campaign.
OTI has been working with The ReBuilding Center on N. Mississippi for quite some time and we recently returned to the center seeking 80 feet of CVG material for a project in our office. The center came through with a generous donation so our Pathways training program can now finish a project building out a mezzanine here at our office.
The ReBuilding Center, a project of Our United Villages, is a vibrant resource working to strengthen the environmental, economic, and social fabric of local communities. The center includes DeConstruction Services, a sustainable alternative to conventional demolition, and will soon be launching ReFind Education, featuring workshops and classes on how to safely and creatively work with used building materials. They also offer a free pick-up service, purposeful volunteer opportunities, and donations of used building materials for community projects.
OTI thanks Atomic Direct and The ReBuilding Center for their generosity. If you are interested in our in kind donations program as a method of supporting OTI’s mission, please send an email to dennise@tradeswomen.net.
Thank you, Bank of America!
Women in Metals and Manufacturing
The Bank of America Charitable Foundation has named Oregon Tradeswomen, Inc. (OTI) as a 2015 Neighborhood Builder! OTI is being recognized for our efforts in workforce development. The Neighborhood Builders is currently marking its 11th year as the largest investment in nonprofit leadership development and organizational longevity. Locally, through Neighborhood Builders, Bank of America has invested $3.8 million and supported 38 emerging leaders at 19 Portland-area nonprofit organizations.
With the help of this funding from Bank of America, OTI will add a manufacturing workforce development program to help women and girls learn about, prepare for, and enter manufacturing careers. The program will build upon our successful pre-apprenticeship program that prepares 80 women a year for industry careers and educates more than 1,200 girls annually about their future opportunities in the trades. OTI will work with a variety of manufacturing industry partners to adopt or create a manufacturing-focused curriculum to prepare women for successful manufacturing careers.
Two-thirds of the manufacturing sector’s jobs require less than an associate’s degree. Jobs such as welder, machinist, millwright, computer-controlled machine operator, inspector, production and warehouse worker are all projected to have a high number of openings in the next few years. In fact, the manufacturing industry in the Portland metro area alone boasts more than 87,000 jobs with a payroll close to $7 million.