Pre-Apprenticeship
Oregon Tradeswomen Supporters Bring on Industry Challenge!
“We admire the ability of Oregon Tradeswomen to do outreach and offer training that helps people be work ready in such a short time. We want to make sure everyone who needs more workers knows about this incredible resource and help them train even more construction workers!”
~ HoneyPot Fund donors
Oregon Tradeswomen is truly lucky to have such tremendous support across our industry and community to live our mission and work in supporting women into skilled trades careers and economic self-sufficiency.
Two such donors, who wish to remain anonymous, created the “HoneyPot Fund” to support our Pathways to Success program and general operation support for our expansion to Rockwood. These incredible donors are challenging others to step up to fund our apprenticeship readiness program and help ensure more women have good careers with good wages and benefits to support themselves and their families.
What’s the Challenge?
The HoneyPot Fund is offering $10,000 to match any $10,000 donation to Oregon Tradeswomen!
When is the Challenge?
You can donate online today, join us at Build with Us! and raise your paddle for $10,000 or go old school and send us a check to:
Oregon Tradeswomen
ATTN: HoneyPot Fund
454 SE 187th Avenue
Portland OR 97233
How Can I Support the Challenge?
Are you ready to put your wallet behind your conviction to a diverse, skilled, and equitable workforce? We knew you’d say YES! Donate today and challenge others in our industry and community!
How will my donation help?
Your generous contribution will be matched by the HoneyPot Fund to help support Oregon Tradeswomen’s continued growth, our move to Rockwood, and allow us to support more women securing their economic future through and help meet industry demand for a skilled and diverse workforce!
Thank you for your support and stepping up to the HoneyPot Industry Challenge!
With gratitude & love,
Oregon Tradeswomen
Tradeswoman and Mother Trillium Ward
No one said it was easy being a tradeswoman and a mom, but being a tradeswoman can give you the financial security to provide for your family. Trillium Ward began her journey into the skilled trades as a single mother of two, working as a drug and alcohol counselor for kids and young adults. Her job as a counselor was challenging work that only paid $12.50 an hour, hardly enough to support a family of three. Public assistance was helpful, but this was not the life Trillium imagined for herself. She had always loved working with her hands and took wood-shop, metal-shop, and other vocational programs her high school offered which focused on hands-on learning. With these experiences, the skilled trades started to look quite appealing as a new career option.
Trillium first applied to become an electrical apprentice with the IBEW, but didn’t score high enough on the application process to enter the program. After hearing about Oregon Tradeswomen around the community, she decided to enroll in the pre-apprenticeship program, the Trades and Apprenticeship Career Class (TACC). She knew that going through this program would be like receiving an endorsement of her qualifications and ability to succeed in the field. She was accepted to a special session of TACC that ran at night, which allowed her to continue working full time to support her family. If that wasn’t enough to demonstrate her commitment, she was also simultaneously taking a welding class on weekends!
After all her hard work in Oregon Tradeswomen’s pre-apprenticeship program, Trillium graduated from TACC, re-applied to the IBEW’s apprenticeship program, and was accepted! As an apprentice, she immediately made $3 more per hour than she did as a drug and alcohol counselor. Being a single mother at the time, it was imperative to have a support network of family and other moms to help out with childcare because a typical day for Trillium started at 4:00 am! Thankfully, just 6 months into her apprenticeship, Trillium made enough money to get off of state assistance and afford daycare. Her advice to mothers thinking about pursuing a career in the trades is to “make sure you have reliable daycare that can accommodate early mornings and the ability to be flexible with your schedule!”
Just 5 years after starting on this new path, Trillium journeyed out of the Electrical apprenticeship! This is an incredibly proud accomplishment for her, because she managed to meet all of the strict program requirements around attendance and grades, all while having a new baby with her partner. Trillium is currently working for Oregon Electric Group where she runs bus ducts, installs conduits, pulls wire, creates panels, and installs lights among – other things. Trillium loves how her work keeps her brain engaged – whether she is learning new technology, new skills, or being put in different situations requiring adaptation and problem-solving. The hardest part about her job is the lack of continuity. When the people you work with, your start time, and your commute change regularly, its hard to plan for the future.
The biggest barrier Trillium faces as a woman in the trades is not outright harassment, but that compared to the men on her crews, she is not taken seriously. As a result, she has to to above and beyond to prove herself on every job-site – otherwise the men frequently assume that she isn’t competent. This becomes exhausting when you’re changing job-sites regularly – having to prove your worth with a new crew each time. Trillium’s advice for other tradeswomen is to help support other women. Solidarity is important in this field, so when you see other women, reach out, because the isolation can be hard.
In the end, the hard work pays off. Trillium says, “The amount of change in my financial status, going from poverty and living paycheck to paycheck, to financial freedom where I can buy a home and go on vacation has made a world of difference in my life and my children’s lives.”
The Journey of a Female Locomotive Engineer
Huffing and puffing along, a 7,000 foot freight train curves gracefully around the Columbia River Gorge. Jessica Hassler, locomotive engineer extraordinaire with BNSF Railway, looks out the side-view mirror of the cab at the 16,000 tons she has been vigilantly guiding for hundreds of miles. She feels pride welling up inside her as she safely and smoothly handles the power of this great machine.
Jessica has been a Locomotive Engineer for 7 years now and has been with the railroad as a whole for 10 years. Before her foray into the world of locomotives, Jessica was a creative ‘jack-of-all-trades’. Armed with a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in Illustration, she supported herself by doing freelance work. She was contracted by advertisers and restaurants to draw for them, but the work wasn’t conducive to ensuring a stable future; the market for creatives in Portland was, and continues to be, saturated. Jessica also opened up her own food truck, but after 3 years, decided that being an entrepreneur was not for her if she wanted to have job-security, health insurance, and to one day own a home.
She heard from a friend that BNSF Railway was looking for switchmen and conductors and that the work was well compensated and Union protected. In 2008, she took a chance and applied to BNSF Railway. She was hired as a switchman/conductor and worked for 6 months before getting furloughed. The furlough, while incredibly inconvenient, was a perfect segue into Oregon Tradeswomen’s Trades and Apprenticeship Career Class (TACC).
Jessica was at a loss as what to do until someone pointed her in the direction of Oregon Tradeswomen. Growing up in North Dakota, Jessica never considered the skilled trades or blue-collar work an option, as it was mostly men who filled those jobs, but going through Oregon Tradeswomen’s pre-apprenticeship training program, a whole new world opened up for her. During the summer of 2009 when Jessica was enrolled in TACC, she developed an interest in becoming a lineman with Bonneville Power Administration. One of the most valuable things she experienced during Oregon Tradeswomen’s class was the opportunity to learn math in a way that made sense to her. Jessica never saw math and numbers as things that came easily to her, but in TACC, math was broken down in a way that she could access. TACC was also a supportive environment where she felt like she could ask as many questions as she needed about anything.
Soon after graduation from TACC, BNSF ended Jessica’s furlough and she decided to go back and work as a switchman. Even though she didn’t go on to pursue the electrical trade, Jessica reflects on her time in the TACC program fondly, saying that: “Oregon Tradeswomen picked me up when I didn’t know what to do. It helped me realize that even if the railroad didn’t work out, there were other options in store for me.”
And so, it was “Take Two” for Jessica. Hired on as a switchman, she switched cars, serviced local industries, and built trains for departure to their next destinations. Working on the railroad can be a very challenging job. While not for everyone, it is a place for someone who thrives on variety. You are on the railroad’s whim as you are on-call 24/7 and Jessica says that it is up to you to make the best of worst of it. Jessica made the best of it and after three years working on the ground, she took the promotion to become a Locomotive Engineer.
Throughout her time at BNSF Railway, the men that she worked with were nothing but welcoming and genuinely thrilled to have a woman join the crew. When she just got hired on, she was fearful of harassment or hazing, but instead she felt respected by the men who were all so generous to teach and share their tips and tricks. The men on her crew understood that she was their teammate and that if she succeeds, they succeed. Jessica calls them the family of men she never expected to have. There is irony in how Jessica found support, success, and a sense of equality at the railroad, a place people don’t expect women to work. BNSF does have a very strict harassment policy, but Jessica recounts that in her case, the culture has been so positive that it never needed to be enforced. Even ten years ago things were much harder for women on the railroad, but since then, the culture has evolved for the better.
To the women who are curious about joining BNSF, Jessica Hassler says, “Just do it! Be open and be brave. Drop the attitude and the ego and go into it knowing nothing with nothing to prove. Believe you can do it and allow yourself to learn it.”
10 years with BNSF Railway has flown by for Jessica and she has all that she once dreamed of: a rewarding job that offers great benefits, belonging to thee BLET Union, owning a home, owning a car, and she has the economic stability she always dreamed about. She even met her life partner through her job with BNSF.
So what does the future look like? Jessica can see herself sticking with it for another 20 years followed by happy retirement. As long as she can sustain the lifestyle, there is no reason not to go all the way to retirement.
Life may not always end up how you thought it would, but sometimes the reality you end up with is even better than anything you could have imagined. It is important to take things in stride and keep your options open. Who knows, you might discover something life-changing like Jessica did!
Portland Metro Region Construction Workforce Market Study
Oregon Tradeswomen works to increase the number of women and people of color entering the skilled trades, but there are still significant barriers that make recruitment and retention of a challenge. A Workforce Market Study was jointly commissioned in January 2017 by The City of Portland and Metro, (Oregon regional governance and the only one in the nation), with the support of Oregon Tradeswomen, the National Association of Minority Contractors of Oregon (NAMCO), Oregon Employment Department (OED), Portland State University (PSU), and Worksystems Inc. to learn more about how to invest in equitable growth through diversifying our workforce.
Why should we care about diversifying our workforce? The new report states, “Diversifying the construction workforce will not only help create a stronger supply of needed workers for the industry, it will also directly address issues of poverty and economic mobility within communities of color and working families in the region.” The construction industry is also in the midst of a labor shortage. Ideally, we can prepare women and minorities to be those ideal candidates to help fill the labor gap. It isn’t as easy as it seems, though, as the study identifies barriers that make recruitment and retention of these demographics a challenge.
The study outlined 9 main barriers that hinder recruitment and retention of women and minorities in the trades. Many trades jobs come from personal referral, say from a father or friend who is already in the industry. The study shows that women and minorities have less of these gateway experiences. This goes hand in hand with the fact that there are not many communities or social networks within the industry for women and people of color which minimizes the exposure someone from those communities might have to the trades. It was also found that marginalized communities face more hardships than others due to financial issues, child care, transportation, among other things that can stand in the way of them continuing their careers.
Although Oregon Tradeswomen does great work preparing women to join the construction workforce and gives them support throughout their careers, however, there are limits to our capacity to train students, primarily due to structural limitations as to when we can conduct training and offer hands-on experiences to build skills. More than 1,100 women seek our pre-apprenticeship training each year. The problem isn’t that women aren’t interested in a career in construction, but rather, we have a limited number of slots in each cohort. This is a common barrier among pre-apprenticeship and job-readiness programs.
Some of the other barriers that keep women and people of color from continuing a career in the trades are the outdated policies that shape noninclusive jobsite cultures where women and people of color experience sexist and racist attitudes. These policies can foster hostile work environments, poor-quality training for new workers (which then makes it harder for those workers to excel and advance), and fewer opportunities for promotion for women and people of color.
As a way to address the disparity in our region, the study outlined three goals:
- Increase recruitment of diverse workers
- Increase retention of diverse workers
- Develop more robust equity policy and practices
Each of the goals are broken down into action items such as “Ensure steady funding streams to increase capacity of pre-apprenticeship programs,” “Address construction job site culture through respectful workplace trainings with proven results,” and “Enforce contract goals with consequences of non-compliance.”
While there is much work to be done, this study clearly marks a path that we as a community, and hopefully one day as a country, can work towards. There are countless women and people of color who are willing and able to do good work in the construction industry and help fill the labor shortage, but it is the industry as a whole that needs to step up to properly set these workers up for success.
Read the full Portland Metro Region Construction Workforce Market Study.
TACC Field Trip to Hampton Lumber!
In January, our Trades and Apprenticeship Career Class (TACC) had the opportunity to take a field trip to Hampton Lumber and tour their distribution center on SE Front St. here in Portland. TACC students got to have an inside look at what a day in Hampton Lumber’s transfer station is like. We saw the process as the workers cut the lumber to various sizes, package the lumber, and then load it on the rail cars. Students also talked with the staff about entry level work and the various jobs that are available at Hampton Lumber.
Founded in 1950, Hampton Lumber is privately owned by the Hampton Family with its headquarters here in Portland, Oregon. They own and operate 9 sawmills in Oregon, Washington, and even British Columbia. Hampton is deeply invested in each of the communities where they employ workers.
In each community, Hampton Lumber prioritizes affordable housing, youth and education, and the arts. They support organizations and causes by donating time and lumber to Habitat for Humanity, advocating for the arts in urban and rural communities, donating to the Oregon Food Bank and Adopt-a-Family, and working closely with local schools and colleges to not only provide workforce training opportunities, but create and maintain important relationships with the communities’ youth.
In addition to being patrons of their community, Hampton Lumber is an exceptional place of employment. Their employees are excited about the work they do and look forward to coming to their jobs every day. This enthusiasm creates a positive work environment that encourages worker retention. Because they care about their employees, Hampton Lumber provides many opportunities for education through training and apprenticeship.
Hampton Lumber is also dedicated to increasing women’s participation in the lumber industry and in the skilled trades in general. Hampton promotes a supportive workplace environment for everyone, regardless of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, national origin, protected veteran status, or disability.
Those interested in finding out more about Hampton Lumber are highly encouraged to reach out and give them a call. The folks at Hampton Lumber are truly friendly and are more than willing to answer all of your questions as well as possibly show you around their facilities. Make that first move and come in to experience what Hampton Lumber is all about.
Don’t forget to check them out on Facebook!
Hands On Metal Fabrication at ADX Portland
TACC students learning how to assemble their frames
On Thursday, February 8, 2018, Oregon Tradeswomen’s Trades and Apprenticeship Career Class (TACC) had the opportunity to get hands on experience with metal fabrication! Metal fabrication is the altering of raw materials by way of bending, cutting, welding, etc. in order to build structures. This hands on day happened at ADX Portland, a makerspace where people can share tools and knowledge, and take advantage of a huge facility with a wood shop, metal shop, print shop, and jewelry shop.
TACC students learning how to operate a Horizontal Band Saw
Our students were tasked with creating their own plaque stands. They were each given 5 sections of channel iron and learned how to cut and grind their materials. They used a horizontal band saw to cut, and a disc grinder to grind down and clean up the edges. Students learned the ever valuable lesson, “measure twice, cut once,” a carpenter’s proverb that also applies to metal fabrication. This rule is important to consider because it is, of course, faster to double check your measurements than cut incorrectly and have to waste time and resources making the cut again.
Measure twice, cut once!
Once each of the students prepped their materials, the class learned how to “tack weld” their iron segments together to make a frame. A tack weld is just a series of small welds spaced some distance apart. This type of weld is usually only a temporary step in the welding process, but it holds the assembled components in place and ensures their alignment which is all that is needed for a small project like a plaque stand. After the welds are complete, the students cleaned them up by gently using an angle grinder to smooth out any protruding material.
TACC students tacking their segments together
It was clear that our students were enthusiastic about learning to craft with metal and it was an added perk that they got to take home something that they build with their own two hands! Special thanks to ADX for allowing our students to learn about another great option for a career in their beautiful space.
Our students’ final product!
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!
OTI at the United State of Women Summit
We are so proud to represent tradeswomen at the United State of Women Summit happening in Washington, DC starting June 14, 2016. The summit is a collaboration of the White House Council on Women and Girls, the Department of Labor, the Aspen Institute, and Civic Nation. The Summit is a convening of women leaders who will together work to address gender equity in the areas of health and wellness, educational opportunity, violence against women, entrepreneurship and innovation, leadership and civic engagement, and economic opportunity.
OTI’s Executive Director, Connie Ashbrook, will join a delegation of 35 tradeswomen from around the country, along with First Lady Michelle Obama, Tina Fey, Oprah, and thousands of other women all working toward lifting up women and our nation. Watch the live stream Tuesday, June 14th, 2016 if you’d like to take it in!
While at the Summit, Connie will be supporting the National Taskforce on Tradeswomen’s Issues policy platform by speaking with other attendees about our priorities, which include advocating for:
- Releasing the new apprenticeship EEO regulations, and ensuring that they contain strong language supporting increasing the number of women in apprenticeship
- Dedicated, specific federal funding through WANTO that directly supports tradeswomen
- Increased support for existing workforce hiring goals through compliance efforts and sustainable technical assistance
- A strengthened pipeline between schools and apprenticeship that has specific goals for female participation
You can follow the conference online and through social media. Take the pledge to work for gender equity in whatever you do best, and make sure to support your sisters at the #StateOfWomen conference by using the #tradeswomen hashtag when you post!
If you didn’t make it to the 2016 Annual Meeting…
We missed you! Hopefully, you can join us next year – in January, 2017!
As happens each year, Connie shared OTI’s accomplishments from 2015. The short summary version is that it was a very busy year for staff. If you want the more detailed version, well, you are going to have to wait a little longer. We are going to be releasing an annual report later this year and we don’t want to spoil all that hard work!
A critical piece of the Annual Meeting is voting in board members for their two year terms for both new and continuing board members. This year Aida Aranda and Stephanie Peters extended the terms of their board service, and Emily Wigre joined OTI’s Board of Directors!
Sometimes when we welcome someone new, we also have to say goodbye to someone else. After two terms of service, Cari Ebbert decided it was time for her to transition to a new role. She shared her passion for OTI, particularly the important role she feels the organizations plays in creating a community of tradeswomen who support each other. Cari is not a graduate of OTI’s TAC Class, but talked about volunteering for her union at the Women in Trades Career Fair every year. Once she realized that OTI coordinated the entire event, she began to volunteer with us as well! Thank you so much Cari for all of your time and dedication. We look forward to seeing you at OTI events and supporting us in new ways in the future.
We wrapped up the evening by recognizing our 2015 Outstanding volunteers and by holding a raffle. Believe it or not, Jen Netherwood was a winner again! Between hard work and good luck, we suspect she will be running the world soon. Overall, there were 61 people in attendance representing 19 different trades!
See you next year!
Congress Passes Extension on WANTO Training Funds!
Senator Jeff Merkley at the 2012 Women in Trades Career Fair
We’re thrilled to announce that the Women in Apprenticeship and Non Traditional Occupations (WANTO) program has received funding for another year! Along with our co-grantees ANEW, Tradeswomen, Inc., NEW-NYC, and Chicago Women in Trades, Oregon Tradeswomen, Inc. advocated for the renewal of the WANTO program, which remains the only source of federal funding that specifically targets women’s participation in apprenticeship.
Together in a coalition with our co-grantees, OTI worked closely with the staff of U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley, whose leadership was instrumental to getting WANTO funds included in the federal budget.
“Women hold less than three percent of high-wage jobs in the construction industry and face many barriers in gaining access to these nontraditional jobs,” said Merkley. “I’ve fought for funding for WANTO because it will make a big difference in helping train and ultimately put women in Oregon to work in high-wage, electrical, mechanical, highway and utility trades jobs that will provide financial security for a lifetime.”
Senator Ron Wyden with TACC instructor Amy at the “Sugar Shack” in Northeast Portland
We’re proud of the work that we have accomplished with WANTO funds, which are critical to our ability to provide training to low income women at no cost to them. This fall, students in our WANTO-funded Trades and Apprenticeship Career Class inspired community partners and Oregon leaders through their work to demolish and repurpose the former “Sugar Shack” strip club into a Cully neighborhood asset. We were fortunate to be able to share that work with U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, who stopped by the job site after learning about our community partnership.
We’re thankful to our allies in the Senate who heard our call and took action on behalf of women everywhere.