Support OTI
Building Girls Scholarship Fund
Oregon Tradeswomen, Inc. welcomes the support of the business community to help us fulfill our mission to engage more women and girls in the trades. Our newest opportunity is a scholarship fund program supporting the impactful work of our Building Girls program, namely, our summer camp.
OTI’s Building Girls program helps fill a critical gap for young women by offering ways to explore the variety of exciting, high-paying careers in the trades. Through supervised hands-on construction experience, positive skills coaching, and working directly with female role models, Building Girls fulfills an unmet community need introducing young women to career possibilities they may never have considered an option.
The program offers several opportunities for young women to engage in an exploration: Building Girls Work Crew, our Women in Trades Fair and our annual Building Girls summer construction camp. Currently, we are seeking scholarship fund contributions from businesses to help offset the cost and create more opportunities for involvement in our summer construction camp.
Girls’ summer construction camp is a fun and exciting adventure where girls have fun and learn through hands on activities. The camps are structured for middle school and high school girls, and is a great opportunity to learn trades skills and make new friends. The cost is $600 per girl to attend one week of summer camp.
With your contribution of $600 towards our Building Girls scholarship fund program, your business can help a girl learn the skills of the trades by participating in activities like building a play house, making concrete stepping stones, welding table bases and tile table tops, solder pipes, and so much more. Your company will also be listed as a supporter of the program on our web site, receive acknowledgement on our social media platforms and will receive a mention in our e-newsletter. You will also receive an invitation to visit the camp, or attend the camp celebration, to see your generous donation at work!
Please contact Dennise M. Kowalczyk – Development Director – at dennise@tradeswomen.net or call 503.335.8200, X 38 for more information. Please join us in promoting the success for girls and women in the trades through education, leadership, and mentorship by becoming a scholarship fund contributor.
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Pathways to Success Scholarship Fund
Oregon Tradeswomen, Inc. welcomes the support of the business community to help us fulfill our mission to engage more women and girls in the trades. Our newest opportunity is a scholarship fund program supporting the impactful work of our Pathways to Success program, namely, our Trades and Apprenticeship Career Class (TACC).
The TAC class program offers a focus on apprenticeship through a 7-week, state-certified, pre-apprenticeship training class that helps women prepare for a high skill, high wage career in the blue-collar professions in construction, manufacturing and the utility trades. Class sessions occur four times a year. All interested participants must first attend an information session and then a rigorous screening interview with staff in order to be qualified to participate in the class.
TACC covers key elements that lead to a successful outcome for students as well as teaching the grit, perseverance, and timeliness skills that also contribute to professional readiness: basic math and measurement, job safety in addition to construction culture, using hand and power tools, and physical fitness training. All of this is included with the 30 hours of hands-on training experience working with professional tradeswomen. Due to the intense one-on-one instruction we offer in this program, the cost to cover associated expenses is $5,000 per woman. But our students attend at no cost to themselves!
Why is this? The majority of our students are in low-wage jobs, unemployed, or are being supported by their families. In fact, their average annual income is only $11,000. We raise funds from foundations and contributors to cover the cost of the class and help our students move from poverty to the middle class, and self-sufficiency.
With your contribution of $5,000 toward our Pathways to Success Scholarship Fund, your business can help a woman learn about skills and opportunities to pursue well-paying jobs in our community. Your company will also be listed as a supporter of the program on our web site, receive acknowledgement on our social media platforms and will receive a mention in our e-newsletter. You will also receive an invitation to attend class graduation to see your generous donation at work along with acknowledgement as a program supporter on the graduation program and the event invitation!
Our graduates are ready to hit the ground running. Please contact Dennise M. Kowalczyk – Development Director – at dennise@tradeswomen.net or call 503.335.8200, x38 for more information. Please join us in promoting the success for girls and women in the trades through education, leadership, and mentorship by becoming a scholarship fund program.
Tradeswomen Stories – September 25, 2015
The 2015 Tradeswomen’s Stories event is a unique opportunity to engage with both the trades industry and the art community. OTI is offering limited sponsorship participation to businesses seeking a unique community engagement opportunity.
This year’s Tradeswomen Leadership Institute will kick off with a compelling segement called Tradeswomen Stories: Whatever you do…don’t do that! Five tradeswomen will be immersed in the art of storytelling – sharing their true stories live and on stage – at one of Portland’s finest performance venues, Disjecta. This event will build community and create a powerful tool for tradeswomen to share their experiences.
Oregon Tradeswomen, Inc. is partnering with Back Fence PDX for this exciting event featuring local tradeswomen. Their stories are often invisible in discussions about construction. These women face incredible adversity and break significant barriers to get and retain jobs that have largely only been accessible to white men for generations. During the past year, apprenticeship, trades, and manufacturing have taken a prominent place in national conversation about workforce, economy, and employment.
TRADESWOMEN’S STORIES: Whatever you do…don’t do that!
Friday September 25, 2015
Doors at 6:30 pm
Show at 7:00 pm
18+ Only
Tickets available to purchase online.
Disjecta
8371 N Interstate Ave
Portland, OR 97217
Tradeswomen Leadership Institute 2014
Business Member Spotlight: P & C Construction
Oregon Tradeswomen, Inc. welcomes the support of the business community to help us fulfill our mission to engage more women and girls in the trades.
P & C Construction is one of our partners in this program and we thank them for their contribution to OTI. The company is a third generation, local business that has worked on several projects, including the Governor Hotel (now the Sentinel), the original Niketown, and Ronald McDonald House.
OTI thanks the staff of P & C Construction for its support of our programming as a business membership program participant!
If you want to learn more about our business membership program, please send an email to dennise@tradeswomen.net for details on how you can be involved.
Legacy Award Opportunity with Women’s Foundation of Oregon
On behalf of the staff, board members, and tradeswomen members of Oregon Tradeswomen, Inc. (OTI), I am excited and honored to share that OTI is a finalist for a Legacy Award grant from the Women’s Foundation of Oregon.
The Women’s Foundation of Oregon has a vision for Oregon where every woman and girl can thrive. This vision resonates significantly with the work and mission of OTI, which is dedicated to promoting the success for women in the trades through education, leadership, and mentorship. Our work is vital for women and girls in our state because we want to make sure that every woman and girl in Oregon knows about living-wage trades careers and that they can succeed at them. For women living in poverty, long-term economic security can be made possible if they enter the blue-collar professions such as carpenter, electrician, cement mason, machinist, and a variety of other skilled trades careers. OTI supports the vision put forth by the Women’s Foundation of Oregon by creating accessible pathways for low-income women and girls to thrive in all realms of life through living-wage trades careers that are in high demand from industry.
The members of the Women’s Foundation of Oregon will be voting on the finalist for the Legacy Award over the next two weeks. Please watch this compelling video they produced to introduce the three finalists for the Legacy Award:
We appreciate this tremendous opportunity to share our work with the diverse membership of the Women’s Foundation of Oregon. Thank you for considering Oregon Tradeswomen, Inc. for this investment in helping women and girls in Oregon thrive to their fullest potential!
Nike Employee Grant Fund of The Oregon Community Foundation awards OTI
Oregon Tradeswomen, Inc. (OTI) has received a generous $15,000 grant from the Nike Employee Grant Fund of The Oregon Community Foundation to support OTI’s Building Girls program’s Building Girls Working Together – a trades work experience in which low—income young women learn the value of on-the-job training and the rewards and benefits of a trades careers within an all-female learning environment.
“We are thrilled to receive this gift from The Nike Employee Grant Fund of the Oregon Community Foundation and are honored for their support of our program to introduce young women to careers they may not have otherwise ever considered possible,” said Katie Yablonsky, Building Girls Program Manager at OTI. “The curriculum of our program not only offers young women basic building and construction skills, but they will also receive various life-skills training to assist them in many aspects of their adult life such as nutrition, financial planning, and self-defense,” Yablonsky concluded.
OTI’s Building Girls Work Crew addresses the lack of trades careers education and training for young women. For four weeks, low-income participants, ages 16-24, will work 3 days per week alongside skilled and experienced tradeswomen. The curriculum focuses on the proper and safe usage of power tools, lifting heavy supplies and tools, framing walls, installing metal roofing, and safety etiquette, all in a positive and supportive environment. Participants will gain the physical skills, self-esteem, and confidence necessary for a career previously considered non-traditional for women.
In addition to the hands-on experiences, the Building Girls Work Crew also provides education in nutrition, self-defense, financial management, resume writing, job-search skills, and typical job expectations. These wrap-around services will assist young women in developing the skills necessary to be successful in the workplace, whether they decide to enter a trades apprenticeship, entry-level trades job, or a non-trades career.
OTI is dedicated to promoting success for women in the trades through education, leadership, and mentorship. OTI is grounded in the principles that women deserve and can attain economic self-sufficiency through pursuing careers in the building, mechanical, electrical, utility, and highway construction trades while helping and encouraging the industry at large to build a diverse workforce.
Oregon Tradeswomen, Inc. thanks the employees of Nike and the Oregon Community Foundation for this generous gift!
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!
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.
