wOMEN IN cONSTRUCTION

The Moore Community House Women in Construction pre-apprenticeship job training program is designed to train women for careers in apprenticeship and nontraditional career pathways that meet the needs of families as well as the demands of the construction skilled craft trades and advanced manufacturing industry. The strategy of this program is to create an avenue for women to pursue careers which earn wages to promote self-sufficiency, as well as to improve the outreach, training,

placement and retention of women in apprenticeship and nontraditional occupations while supporting them throughout this pathway through comprehensive supportive services.

Since the first class in 2008, Women in Construction has trained more than 400 women, and currently has a placement rate above 70%.

Single mothers work. In Mississippi, women make up half the workforce, but they account for two-thirds of minimum wage workers. Even working full time, federal minimum wage is below the federal poverty level for a family of two and less than half of Mississippi's self-sufficiency wage, which is calculated to support the basic needs of a family. Construction trade jobs provide a pathway to an employment sector that pays higher wages and offers the opportunity for families to earn a self-sufficiency wage.

Besides helping to provide well-paying jobs to the region's low income women, the program helps to meet the industry's demand for a trained workforce. The program also aims to create a climate across Mississippi enabling women to pursue careers which will earn wages to promote self-sufficiency.

Women in Construction was recently one of 14 programs awarded a Strengthening Working Families grant from the U.S. Department of Labor. This four-year, $3.5 million grant will allow us to expand our program and provide additional, comprehensive support services and resources, particularly access to child care, for women in Hancock, Harrison and Jackson counties.

The Women in Construction program has also partnered with other tradeswomen's organizations around the nation to help increase the number of women in the trades. WinC is a founding member of the National Center for Women’s Equity in Apprenticeship and Employment, a consortium of tradeswomen's groups and national subject matter experts, supported by the U.S. Department of Labor, to expand apprenticeship opportunities around the country, with a particular emphasis on expanding access to apprenticeships among women, people of color, and other underrepresented populations. We are also a part of the Women's Equity Initiative, in partnership with West Virginia Women Work.