Moore Community House’s Women in Construction program is pleased to announce that it is a member of a new national consortium that will work to expand access to apprenticeships among women, people of color, and other underrepresented populations.
The U.S. Department of Labor recently awarded a contract to Chicago Women in Trades’ National Center for Women’s Equity in Apprenticeship and Employment as part of a $20.4 million initiative to expand apprenticeship opportunities around the country. The Center will work with a consortium of 10 organizations representing nearly every staffed tradeswomen’s organization in the country and national subject matter experts.
The project will be led by Chicago Women in Trades (CWIT) and Oregon Tradeswomen Inc.(OTI), with regional and national partners spanning the country from California to Boston. Included are seven training and advocacy groups for tradeswomen: Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Employment for Women (Seattle, WA), Building Pathways, (Boston, MA), Policy Group on Tradeswomen’s Issues (Boston, MA), Nontraditional Employment for Women (New York), Tradeswomen, Inc. (California), West Virginia Women Work, and Moore Community House Women in Construction Program (Mississippi), along with two national organizations, the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) and the Transportation Learning Center.
The groups will provide subject matter expertise and develop resources for technical assistance for national and local industry apprenticeship partners. The collaboration among the regionally diverse groups will allow the Center to scale and promote adoption of strategies that increase access to and retention in apprenticeships among women, especially women of color.