Building Trades Kicks Off Program to Slow Tide
Of California High School Dropouts
As California high schools struggle to stem a tide of dropouts, the State Building & Construction Trades Council (SBCTC) announced today that next week it is kicking off a statewide program to educate at least 10,000 high school students, teachers and guidance counselors about opportunities for high-paying jobs in the construction industry. The program is funded by a grant from the California Department of Education with Workforce Investment Act funds.
The effort comes on the heels of a disturbing new Harvard University report that says nearly half of California's Latino and African American students who should have graduated from high school in 2002 failed to complete their education.
Called Building California Construction Careers (BC3), the initiative will feature presentations in California high schools with a focus on Central Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Long Beach, Oakland, Richmond and Berkeley. The presentations will explain why it is important to graduate from high school and complete courses that lead to a career in the construction trades. Each building trades union affiliated with the SBCTC operates an apprenticeship program in partnership with construction contractors.
"Not only is there a high dropout rate in California high schools, but of those who do graduate, only a fraction will go on to college," said SBCTC President Bob Balgenorth.
"Our BC3 program for high school students is designed to inform those young men and women of the great career training that is available in our joint union/management construction apprenticeship programs," Balgenorth explained.
"Students who drop out of high school make up almost half of the heads of households who are on public assistance," Balgenorth said. "Construction apprenticeship is an earn-as-you-learn program. Instead of paying to attend college, apprentices get paid to learn their craft."
"If students stay in school and prepare themselves for construction apprenticeships," Balgenorth said, "they will be on a career path that provides good wages, health care and retirement benefits."
BC3's outreach coordinators have all worked in the building trades and are all African-American or Latino. In addition to making presentations in classrooms, BC3 staff will attend multi-craft career fairs to spread the message. Presentations are accompanied by a short video called Construction U, which features interviews with apprentices who discuss why they chose a job in the construction industry.
The program will run through June 30, 2005.
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