Originally posted by Program will prepare minorities and women for apprenticeships
The Missouri Division of Workforce Development has committed $200,000 for a training program designed to prepare workers to enter traditional building trade apprenticeship programs.
The money will finance the first class of 100 workers who will participate in the program, called Project Prepare.
Participants also include the Full Employment Council; the city of Kansas City; M.A. Mortenson Co., the Minneapolis-based construction manager on the Sprint Center arena project; the Kansas City AFL-CIO; and several labor unions.
The money will pay for workers' clothing and equipment, instruction by the AFL-CIO and drug-screening.
Kansas City is considering giving another $200,000 for the program, City Councilman Terry Riley said.
Organizers announced the program at a news conference Tuesday at the Hilton President Kansas City.
The six-week program is like a "boot camp" to prepare workers for entering a trade apprenticeship program, said Clyde McQueen, president and CEO of the Full Employment Council. It will include skills training, equipment and drug-screening.
The program has received about 300 applications for the first class of 100. Of the applicants, 20 percent to 25 percent are women, 5 percent to 8 percent are Hispanic, and the remainder are African-American.
Organizers hope to start the first class by April 1.
Graduates are guaranteed a spot in a participating trade apprenticeship program.
McQueen said the program will have stringent accountability requirements, including frequent status reports to the entities involved, including the City Council.
"I'm tired of being part of programs; programs come and go, and people are still walking around without work," he said.
Ken Sorensen, vice president of Mortenson, said the company will hire 30 to 50 graduates. Mortenson has about 120 workers on the Sprint Center project, he said. About 26 percent are minorities and about 5 percent are women.
The city's goal for the project is 18 percent minority workers and 8 percent women, he said.
