Administrators at the Community College of Rhode Island have seen many building-trades workers walk through their doors — and, following a visit by the governor, they’re hoping to see an …
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Administrators at the Community College of Rhode Island have seen many building-trades workers walk through their doors — and, following a visit by the governor, they’re hoping to see an even higher rate go through.
To celebrate National Apprenticeship Week, which wrapped up on Nov. 22, CCRI and state leaders announced the creation of the Apprenticeship Readiness Program in a partnership between the college and Building Futures Rhode Island.
The program will use the Multi-Craft Core Curriculum, also known as the MC3, which is a program developed by the North American Building Trades Union (NABTU) to develop skills and offer credentials to those entering the workforce.
Gov. Dan McKee and Speaker of the House Joe Shekarchi were joined by CCRI Interim President Rosemary Costigan and Building Futures President and CEO Andrew Cortés, as well as other labor leaders, to celebrate the introduction of the MC3 and the partnership.
The MC3 is designed to allow students interested in construction careers to explore apprenticeships across trades, including the plumbing, electrical and ironwork trades. Its curriculum, according to the governor’s office, includes instruction on health and safety, industry awareness, construction math, blueprint reading, the heritage of the American worker, diversity and financial literacy.
“This will help Rhode Island prepare talented young people for good-paying jobs in key economic sectors, and we’re going to continue to build into that pipeline,” McKee said.
The governor’s office said the state Department of Labor and Training is investing $250,000 in the program to allow CCRI to offer the MC3.
Shekarchi said CCRI is an “economic incubator” and that the partnership would provide an economic boon to the state.
“This is an opportunity to partner and utilize the talents, the creative talents and energy, that this university, its faculty and most importantly its students have,” Shekarchi said. “We’re doing good things for our students and good things for our economy.”
Cortés, who is also the chair of the Rhode Island State Apprenticeship Council, said the MC3 would provide apprentices with exceptional training.
“I was around when the NABTU first developed the MC3, and I recognized the potential that there is to have a course which allows for exposure to all of the basic trades, gives you a good sense of how to get ready, and then connects the dots so that students can enter that early-learning pathway,” Cortés said.
According to Cortés, many former students who went through the program are earning upwards of $40 per hour with benefits. Giving students an option to move toward high-earning jobs without becoming deep in student-loan debt, he said, was something that would help improve the lives of many of Rhode Island’s future workers.
“I have just one message for CCRI today: Thank you,” Cortés said. “We need young adults to understand the great careers that are available to them through the registered apprenticeship model.”
Following speeches, Costigan and Cortés signed documents officially inaugurating the partnership between the college and Building Futures.
“This shows what can be done when labor, higher education and government come together, working in a collaborative way,” David Langlais, vice president of the RI Building and Construction Trade Council, said. “And I think Rhode Island seriously does it the best.”
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