San Diego Community College District

First came the formerly incarcerated students now working in the electrical union who are so overwhelmingly grateful, they return regularly to thank those who helped them.

Then there was Marcus, who could not land on what trade union to enter until he decided on the bricklayers union. Now he cannot picture doing anything else with his career.

Another inspiring story to come out of the San Diego College of Continuing Education (SDCCE) Apprenticeship Readiness Program is from an early cohort two years ago. It involved a woman who came to the program determined, but with a defensive disposition. Even through her struggles with homelessness, she completed the program, learning both a skillset and a different way of dealing with conflict.

One day at a worksite, the student experienced a microaggression. Although her instincts told her to react physically, her training with the Apprenticeship Readiness Program instead taught her to report the incident to her supervisor, who in turn disciplined the offender. In the end, she handled the situation as she was trained, and a promotion ensued.

“This is when fortune just shines upon us because it could have gone really badly,” said Laurie Coskey, CEO/executive director of the SDCCE Foundation. “The student used her new skills and kept her eye on the target. She decided to use a different way of handling a painful situation and fortunately, the company rewarded her for having worked within the process.”

These stories are just small accounts of success seen in the Apprenticeship Readiness Program, which launched in March 2020 as a worldwide pandemic hit.

“Our intention is to provide opportunity for an extraordinarily satisfying and meaningful career for people who may not have known these opportunities existed for them,” said Coskey, who first designed the program for the City of San Diego.

The free program runs from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday for 12 weeks, and, upon graduation, students are qualified to apply to a registered apprenticeship program in the construction trade unions. That acceleration is highly desirable because the apprenticeship itself can take four to five years to complete. The program also provides every student with a laptop and personal Wi-Fi hot spot for the program, as well as steel-toed boots and other personal protective equipment to keep them safe on job sites.

Each class takes up to 30 students from both San Diego and Imperial counties. At the end of the program, students complete the Multi-Craft Core Curriculum (MC3), earn a certificate in Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) 30-hour and CPR trainings, study enough math for the trades to pass the entrance exams, and are ready then to pursue apprenticeships.

“There are so many baby boomers retiring out of the skilled trades, and there just aren't workers there to replace them,” said faculty member Jon Gosen, who noted there are nearly a dozen major projects in the San Diego area either in progress or soon to start, including the Chula Vista Bayfront Project, which will need 10,000 skilled workers.

The fifth cohort of students kicked off a new program with an orientation on March 7. The final Apprenticeship Readiness Program class was to begin in June, but additional funding was made available for a September group that will be held in the evenings and Saturdays in an effort to attract more people who are working and unable to leave jobs while taking classes.

The Apprenticeship Readiness Program is placing students in registered trade union apprenticeships at a 97% success rate.

“We have a lot of young people who are good at things outside of math,” said Stephanie Lewis, dean of Career and College Transition at SDCCE. “They don't want to be an architect. They don't want to be a doctor. They want to build things with their hands. They have all this creative experience that we don't recognize.”

SDCCE partnered with the San Diego County Building Trades Council, Clark Construction, Parsons, PCL Construction, and SANDAG to ensure the program’s success. What started with GoldSilver partnerships has blossomed into relationships with more than 50 companies and organizations.

“The Apprenticeship Readiness Program at Continuing Education is incredibly successful, because the faculty and staff have made a strong commitment to learn what students need to be accepted into an apprenticeship program, and provide students opportunities to develop those skills and qualities,” said Carol Kim, business manager for the San Diego County Building and Construction Trades Council

Identifying Underrepresented Populations

The Apprenticeship Readiness Program works to diversify the labor force so that it more accurately mirrors the population it serves.

One of the main goals of the program is to offer opportunities for disproportionately underrepresented groups in the building trades such as women, racial and ethnic minorities, disadvantaged young people, individuals experiencing homelessness, veterans, and the formerly incarcerated.

“All of a sudden students have opportunities to be part of the union and to be part of the apprenticeship, something that they would never have had an opportunity to do before,” Lewis said.

After working various jobs as a real estate appraiser and insurance agent before becoming a stay-at-home mom for the past 12 years, Vanessa Arango was ready for a change when she found the Apprenticeship Readiness Program.

“I was looking for something better,” she said. “An actual career, not just a job.”

Arango, who was part of the program’s first cohort, is now eight months into an apprenticeship with the Sheet Metal Workers Local Union 206, where she currently is learning about installation.

“As a woman, the Apprenticeship Readiness Program made me feel welcome and open to joining a construction trade. Before, I didn’t even think that was an option,” she said. “Now I am in a job where I get paid a livable wage and they are training me to do it. It’s a complete game changer; you can start over and it doesn’t even matter.”

A major roadblock to joining trade unions is that positions are often family centered — meaning typical trade union members follow in their father’s, uncle’s, or grandfather’s footsteps in the family union business — leaving scarce opportunities for those who too often have been left behind.

“We want a greater diversity of qualified applicants for our programs, because we know that union apprenticeships are life-changing opportunities that can break cycles of intergenerational poverty. But, entry into these programs is highly competitive,” Kim said. “I’ve taken to handing out my business card to Apprenticeship Readiness Program participants at the program graduation. There’s no better feeling than hearing someone who successfully gets into an apprenticeship say, ‘I’m able to provide health insurance to my kids for the first time in my life.’”

SDCCE Apprenticeship Readiness Program Partners

• ACCO (Pipefitters; Sheet Metal)
• Air Balance Co., Inc. (Sheet Metal)
• American Lung Association
• Balfour Beatty (Carpentry)
• Baker (Electrical)
• City of San Diego Pure Water Project
• Clark Construction (Carpentry)
• CMC Rebar (Iron Workers)
• DPR (Carpentry)
• Dyna (Electrical)
• Gafcon
• IBEW EWMC 569 (Electrical Works Minority Caucus)
• ISEC (Carpentry)
• Kiewit Corporation
• Montbleau (Carpentry)
• Pacific Steel (Sheet Metal)
• Parsons Corporation
• PCL Construction
• PSG (Iron Workers)
• Raymond Group
• Red Cedar Steel (Iron Workers)
• SAFE Zone
• San Diego College of Continuing Education Foundation
• San Diego County Building and Construction Trades Council (27 registered unions)
• San Diego Gas & Electric
• San Diego Green Building Council
• San Diego Sheet Metals
• San Diego Workforce Partnership
• SANDAG
• Swinerton (Carpentry)
• Tru-Duct (Sheet Metal)