TACC Field Trip to the Operating Engineers Training Center!

 

On Wednesday, April 12th, OTI’s current group of Trades and Apprenticeship Career Class students had a fabulous field trip to the Operating Engineers training center! The students heard from Brenda Bartholomew, who was an operator and is now an instructor at the training center. The students were also shown a short film that focused on the portrayal of female Operating Engineers who work in the industry and on what they love about the work they do.

Students had the opportunity to look at the text books and some of the survey equipment used by operating engineer apprentices in the classroom and afterwards they got to try their hand at operating some of the heavy machinery; including 2 cranes, loaders, and a forklift, among other pieces of equipment. Current apprentices had the opportunity to teach our students how to operate the machinery and gave our students lots of time to ask questions. It was awesome to see students teaching students! Before this field trip most of the students had not considered a career as a Heavy Equipment Operator and they now consider it an option. Needless to say, our students had a great experience on this field trip and have given a lot of positive feedback. Special thanks to the Operator Engineers Training Center staff and apprentices for taking the time to help our students learn about another great option for a career in the construction trades!

An International Women’s Day Gift from Waterleaf Achitecture

In honor of International Women’s Day, March 8th, 2017, staff at Waterleaf Architecture set a goal of raising $1,000 within one week to support our Pathways to Success program and to show their support for our work in increasing the number of women in the construction trades in our state!

Ellen Krusi, now a Waterleaf Job Captain, wrote the following quote about her experience attending our Annual Women in Trades Career Fair as a high school student;

“When I was in high school I attended the Women in Trades Career Fair put on by Oregon Tradeswomen, Inc. I was inspired by the idea that one day the construction sites I would be visiting would be populated by an equal mix of men and women. Unfortunately today it is still rare to see a woman out there doing the “dirty work” on construction sites. (Cheers to those I know who are out there!) I know it’s not because women aren’t capable or willing. That’s why I’m proud to support this organization to get women the training they need to do these important jobs!”

We love that Ellen’s experience has stuck with her over the years and are so grateful to have been chosen as the recipient of this kind gesture! Check out the amazing work the folks over at Waterleaf Architecture are creating!

OTI Alumnae Spotlight: Meet Lori Bauman!

Lori at the 2016 Women in Trades Career Fair

Forty five year old Lori Bauman is a brilliant tradeswomen, vegetarian, animal lover, gardener, and above all, a skilled story teller. She was born in the deserts of California and moved around a lot as a child, settling in Atlanta, GA for the bulk of her early adulthood. She remembers her time in Georgia fondly but also shared that living in the South as a Queer woman proved difficult at times. She also noted that Georgia was the last place she lived before making the decision to change her lifestyle and get sober.

Lori held a myriad of service industry jobs in her life and worked at a Starbucks as a barista for many years. In her quest for recovery, she transferred to Portland 8 years ago, where she got sober. While working at Starbucks, making $200 a week, Lori saw an ad for Oregon Tradeswomen and didn’t waste any time signing up. This day changed Lori’s life and began her lifelong love affair with supporting her fellow tradeswomen and diversifying the industry.

After graduating from OTI’s Trades and Apprenticeship Career Class (TACC) at the age of 35, Lori planned to pursue a career with the Laborers Union and entered the Laborers Boot camp. Lori entered the boot camp with 22 of her peers and made it to graduation as one of only 6 women who finished. She was confident that her ability to complete the boot camp was a positive indicator that she could make it in the industry but she was unable to find work due to the slow times of the great recession.  As an alternative, Lori chose to enter an open shop sheet metal apprenticeship. During this time, Lori unfortunately endured unsafe working conditions and constant harassment and bullying from her male coworkers. On top of this, she felt pitted against her female peers on the job site as well, due to what she calls a survival tactic on the work site where women separate from each other in order to try and integrate into the male-dominant culture of the industry. Consequently, she felt very alone and was losing her drive to continue on in a field that was so hostile to women. She ended up getting laid off after about 6 months on the job and didn’t have any plans to return.

During this time Lori called Aida Aranda at the Laborers Union to ask if they had any work for her and was brought on as a Union Laborer Apprentice with a $6/hour pay raise. Her first job was on the Bonneville Dam, working almost entirely underground pouring concrete. Though her days often started at 4:00-5:00 in the morning and she was exhausted by the end of the work day, she noticed many differences from her previous job. Most importantly she felt much safer on the job site and was inducted into a different culture in which she was part of a family; though she still had to work very hard to prove herself on the job site to earn the respect she was given.  After this job was completed, Lori went on to work on many bridges in Oregon spanning from The Dalles to the Portland Metro Area. She journeyed out while working on the Oregon City Bridge in 2012. During her best year as a laborer, she brought home nearly $71,000 dollars.

Lori on the job at the Oregon City Bridge, where she worked for about 22 months and journeyed out! Photo credit: Dawn Jones Redstone

Throughout her career as a Tradeswoman Lori has remained a great friend and supporter of OTI and has worked hard to connect with and support other local tradeswomen. Her deeply held belief that one must “lift as they climb” has been integral in her life in order to support other tradeswomen. In her words it is imperative that “women must always believe their fellow tradeswomen, have their backs, and be there for one another”.

About three years ago, Aida Aranda contacted Lori and asked her to apply for her position, which she was leaving, as an Apprenticeship Coordinator for the Laborers Training Center. Lori reported that she knocked the interview out of the park. Although she didn’t get this position, this interview and her positive ties with many people in the community, she was invited to several more interviews before landing her current position as a Field Representative for Liuna Local No. 737.In her role, she spends her days driving to various job sites to ensure that union contracts are being upheld, provides conflict mediation when necessary, and acts as an advocate for the workers on site. Lori works in a very inclusive office where she feels her voice is heard and respected and she loves the freedom her job affords. She also believes that she is in a position where she can help create tangible change in the culture of the union that she was unable to do working on the front lines as a laborer. Not only does Lori love her new job, but it also pays leaps and bounds higher than her highest pre-trades industry wage of $9/hour. She feels incredibly happy to have a sense of financial security higher than she ever imagined she would have without a college degree.

When asked what advice she has for future tradeswomen, Lori replied “Be sure that it’s what you want and then go hard and fast at it”.  As for her future career plans, Lori wants to be the best at what she does as a Union Field Representative. She also wants to lead social change within and between unions and someday she would love to step into a leadership role within the union. She states that positive culture shifts are already happening within the leadership of the union and she hopes to help trickle these changes down to all members, so that everyone in the industry feels they are respected and safe on the job site no matter their race, gender, sexual orientation or nationality.

For Lori, her recovery from drug and alcohol abuse and being a tradeswoman are her two most passionately held identities. They give her a sense of a higher purpose and she spends as much time as she can giving back to fellow tradeswomen and people seeking their own recovery.

We are so excited to announce that Lori has recently accepted a seat on OTI’s Board of Directors! She states that she feels very lucky and honored to be invited to hold a seat on the board and intends to keep the seat warm for as long as she is able. We at OTI have no doubt that Lori will be a force to be reckoned with in the industry and we are incredibly proud that she started her journey with us!

 

 

 

 

 

 

OTI’s Next Executive Director

Thank you for all of your well-wishes, congratulations, and other kind words when we announced OTI founder and Executive Director, Connie Ashbrook’s, forthcoming retirement last October.

We are pleased to tell you that Oregon Tradeswomen’s Board of Directors has hired OTI’s next Executive Director.

Kelly Kupcak, from Chicago Women in Chicago Women in Trades, will take the reins of Oregon Tradeswomen on July 10, 2017. She brings more than two decades of nonprofit management experience to her new role as Executive Director of Oregon Tradeswomen.

Kelly holds a fundamental belief that economic equity and gender inclusion are critical to building strong women, strong families, and strong communities. Kelly brings considerable skills in strategic visioning, collaborative leadership, and outcomes-driven planning, and looks forward to expanding OTI’s impact in workforce development and building diversity in Oregon’s construction trades workforce.

From Left:  Sharon Latson (Chicago Women in Trades), Kelly Kupcak (OTI’s Incoming Executive Director), Melissa Jennings (Volunteer), and Olivia Porter (Volunteer)

Most recently, Kelly served as the Director of Technical Assistance for the National Center for Women’s Equity in Apprenticeship and Employment at Chicago Women in Trades. She managed a highly competitive, multi-year U.S. Department of Labor ten-state regional grant-funded initiative and a U.S. Department of Labor contract, national in scope, to improve outcomes for women in nontraditional sectors through technical assistance to industry partners including employers, registered apprenticeship, workforce system, career technical system, and government entities.

Connie will continue to be involved with national policy by serving as co-chair of the Taskforce on Tradeswomen Issues and conducting training, providing technical assistance and other consulting services to help employers, apprenticeship programs, unions, and government agencies diversify their workforces, and assisting Career and Technical Education (CTE) trade programs to attract and retain more women and girls.

Kelly plans to visit the 25th Women in Trades Career Fair on May 19 and 20, 2017, and she will officially start in her new role with Oregon Tradeswomen on Monday, July 10, 2017. Kelly looks forward to meeting you soon, whether at the Women in Trades Career Fair or another event later in the year.