About the Apprenticeship Education Outreach Program

The Montana Labor / Management Alliance (MLMA) applied for and received an education related grant from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services. The purpose of the grant is to inform and recruit potential workers in the construction trades. Construction is the largest goods-producing industry in terms of employment in Montana. For the past several years, construction has been one of the fastest growing industries, consistently outpacing the state’s overall employment growth. However, there is a major concern that Montana’s supply of skilled workers may not be able to keep up with the demand. In fact the Montana Bureau of Labor and Statistics projects a shortage in skilled workers.

The primary goal of this program is to increase the number of qualified people entering certified apprenticeship construction programs and thereby increasing the potential workforce.

To meet this goal the following are the major objectives:

By meeting these objectives, we hope to attract more people into the construction trades. The end result will be more qualified workers available for hire meet the increasing demand.

MLMA has hired an “Apprenticeship Education Outreach Specialist” and his job is to promote apprenticeship opportunities full time. The targeted population will be high school students, two year technical colleges, community colleges and anyone interested in job opportunities with good wages and great benefits.

One hundred and thirty high schools will be visited plus numerous career fairs and other information sharing situations will be scheduled. A web site is being developed that will list as many links related to both in-state and other apprenticeship opportunities as possible.

Hopefully, this grant and the results of this educational outreach program will only be the start of a concentrated effort to inform people of the many great opportunities in the construction trades.

Work on this project began late August and is moving along on schedule. Many contacts have been made, and this grant has generated much interested in both the union related apprenticeship and non-union apprenticeship programs. Technical institutions, both public and private, are supportive on the educational outreach efforts of the grant. There is a need to promote apprenticeship training programs and the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services agency has provided the foundation and the opportunity to begin this effort.

The MLMA Board is very excited to be an active partner in this process. The program specialist is housed in the offices of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 400 and they also provide the fiscal management for the grant.

If anyone would like additional information regarding this program they can contact me:

Curly Burns
Apprenticeship Education Outreach Specialist
2737 Airport Rd.
Helena, Montana 59604

Phone # 406-442-9597
Email Curly Burns

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