No images? Click here BUILDING TRADES HELP REBUILD LIVES For generations, the building trades have offered stable jobs and family-sustaining wages to hardworking people. Our society depends on people who can build! But good paying jobs in the union building trades aren’t easy to get. Workers need technical skills and proper certification before they can even apply for a job on a building site. Opportunity Build, a program from the Rising Sun Center for Opportunity, is a certified Apprenticeship Readiness Program for low-income adults seeking to enter the union building trades. The program is focused on workers who experience barriers to employment, such as recent incarceration, homelessness, and addiction, and those who’ve been historically underrepresented in the building trades. The program is 100% free to qualified participants. The Strive for Change Foundation is proud to support Opportunity Build and the Rising Sun Center for Opportunity with a grant for 2020. Women Building the Bay is an all-woman construction pre-apprenticeship program that prepares participants for union careers in the building trades. In addition to hands-on construction skills, participants will earn the MC3 pre-apprenticeship certification and apply for union apprenticeships. The Rising Sun Center for Opportunity has served East Bay communities since 2000 as a green training, employment, and residential energy efficiency organization. Their employment development program, Opportunity Build, helps participants gain not only the technical skills they need to begin careers in the building trades, but also the professional skills they need to maintain successful employment. The program occurs three times a year with cohorts of approximately 20 to 25 participants, one of which is comprised entirely of women and forms the Women Building the Bay cohort. The core program provides certification in the National Building Trades’ official Multi-Craft Core Curriculum, as well as OSHA 10 and First Aid/CPR certifications. For long-term success, Opportunity Build also covers essential life skills, including financial literacy, accountability and effective communication, and job-seeking skills including resume writing, interview practice, and networking. The program also offers physical fitness training to prepare individuals for the hard work of the construction industry and the Laborers’ physical test. Upon training completion, all participants benefit from ongoing case management and career services support for twelve months post-graduation, as well as from alumni events and resources. In the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, Opportunity Build had to rapidly adapt the program to suit the new environment. Their leadership team under Chief Executive Officer Julia Hatton is strong and stable. As with the other non-profits Strive supports, the Rising Sun Center for Opportunity has demonstrated over the years that they can weather the rough seas and plan effectively for the work that lies ahead. The Strive for Change Foundation donates exclusively to job-training programs in the East Bay. Our all-volunteer Board of Directors covers all overhead costs so that 100% of our donors’ gifts go directly to the organizations we support. Every grant we give helps ambitious people get better jobs, earn higher wages, and offer their families a more hopeful future. |