New building trades program coming soon

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(ABC 6 News) – The Minnesota Building and Construction Trades Council will be expanding its apprenticeship readiness program to southeastern Minnesota.

This is the first statewide apprenticeship readiness program designed to recruit and prepare women, people of color and veterans for a career in the building and construction industry.

It is called the Building Strong Communities program. Building Strong Communities started as a partnership between the Minneapolis Building and Construction Trades Council, Met Council and several metro area community based organizations.

The BSC program prepares participants for construction industry careers by providing access to union-endorsed training and opportunities for participants to gain real experience and exposure to union building and construction trades.

"We just want to make sure that we are doing the right thing, which is making sure that the workforce is reflective of all the communities that are served. There’s a lot of work to be done and the workforce needs to be reflective of the entire state and population of Minnesota," Building Strong Communities program manager Thomas Scott said.

While focused on certain groups, they are looking for anyone for the apprenticeship.

As part of the BSC expansion statewide, programming will begin in southeastern Minnesota in 2022.