   
Remember
when you were in high school and someone asked you, “What are
you going to do when you graduate? What do you want to be?” Many
of us were at a loss for words. Finding a direction requires the
assistance of teachers, parents and those organizations that reach
out to the youth of our country with their expertise. The Miami
Valley Alliance of Construction Professionals (MCACP) has done
just that.
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The Better Choice Program
The
MVACP has developed the Better Choice Program to
develop a pool of workers to be used by any of the thirteen (13)
different Building Trades’ signatory contractors to provide work
experience and educational opportunities to prepare participants
for entry into traditional apprenticeship programs. The MVACP has
made a long-term commitment to the Dayton Public Schools to bring
students and graduates into the program. The goal is to help
students achieve a permanent career in the organized construction
industry as journeymen and to develop an experienced base of
highly skilled journeymen from which to foster new minority
business enterprises in the construction industry.
On
June 26, the Better Choice
Program graduated its first class to complete their
preliminary training requirements at the Iron Workers Local 290
Union Hall. Currently, five students are working in the electrical
trade.
Structure
The
Better Choice Program is
a joint venture between local construction company owners and
local labor organizations. As they have managed other successful
training programs for over 100 years, this program will be
overseen by a joint Labor and Management Sub-Committee of the
MVACP. The program is funded by the MVACP with help from State and
Federal Grants.
Program
participants earn the wages of the classification they work under
in the trade they are referred out by to a member contractor. At
the end of the 1000 program, the Better
Choice participant will choose an apprenticeship program and
proceed under traditional apprenticeship procedures.
Recruitment
Dayton
Public Schools. The Better Choice Program focuses on increasing access to student
classrooms for their recruiters and offers new and improved
training for district guidance counselors on construction industry
options.
Montgomery
County Job Center. The Better Choice utilizes Job Mall space and aggressively partners with
the Montgomery County Job Center to move underemployed city and
county residents into well paying careers in the construction
industry with true benefits and retirement security.
Community
Outreach. The Better Choice
Recruitment Team will take their message of new options and
opportunities directly to the leaders and members of local church
and fraternal organizations and the general public through
speaking engagements, exhibits and industry events, such as the
Annual Construction Expo (to be held at the Montgomery County
Fairgrounds in October).
Training
Entry
into the program requires:
Services
of the Program include:
-
OSHA
10 hour training
-
1000
hours of monitored work hours with recordkeeping on
attendance, performance and experiences gained
-
Full
placement service with local signatory contractors across all
thirteen (13) Building Trades
-
Introductory
training on each of the trades and their apprenticeship
programs
-
Core
courses in math or reading to help them with entry into
apprenticeship programs
-
Specific
trade-related courses, as offered by the various
apprenticeship programs, to help develop particular skills
necessary for entry in apprenticeship programs.
The
program is coordinated by Eddie Jaudon, an electrician by trade,
who has served on the NECA/IBEW Joint Apprenticeship Committee for
over twenty (20) years. For more information, please call
937-430-5130.
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