Climbing the Ladder to Self-Sufficiency
First Ten Women Graduate from DC Building Trades Training Program

Washington, DC, June 8, 2007 --- With 12 solid weeks of training in carpentry, sheet metal work, math and a host of other skills they need to get lucrative jobs in the rapidly growing construction and contracting industries in the DC Metropolitan area, ten low-income women graduated from the first class in the Washington Area Women In the Trades (WAWIT) program today.

Ranging in age from their early 20’s to mid 50’s, all of the graduates have been offered second-year apprenticeships with the Carpenters Union and several have accepted. Their goals now include careers in landscaping, exhibit services, engineering and other fields traditionally dominated by men that also offer high starting salaries and a living wage.

“This program has been a real milestone in my life,” said CeTenia Howard, one of the WAWIT graduates. “It was very challenging, but I love a challenge and it was a challenge that is making all the difference. I got so much from this program, including finding the confidence that I always knew was inside me to learn something new and change my life.”

The Washington Area Women in the Trades (WAWIT) Program is a collaborative workforce development initiative of The YWCA National Capital Area, the Community Services Agency of the Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO and Wider Opportunities for Women (WOW). The program is free of charge and includes 12 weeks of apprenticeship training through the Carpenters and Sheet Metal Workers Unions, that includes hands-on work laying floors, putting up drywall, carpentry, working with sheet metal and other crucial construction skills.

WAWIT participants also take courses in life skills, context-based Adult Basic Education, financial literacy, physical conditioning, workplace behavior skills, computer training, job search procedures and up to 18 months of job retention and case management services. The program also assists graduates in finding entry-level jobs in non-traditional employment, employer-sponsored training or union apprenticeship programs. Over the next five years, WAWIT will train an estimated 400 women in the building trades and provide assistance to more than 3,000 women.

“Today is an amazing day,” said YWCA National Capital Area Executive Director Orysia Stanchak. “Every one of these women has worked incredibly hard and shown tremendous dedication and drive to complete this program. Now they’re ready to reap the benefits – skilled, well-paying jobs that provide benefits and will allow them to achieve economic self-sufficiency.”

In 2002, the Washington Metropolitan Area lost two important training programs when WOW’s Non-Traditional Pre-Apprenticeship Training Program and the YWCA’s Non-traditional Employment for Women (NEW) Program closed their doors because of a lack of funding. The WAWIT project has revitalized and enhanced this training for women that traces back 40 years ago when the first job training programs for women were launched in the District of Columbia.

“Construction is one of the fastest growing sectors in the Washington, DC areas,” said WOW Executive Director Joan Kuriansky. “We want to ensure that DC residents, and women in particular, benefit from the enormous investment our city is making in construction projects. By providing training in the lucrative building trades, we are helping low-income DC women get good jobs that will allow them to not only support themselves and their families, but contribute to the local economy and tax base.”

The WAWIT program will be offered several times a year, with each session lasting 12 weeks. The next session begins on June 18. Individuals interested in learning more about WAWIT should visit www.ywcanca.org or call 202/626-0700, extension. 39.

The Washington Area Women in the Trades (WAWIT) Program is a collaborative workforce development initiative of The YWCA National Capital Area, the Community Services Agency of the Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO and Wider Opportunities for Women (WOW). The program provides 12 weeks of pre-vocational, pre-apprenticeship training to low-income women for high wage jobs in trades such as construction. In addition to adult basic education and hands-on trade skills instruction, it includes up to 18 months of case management. Participants go on to entry-level jobs in non-traditional employment, employer-sponsored training or union apprenticeship programs.