Women account for just 10% of the construction workforce nationwide, but training programs like the Mission Rock Academy seek to change that with hands-on education courses and jobsite placement post-graduation. The five-week apprenticeship program seeks to combat a growing workforce shortage in the San Francisco area by creating opportunities and developing greater representation for women in the skilled trades.
The program recruits women from underrepresented communities with limited access to career development opportunities, and thanks to funding from the San Francisco Giants and major developers, the course is entirely free for those accepted, Fast Company reports.
The Giants partnered with CityBuild, a construction industry training program run by the city’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development, to launch a five-week apprenticeship program called Mission Rock Academy to train women in the building trades. Along with developer Tishman Speyer, the Giants contributed $1 million to the program. Its first cohort of 16 students has now graduated and has begun working on Mission Rock and other projects, showing how the overwhelmingly male construction industry can start to solve a widespread workforce problem.
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