The U.S. Department of Labor on Monday announced a grant of $716,701 to the Southern Nevada Building Trades Union as a key effort to address challenges women face in construction and related fields.
The announcement was made by U.S. Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su during a visit in Las Vegas with U.S. Representatives Susie Lee and Dina Titus. This investment is part of the Investing in America initiative that the Biden-Harris administration has created to improve infrastructure, clean energy, and manufacturing throughout Southern Nevada.
This grant targets specifically women in apprenticeships and nontraditional occupations via the DOL’s Women’s Bureau and Employment and Training Administration. It facilitates better access to construction, high-tech manufacturing, and information technology sectors where their long-term presence has been bad.
Julie-Ann Peeples who began electrical apprenticeship as a single mother in 2007, reveals the systemic problems and failings that most women experience which include the scarcity of affordable childcare. She said, “Most childcare centers are not available during the time when our industry needs them.” Currently, Peeples serves as the assistant director of the Electrical Joint Apprenticeship Training Center of Southern Nevada. She noted that today, only about 10 percent of the apprentices in her program are women. She doesn’t believe that number reflects the composition of women in the area.
Funding secured by this grant would promote the outreach and assistance initiative of the Southern Nevada Building Trades Union which will help close to 300 women find apprenticeship programs for future enrollment. “This fund will help ensure these women can access good jobs toward financial security,” according to Secretary Su. This current group of unions represents construction work over 20,000 of its workers in total coming from 19 different types of unions and approximately holding more than 3,000 apprentices.
Secretary Su stressed that such successful undertakings require partnerships and mentioned Brightline West’s high-speed rail project, which will utilize union members dedicated to quality and efficiency. This grant positions Southern Nevada Building Trades Union to make significant strides toward gender diversity and get more women into the construction field.