
Courtesy Northeast Construction Trades Workforce Coalition
Whoever said building and construction trades is a man’s world must be light years behind the times.
A summer camp for fifth- to seventh-grade girls has been expanded to two weeks this year, giving hands-on opportunity and exposure to the industry’s many different careers.
“On day one, last year, we put a power screwdriver in their hand and they were scared to death,” program coordinator Doug Ford said. “By day five they were working with pneumatic nailers and building vertical gardens that we donated to nursing homes. They didn’t know each other to begin with so teamwork was part of it. The transformation was incredible. It was a huge hit.”
Ford, a Curtis Lumber Company vice president, is also co-founder with Pam Stott of the Northeast Construction Trades Workforce Coalition, a nonprofit organization launched eight years ago to address the construction industry’s skilled labor shortage by promoting such careers to students and young adults.
Females represent a large untapped pool of potential employees.
“We want them to understand there’s so many jobs within trades and not all of them are physical,” Ford said. “You’ve got project management, logistical, estimating. All these different jobs are part of trades that never get talked about. The only ones that get talked about are the guy on the roof, in a ditch or on a backhoe. We need to paint an accurate picture of all the things that are available to males and females.”
There’s plenty of financial incentive as careers in the trades can pay from $80,000 to well over $100,000 for jobs such as project manager.