The Associated General Contractors of California’s (AGC of California) workforce development program Build California received a $500,000 Equal Representation in Construction Apprenticeship (ERiCA) grant for outreach and community building from the California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR).
Build California is a workforce development initiative created to engage and educate California’s workforce. The goal is to inform people about opportunities in the construction industry and related trades, such as glazing, and connect them to local pre-apprenticeship, apprenticeship and other training programs.
“Build California plays a crucial role in building the California construction industry’s workforce pipeline to attract the next generation of construction workers,” says Peter Tateishi, CEO of AGC of California. “Build California opens the door to present construction as a career of first choice with well-paying jobs to young people who might not otherwise consider this path due to ongoing misperceptions about who is welcome to work in construction.”
The building program address misconceptions about the trades’ wage-earning potential, safety and job variety and promotes access and positive exposure to girls/women, nonbinary people, former foster youth, and other underserved populations between the ages of 12-24. In 2022 alone, the program reached over 28 million people through innovative social and digital media messaging and ads, school presentations, job/career fairs and other event activations.
The ERiCA grant will fund Build California to dedicate to outreach and community building by improving access to training and employment opportunities for women, nonbinary and underserved populations within the building and construction trades. The funding will allow Build California to expand and develop new outreach, communication and programmatic efforts to reach over 10 million potential workers through targeted social media campaigns and over 10,000 young women/girls and other underserved individuals.
