Pre-apprenticeship program prepares young adults for careers

DECATUR — Christian Johnson has worked a lot of different jobs and what he really wants is a career.

When he heard about the Youth to Career Pathways program, he knew that was his chance to make the leap. He's spending the summer in a pre-apprenticeship program for King-Lar, working in the sheet metal side of the business and doing a little bit of everything to get a wide exposure to the trade.

“I felt like this was a nice trade to get into,” Johnson said. “I had a lot of jobs in my life and I needed a career and this was an opportunity to get my career started.”

It's hard work sometimes, but he doesn't mind.

“A little sweat never killed anybody,” he said with a chuckle.

“The Youth To Career Pathways Pre-Apprenticeship program was designed to provide opportunities for trainees from diverse backgrounds to enter building trades apprenticeships and create opportunities for youth in Macon and DeWitt Counties,” said Rocki Wilkerson, executive director of Workforce Investment Solutions. 

The program is a collaboration of Workforce Investment Solutions, One Level Corporation, Decatur Building and Construction Trades Council, local businesses, and social service agencies.  The training is a nationally recognized program through the North America Building Trades Unions, Multi-craft Curriculum. Trainees will earn a MC3 industry recognized credential after successful completion of the program. 

The goal is to get young workers into the pipeline and on the path to apprenticeships that lead to good jobs for the young men and women in the program and employees for the building trades, which are watching their workforce age and move toward retirement without adequate younger workers available to fill those positions.

A Makers Index study released in April by Stanley/Black & Decker asked high school students aged 14-19, parents of high school students, and skilled trade workers about their view of the skilled trades, and the findings revealed that young people are not seriously considering careers in trades. While 85% of young people and 94% of parents think that skilled trade work is a good quality career option in general, less than half (49%) of youth have ever considered a skilled trade career and far fewer (16%) are very likely to consider a skilled trade career.

"The skilled labor shortage is one of the biggest challenges facing the U.S. economy, with 650,000 open jobs in the construction industry alone," said Stanley/Black & Decker CEO Jim Loree. "This problem existed long before the pandemic but has certainly been exacerbated by it.”

Like Johnson, Zachya Hill, also in the pre-apprenticeship program and working at King-Lar, has had a variety of jobs he described as “dead end.”

“You feel like you're part of a team, you're a family here,” Hill said. “I just feel like trades is the right way to go, especially for someone who doesn't want to pay tens of thousands of dollars a year for school. You're getting paid to work here and you're learning something you can give to your children.”

King-Lar is a plumbing, pipefitting, sheet metal, heat/ventilation/air-conditioning and roofing company, said Ryan Kreke, who oversees the three young men in the pre-apprenticeship program.

“These three gentlemen have spent the last four or five weeks just learning, job-shadowing, doing some of the tasks, learning what the trade's all about,” Kreke said. “They're kind of figuring out if this is something they can do the rest of their lives as a career.”

If they want to pursue it, once they finish the pre-apprenticeship, they can apply to become union apprentices, a four-year process during which they work – and get paid – during the day and take classes two or three evenings a week.

“It's such a diverse field,” said Cameron Yoder of Maroa, who has been helping make ductwork during his pre-apprenticeship. “I get to work on a lot of projects. Right now we're doing ductwork for Eastern Illinois University. It's all over the place. It feels good seeing your work go all around Decatur and the area. I'm learning so much. Every day, I'm learning something new.”

Bodine Electric has two working full time at Mueller Co., helping with the construction of a new brass foundry going up on Jasper Street, said construction manager Bill Brooks.

“Workforce Investment Solutions built the program to expose individuals to the construction trades,” Brooks said. “We think it's important to have meaningful careers, substantial careers and interest in the construction trades.”