Weekly Roundup of the news on women and supportive services in job training programs.
By Rachel Linn
Job training can provide an entry into family-sustaining jobs and careers. Many women in job training programs, however, face obstacles to success. Wraparound services—such as child care assistance, access to public benefits, and transportation or housing assistance—can help adults, particularly those with caregiving responsibilities, to complete programs that will ultimately improve their economic standing.
November 20, 2015
FW: The Magazine for Chicago Women: The Face of a Changing Industry
When one thinks of the construction field, a young woman with a blonde ponytail might not immediately come to mind. But Minnesota native Samantha Randby is an apprentice lineman with Intren. She is one of the 8.9 percent of women who are currently employed within the construction workforce.
November 19, 2015
The Fairfield Sun: Funding helps create pathways to economic security for women
Prosperity Together partners will use their respective experience and knowledge to continue funding programs that are proven effective in their communities and states. The types of programs that will be funded include job training programs that are customized to address the cultural and educational needs of low-income women in order to secure a higher-wage job in a stable work environment.
November 16, 2015
San Gabriel Valley Tribune: Why Metro wants to hire more women for construction jobs
Though Metro doesn’t actually build anything, it contracts with companies that do. Both must fulfill project labor agreements that include hiring a certain percentage of minorities and women.
Federal guidelines say each project should have 6.9 percent women. While some Metro projects are near that, others have less than 1 percent, said Miguel Cabral, Metro’s deputy executive officer of diversity and economic opportunity.
Also covered in Construction Dive: Los Angeles Metro ramps up efforts to recruit women construction workers
November 16, 2015
Birmingham Business Journal: Women’s Fund to invest $2.5M in local job training and child care
The Women’s Fund of Greater Birmingham will be investing $2.5 million over the next five years toward job training for women, child care and economic research.
November 13, 2015
Star Tribune: Women’s foundations pledge $100 million to bolster economic security for American women, families
In Minnesota, money will be allocated to bolster education and job training services, as well as child care, to help women secure higher-wage, stable work, officials said. Funding also will be used for research to inform best practices for policy change.
“A special focus must be placed on women of color, who are on the bottom rung of every economic indicator in Minnesota, just as they are in many states in the nation,” said Lee Roper-Batker, president and CEO of the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota, which will commit $15 million to the effort over the next five years.
November 13, 2015
Naples Daily News: Women’s Foundation of Southwest Florida joins national initiative to empower disadvantaged
The foundations’ efforts will focus largely on funding job training programs that address educational needs and cultural issues to help low-income women get better jobs. It also will help fund child care programs so mothers can be in the workplace and their children can get an academic start.
November 12, 2015
Construction Dive: Are women the answer to the construction labor shortage?
However, the industry is also facing another shortage — women in the construction trades. Women represent half of the population in the U.S. but, according to a 2014 Bureau of Labor Statistics report, women make up less than 10% of the construction industry workforce. Some groups, like the National Women’s Law Center, peg that figure at 3%, although organizations like the AGC contend their numbers include only women in the field, and not those in administrative or professional positions.
To view more of IWPR’s research, visit IWPR.org
