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Archive for category: Building Union Diversity Program

Building Union Diversity Program

BUD graduate meets then Vice President Joe Biden AND lands a job

As seen in the St. Louis Labor Tribune

Eric Green, a recent graduate of the Building Union Diversity (BUD) program, has all the confirmation he needs that the program works. He’s landed a job and recently met Vice President Joe Biden.

Green, 31, had sold insurance and worked in medical billing since 2009. When he wanted something different, his uncle, a journeyman plasterer told him about BUD and he signed up.

Green graduated from a seven-week BUD session Aug. 31 was meeting with business representatives Todd Hake and Kevin Haynes with the St. Louis-Kansas City Carpenters Regional Council at Goody Goody Diner on Natural Bridge Ave. on Sept. 9 when the Vice President and U.S. Senate candidate Jason Kander came in for lunch and stopped to talk at their table.

Biden was in town to talk about jobs, education, and training. He earlier had visited LaunchCode off Delmar to talk about growth in tech jobs.

Hake, the Carpenters business representative, said he told Vice President Biden that they were there meeting with Green for lunch and that he was a recent graduate of the BUD program, and Biden said “Yes, I’m very familiar with the BUD program.”

The vice president then offered some words of encouragement to Green.

BUD organizers visited the White House to discuss the program and its successes during a conference on worker training programs in 2015.

A CONFIRMATION

For Green meeting with union business representatives about job opportunities, then having the opportunity to meet the Vice President – who was familiar with the BUD program – was proof enough that he was headed in the right direction.

“I felt like it was kind of a confirmation,” Green said. “I felt like this was a great opportunity. I had heard that he as a politician that supported us. I felt like this was an opportunity to give it my best, because that’s what he and the President (Barack Obama) have been supporting.

“Just to know that they knew about the BUD program was kind of big to me,” Green said. “It was just telling me to take advantage of this.”

RECORD OF SUCCESS

The BUD program was launched in 2014 to bring more minority and female workers into the union trades in a unique partnership of the St. Louis Building & Construction Trades Council, the Eastern Missouri Laborers District Council and St. Louis-Kansas City Regional Carpenters Council, with funding help from the St. Louis Agency on Training and Employment (SLATE) and the Missouri Division of Workforce Development.

Participants in the program also receive support from the United Way to help with issues such as car repairs or other problems that may be preventing them from getting or keeping a job.

BUD prepares participants to enter apprenticeships and, with commitment and dedication of their own, begin fulfilling and rewarding careers. Roughly 85 percent of participants have landed jobs since the program started.

Green was recently hired by Builders Bloc as an apprentice carpenter. The first day was hard, he said. “They worked me, but I came back the next day It’s a great experience. I’m happy I signed up with BUD.”

 

November 8, 2021/0 Comments/by Braxton Payne
https://moworksinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/VP-Bud.jpeg 1350 1123 Braxton Payne https://moworksinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/missouri-works-initiative-logo-new-1-300x222.png Braxton Payne2021-11-08 16:39:362021-11-08 16:39:59BUD graduate meets then Vice President Joe Biden AND lands a job
Building Union Diversity (BUD) program participants at tables
Building Union Diversity Program

VIDEO: BUD Program Graduates 21st Class; Now Recruiting for 22nd Cohort, To Start June 28

As seen in Construction Forum STL

There was a full house Thursday (June 3) For the graduation of the 21st cohort of the St. Louis Building Union Diversity (BUD) program. The celebration and a lunch for the graduates took place at IBEW Local 1 Hall.

Jake Hummel, president of the MO AFL-CIO, told those present that the objective of the BUD program is, “…making sure that the unionized construction industry in St. Louis, and now throughout the rest of  Missouri, look like the communities in which we work.” BUD, which had been operated by the St. Louis Building Trades Council, recently merged with the newly created Missouri Works Initiative, an affiliated not-for-profit organization of the Missouri AFL-CIO.

Representatives of a number of potential employers were in the audience, including Alberici, ADB Companies, Bates Utility, EDM, Lionmark, Fred M. Luth & Sons, MODOT, McCarthy Building Companies, Millstone Weber, MSD, Paric Construction, Tarlton Corporation, United Ironworkers (Illinois), and Visu-Sewer.

Russ Signorino said that there were “over 110” people in attendance at Thursday’s graduation.

Program graduates and their referring agencies were: Artimus Anderson (SLATE); Steven Bluett (Family and Workforce Centers of America); Yolanda  Burgess (University City Adult Education and Literacy Program); Timothy Carter (U. City AEL); De’Andre Hayes (self); Tayton Kirsch (MO DESE Vocational Rehab); Housea Martin (Concordance Academy); Shannon O’Neill (Building and Construction Trades Council staff); Matthew Prather, (AGC of MO); Chris Taylor (AGC MO); Chandler Wendt (MO Connections); and Jomark Willis (SLATE).

The BUD program began in 2014 as a recruitment tool to encourage more minorities and women to get into the building trades. The five-week program offers pre-apprentices the opportunity to visit local building trade unions to give them basic training and a feel for each of the trades.

BUD is now recruiting for its 22nd cohort, to begin at the end of this month. “We’re looking to assemble a full class of 15 participants for the new five-week training,” Russ Signorino, director of the St. Louis BUD program said.

Qualified BUD candidates must be 18 years of age or older, have a high school or equivalent diploma, and WorkKeys scores of 5 or higher in Math and Workplace Documents. Referring organizations should have applications, along with WorkKeys scores, submitted to Signorino by June 18. The program is scheduled to start June 28.

The application can be filled in online at https://budprogram.com/apply/. For more information contact Signorino at 314.303.6082, or email russ.signorino@gmail.com

June 3, 2021/0 Comments/by Greta Bax
https://moworksinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Screen-Shot-2021-06-22-at-10.14.42-AM.png 345 620 Greta Bax https://moworksinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/missouri-works-initiative-logo-new-1-300x222.png Greta Bax2021-06-03 15:13:162021-06-22 15:16:10VIDEO: BUD Program Graduates 21st Class; Now Recruiting for 22nd Cohort, To Start June 28

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