In today’s economy, it’s hard to get ahead, especially if you’ve had hard luck or faced difficult circumstances. But OPCMIA apprenticeship programs, like the model effort run by Cement Masons Local 633 in New Brighton, Minnesota, open doors of opportunity to many people who’ve found themselves locked out in the past.
As this article vividly illustrates, participating in Local 633’s Joint Apprentice Training Committee (JATC) program has meant the world to Jamie Fisher, a single mother struggling to make ends meet, and to ex-offenders seeking to contribute to society after their release from prison.
As Jamie told Workday Minnesota, a project of the University of Minnesota’s Labor Education Service:
With concrete, for some reason, I connected with it. You take this massive mucky stuff and you form it, mold it…You can shape it into anything. You can construct buildings, patios, bridges, and roads. When you are done you have created a solid foundation. You can’t break it down completely. Even if you break it down into the finest form you can rebuild it into something solid. I feel like that’s part of my life, that’s who I am. I just have this passion and connection with it.
Connecting good people like Jamie with new passions, careers, and a ladder up to the middle class is what OPCMIA training is all about!
