By Kelly Tourdot, ABC Wisconsin President
It’s no secret that the skilled trades are having a moment. Many have already seen the news coverage celebrating the students who want to join the “toolbelt generation” and get to work.
ABC Wisconsin has record-breaking apprenticeship enrollment again this year, pushing us to nearly 2,700 apprentices statewide. Our member companies provide on-the-job training, and partner with technical schools across the state to train apprentices in 12 distinct trades, including heavy equipment operating, plumbing, electrical and HVAC.
Recognizing the continued growth, our Apprenticeship Training & Trust recently opened the Center for Apprenticeship Excellence in Madison. This state-of-the-art training facility will serve nearly 500 apprentices this year, with room to grow for the future. Watching this project come to fruition has been remarkable.
A few years ago, the Trust board recognized the demand for apprenticeship training was exceeding the ability to accommodate apprentices. These leaders (who are also company owners, trainers and industry experts) began to plan for the future, saving, and researching best practices for training facilities.
Then, a building became available, at an ideal location, and the Trust was ready to make the purchase.
ABC members embraced the project and competed to be the winning bids for completing the work.
After a competitive bid, Corporate Contractors Inc. (CCI) earned the General Contractor role, and subcontractors included many additional ABC members, including Dave Jones, Hills Wiring and Capitol Mechanical, along with many others.
This facility is a labor of love. It was built by ABC members, for ABC members. Some of the workers are graduates of our program. During the remodel, they supervised current apprentices in our program. All of them came in with a desire to build something better than what they’d had before.
There’s an excitement about designing the program from the very beginning. The team was taking a vacant space and equipping it to provide the very best training opportunities for generations to come. Companies did their best work, and generous donors, including Milwaukee Tool, provided the supplies needed to give apprentices an exceptional place to learn and grow.
Training the next generation is crucial. They will be the next foremen, the next supervisors, and some of them will move on to lead their companies, or open one of their own. That’s what made this project so special and so unique. The contractors knew, from the beginning, that they were building a future for their own companies, as they designed the training space for apprentices.
We celebrate the mentorship that happens as an apprentice joins a team, works alongside the crew, and learns how to do work safely, how to engage with their teams, and how to master their trade. That mentorship is incredibly valuable. And, it’s produced a pretty fantastic facililty to foster future training for generations to come.
On Labor Day, and every day, ABC celebrates the hard working men and women that are building our communities and creating opportunities for the next generation of construction professionals. The Center for Apprenticeship Excellence is simply the latest example of ABC’s multi-generational commitment to Wisconsin’s construction workforce.
