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    Home » ADOT Construction Academy helping more women enter construction trades
    Arizona Department of Transportation

    ADOT Construction Academy helping more women enter construction trades

    October 26, 2018No Comments4 Mins Read
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    logo_azdotMinorities, veterans, jobless among others benefiting from the program

    Phoenix AZ (October 26, 2018) – An unemployed single mom of three, Iris Bost hoped to break into the male-dominated construction industry that would provide better pay than working retail.

    Through a social media post, the 42-year-old Globe resident was excited to learn about an Arizona Department of Transportation-sponsored Construction Academy at Gila Community College. She signed up for the free apprenticeship program to learn carpentry and earned college credit too.

    After finishing her training last year, Bost decided to start her own business teaching classes on job-related safety and health hazards as well as flagger/traffic control certification in partnership with ADOT and Gila Community College.

    20181026_ConstructionAcademy-PatriciaMcKinley“There should be more women in the construction field, and I want to do what I can to help them,” said Bost, who taught her first Occupational Safety and Health Administration class at Gila Community College in August. “I want to teach both women and men about what they can and cannot do on the job so that they will work safely.”

    To help remove barriers to careers in transportation construction, Construction Academy programs that ADOT offers with employers, community colleges, Native American tribes and others provide free training and other support – including safety gear and help with transportation and child care – for members of economically disadvantaged groups. While the list of qualifying individuals also includes minorities, veterans and those who are unemployed, among others, one benefit of this program has been helping more women enter the construction trades.

    Of the more than 600 people who have graduated from Construction Academy pre-apprentice training programs since they began in 2014, about 35 percent are women. Three-quarters of participants have gone on to work in the construction field as flaggers, commercial truck drivers, heavy equipment operators, highway surveyors, electricians, carpenters, painters, pipe fitters, concrete finishers and block masons. Depending on the position, they start out earning $14 to $24 an hour, and sometimes more.

    “ADOT is investing in attracting and training skilled construction workers. Our Construction Academy not only benefits individuals but helps the construction industry in Arizona as a whole while connecting women and others with construction job opportunities,’’ said Dr. Vivien Lattibeaudiere, ADOT’s employee and business development administrator. “We help place Construction Academy graduates into apprenticeships and trainee positions with contractors that build roads in Arizona. This helps advance Arizona’s transportation system and the state’s economy.’’

    Women comprise about 9 percent of construction workers nationally, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

    Offered through ADOT’s On-The-Job-Training Supportive Services Program, part of the agency’s Business Engagement and Compliance Office, the Construction Academy combines hands-on activities and classwork that includes computer technology, construction math, commercial driving and job-related safety and health hazards. Training is offered in the evenings and some weekends to make it more accessible.

    Along with safety gear such as hard hats, protective eyewear and boots, Construction Academy participants receive job-readiness training and continued mentoring to help them achieve journeyman status.

    As an added bonus, Construction Academy participants like Bost perfect their construction skills by giving back to their communities. Bost and her classmates built a shed for the Globe Miami Piranha swim team and rehabilitated an elderly man’s home. She’s also found the skills helpful in her personal life.

    “The ADOT Construction Academy is a great opportunity not only to prepare you for a job in the construction field, but you also learn what to do if you want to make repairs in your own home,’’ Bost said.

    Patricia McKinley, another Construction Academy participant, said she wanted to do more than office work at the small trucking company that she and her husband started in Phoenix. She wanted to drive a large truck for construction jobs but couldn’t afford the training to get a Class A commercial driver license.

    Thanks to ADOT’s Construction Academy, McKinley was able to obtain her commercial driver license at no cost. While working full-time, she participated in a six-week program offered four nights a week at Southwest Truck Driving School in Phoenix. She also earned her traffic control flagger certification.

    Today, the 39-year-old mother of two operates an 18-wheeler to transport dirt excavated for highway projects. She and her husband, Jonvai, own KHAVL Transport LLC, an ADOT-certified Disadvantaged Business Enterprise.

    “I was the only woman out of six students in the commercial driver license class, and I was intimidated at first. But my husband encouraged me to keep going,’’ McKinley said. “This is a great opportunity for anyone looking to grow. ADOT’s program provided me with free gear and taught me what I needed to go to work.”

    For more information or to apply for a Construction Academy, please visit azdot.gov/BECO, call 602.712.7761 or pick up materials at the ADOT Business Engagement and Compliance Office, 1801 W. Jefferson St., Suite 101, in Phoenix.

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    Paid Political Ad Paid For by Samaire for Mayor
    Paid Political Ad for Samaire Armstrong
    Paid Political Announcement by Samaire For Mayor

     THE MOMENT IS UPON US

    Dear Sedona,

    The moment is upon us. The time for a united effort to shift the focus back to our community is now.

    The ability to thrive in our community, our environment, our workforce, and the tourist industry, is entirely possible because we have all the resources needed for success.

    Still, we need a council that isn’t afraid to ask the hard questions, that makes decisions based on data and facts, and through discussion, rather than moving and voting in group unison as they so regularly do.

    This is my home. I have been a part of the Sedona community for 28 years. I witnessed the road debacle, the lack of planning, the city circumventing the local businesses ability to thrive, while making choices to expand the local government and be in direct competition with private industry.

    I am a unique candidate because unlike the incumbents, I don’t believe the government should expand in size, nor in operations, nor would I attempt to micromanage every aspect of our community.

    City government should stay in its lane and allow the competitive market of local private industry to prosper. And it should defend our community from corporate takeover and infiltration of our town.

    I do not agree that we should sign onto International Building Codes and regulations by signing Sedona up to the ICC. It is imperative that we remain a sweet, rural community.

    Where are the arts? Where is this organic thriving element that we allege to be animated by. Where is our culture? Where is our community?

    The discord between the decision making process and the desires of the community have never been more clear. It has been nearly a decade in the making.

    It is time for a new era of energy to take charge. An energy that is reflective in the ability to succeed rather than be trapped in out of date consciousness.

    It has been a great honor meeting with each of you. I hear your concerns over the insane and out of control spending and I echo them. A budget of $105,000,000 in a town of 9700 residents is completely unacceptable. A parking structure (that looks like a shoe box) originally slated to cost 11 million, now projected to cost 18 million, is incomprehensible. Especially, considering there is no intention of charging for parking.

    For those who are concerned that I lack the political experience within our established system- that is precisely what Sedona needs… Not another politician, but instead a person who understands people, who listens to the voices within the community, and who will act in service on their behalf with accountability, for the highest good of Sedona. What I am not, will prove to be an asset as I navigate the entrenched bureaucracy with a fresh perspective. Business as usual, is over.

    Creative solutions require new energy.

    Every decision that is made by our local government, must contemplate Sedona first.

    • Does this decision benefit the residents?
    • Does this decision benefit the local businesses?
    • Does this decision actually help the environment?
    • Will this decision sustain benefit in the future, or will it bring more problems?

    What we have now is a city government that expands to 165 employees for 9700 residents. Palm Desert has 53,000 residents and 119 city employees. Majority of our city department heads are not even in town. I find this problematic.

    Efforts towards championing in and courting new solutions for our medical needs are imperative. We are losing our doctors. We must encourage competition with other facilities rather than be held hostage by NAH, who clearly have their own set of dysfunctions.

    We must remember that so many move to Sedona for its beauty, hiking, and small town charm. Bigger, faster, and more concrete does not, in broad strokes, fit the ethos of Sedona.

    The old world must remain strong here in balance, as that is what visitors want to experience. Too many have noted that Sedona has lost its edge and charm.

    As Mayor I will preserve the rural charm of our community, and push back against the urbanization that is planned for Sedona.

    As mayor I will make it a priority to create opportunities to support our youth.  After school healthy, enriching programs should be created for our kids, and available to the Sedona workforce regardless of residency and regardless of school they belong to.

    As Mayor, I will create an agenda to deliberately embody the consciousness of our collective needs here, allowing private industry to meet the needs of our community rather than bigger government.

    I hope to have your vote on Aug 2nd. I am excited and have the energy to take on this leadership role with new eyes, community perspective, and the thoughtful consciousness that reflects all ages of the human spectrum.

    Thank you deeply for your consideration.

    Sincerely,

    Samaire Armstrong

    Sedona elections
    Armstrong vs. Jablow: The Main Event
    Ready to Rumble

    By Tommy Acosta
    In the Blue Corner stands Scott Jablow and in the Red Corner of the ring stands Samaire Armstrong, ready to rumble to the bitter end in their fight to become the next Sedona mayor. Jablow weighs in with 1,137 primary election votes (36.13%) under his belt, having wielded his advantage as sitting Sedona City Council vice-mayor to his favor. He brings his years of serving in that capacity into the fray and waged a solid fight in his campaign to make it to the run-off. Armstrong, however withstood a blistering smear campaign from the other opposing candidates and their supporters to make it to the final bout with 967 votes under her belt (30.73%), an amazing feat for a political newcomer. Unfortunately, for the other two candidates, Kurt Gehlbach and sitting mayor Sandy Moriarty, neither put up enough of a fight to make it to the championship bout. Read more→
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