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Causes: Education, Student Services
Mission: Pathways to apprenticeship, inc. (p2a) is a not-for-profit organization that seeks to end intergenerational poverty by providing access to opportunities for transformational apprenticeships in the building trades that lead to solid, middle class, careers. We recruit, train, and mentor people from low-income communities including, but not limited, to the formerly incarcerated, people on public assistance, and people who live in public housing to be accepted into and succeed in construction union apprenticeship programs in new york city.
Programs: P2a conducted information sessions on building trades opportunities for the general public and clients of community organizations and public agencies throughout new york city. In these 90-minute sessions, people who went through the p2a program and are now successful, working building trades apprentices and journey workers who explain building trades careers, recruitment processes, and the apprenticeship experience, and review safety protocols on construction worksites. P2a also sends out a monthly email update on classes, events, and current apprenticeship openings to individuals and representatives of community organizations and public agencies (the p2a has an email list of more than 1,000 people, both individuals and representatives of community organizations and public agencies). P2a assisted people with their applications by reviewing resumes, conducting interview preparation sessions, and hosting pre-apprenticeship and application test preparatory classes for apprenticeship applicants. P2a makes 80 computers available in two locations, in manhattan and the bronx, for people to try to obtain an application. Then, p2a holds an 8-week pre-apprenticeship class to prepare people who obtain applications for their interviews and for the apprenticeship experience in general. Some unions require applicants to take an aptitude test (in math and reading comprehension) in connection with an application, and p2a conducts refresher classes with practice tests for applicants to prepare for these exams. P2a conducted a four-week (140 hours) direct entry pre-apprenticeship training and placement class, certified by the nys department of labor, the graduates of which may be accepted directly into building trades apprenticeships.