Arizona apprenticeship program funds more construction classes to train next generation of tradesmen

TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Lately, second-year electrical apprentice Mikel Moore is putting the hands-on skills she's learned in the classroom to productive use in the workshop. “Basic hand tools, you move on to mechanical benders and you move on to motor controls,” she said.

Out in the field, she said, Moore's already getting paid and working with journeymen experts who've shared their knowledge and experience with her. “I really like working with my hands, but I also like using my brain,” Moore said. “We get to learn kind of the backstory as to what we’re doing in the field.”

Moore joined a program to train with International Brotherhood of Electric Workers (IBEW) Local 570 chapter, and has also joined the Tucson Electrical Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee.
This particular program Moore signed up for received funding from the BuildItAZ initiative, to cover the unit's conduit and fire labs.

When Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs and the Office of Economic Opportunity first started the initiative last year, they set out a goal to double the amount of trade-and-construction registered apprentices by 2026 — women apprentices, in particular. Moore said she agrees there should be investment in this kind of career training.

“We don’t need to be bankers and accountants and sit at a desk job all the time," she said. "We can be out there getting dirty and doing hands-on stuff while also stimulating our minds."

Hobbs recently announced she's allocating $1 million more to BuiltItAZ. OEO said the program has in, turn, funding five state organizations with a total of $650,000.

Molly Berning-O’Neill, a journeyman electrician with IBEW Local 570, is the joint apprenticeship training committee's instructor. She said people in Moore's class are the apprentices who will fill the gaps once older professionals retire.

“We do actually have a lot of work coming up and we need to train people so that when we send people to those union jobs they know what they’re doing,” Berning-O'Neill said.
"(This program) makes them more competent electricians, and if you feel competent what you’re doing at work, you feel good about it and you want to keep doing it.”

OEO said they’ve seen a steady number of apprentices enroll in the program in its first year. To supplement that increase, Gov. Hobbs has said she wants policy experts to recommend solutions that will keep promoting jobs and recruiting candidates for trade jobs.

Starting next year, OEO said it wants to find private industry partners to launch an outreach and public information campaign. Moore said she hopes more women join this career path. “You’re capable of so much more than you could possibly think,” she said.