The Jamestown Local Development Corporation board has approved $500,000 for the Southern Tier Builders Exchange for a workforce development program.
Grants Manager Tim O’Dell said Southern Tier Builders will use the American Rescue Plan funds for a Pre-Apprenticeship Program through the National Center for Construction Education & Research (NCCR) for high school, college, and young adults, “So, if you take a look at the curriculum here you will notice that the program introduces training to a large variety of trades. And this is very advantageous because when they go through all of the courses, not all of them are listed here, they will have exposure and dip their feet in, if you will, into multiple trades. So, they can get a very good lay of the landscape of what it’s like to be in the trades and from there they can make more informed decisions of what trade they’d like to participate in for their career.”
O’Dell said the purpose of the program is to establish a pipleine for workforce development where students will have the opportunity to go into a union and start their apprenticeship or to go to trade school.
He added that Southern Tier Builders hopes to receive its accreditation from NCCR by July and start classes in the Fall.
The request will now go before Jamestown City Council for approval on Monday, May 22 as the amount approved is over $100,000.
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