Strong communities create opportunities for local people to learn, work, and build successful careers close to home.

Programs like SWOCC’s Construction and Heavy Equipment Operator Pre-Apprenticeship help connect local students with training for high-demand, family-wage careers. Projects like the Pacific Coast Intermodal Port have the potential to strengthen these pathways and create lasting opportunities for generations to come.

This is what investing in the future of the South Coast can look like. 👏


What Does PCIP Mean for a Kid Growing Up on the South Coast?

The Port of Coos Bay Board of Commissioners met yesterday as part of its ongoing monthly schedule of open public meeting on the Pacific Coast Intermodal project, providing a regular opportunity for the public to hear the latest on the project and the work underway.

Progress continues on several fronts, including RFPs related to the Reedsport Grade Crossing Project, coordination on the NEPA and permitting process, and other important project planning efforts with the rail and new terminal.

But some of the most meaningful conversations about PCIP aren't just about infrastructure. They're about what that infrastructure can mean for people who grow up here.

At a recent PCIP Commission meeting, local operating engineer and IUOE Local 701 member Tallon Trentz shared his own experience and talked about the opportunities available to young people entering the building trades.

Tallon is a homegrown South Coast success story. He was born and raised here, built a career in the trades, and is now working to help create similar opportunities for the next generation.

For local students, those opportunities can begin right here on the South Coast. Southwestern Oregon Community College, in partnership with the Southwestern Oregon Workforce Investment Board (SOWIB), offers a pre-apprenticeship program for students who have graduated from high school and are attending SWOCC, providing training that can count toward their apprenticeship.

Applicants to SWOCC’s Construction and Heavy Equipment Operator Pre-apprenticeship program must be at least 18 and have a high school diploma or GED. And careers such as operating engineers provides a pathway to earn wages between $48.09 and $63.26 per hour, plus excellent health, retirement and training benefits.

This is what pathways to professions can look like.

Major infrastructure projects like the PCIP create more than the immediate jobs associated with construction. They can strengthen apprenticeship programs, create demand for skilled workers, give young people a reason to build careers close to home, and help develop a workforce that benefits the South Coast long after construction is complete.

This is one of the many tangible benefits the PCIP can bring to the future of our region.

(to learn more: https://pcipproject.com/newsletter )

News Source : https://www.facebook.com/800812012091502/posts/1568475765325119