Building Futures Opens with Inspiration

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)Mary Battle -- not only the first woman Business Manager of Plasterers and Cement Masons Local 891, but the first female Business Manager in any trade in the metro Washington area -- welcomed new Building Futures students to their hall this week. Battle (at right speaking to the class with Site Coordinator Rosella Scott at left) shared her story of coming though Job Corps and doing her apprenticeship and early journeyworker jobs while raising two children alone. “It takes hard work and a lot of commitment, and having thick skin, but the trades are great places to build careers with great wages and benefits,” she said to the students on their first day of the 6-week Building Futures pre-apprenticeship class. The students will take most of their classes at Battle’s Local 891, but this Saturday they head to Sheet Metal Local 100 for OSHA 10 class and to the Mid-Atlantic Carpenters later in June. This is the third Department of Labor–funded Building Futures class; the Community Services Agency has conducted almost 20 additional 6-week cycles with other funding since 2008. - report/photo by Kathleen McKirchy