• Posted: March 23, 2021
• Apprenticeship Program, better careers, IBEW-NECA Technical Institute

Crain’s recently published a story (“Not every job requires a four-year degree, Feb. 12) as part of its series on equity highlighting the potential that exists to narrow the wealth gap locally through apprenticeships and vocational training. As an African-American male who grew up on the South Side, found his way into an apprenticeship at the IBEW/NECA Technical Institute and has a stable career as a result, I know exactly what potential exists when young people of color in Chicago have access to a path in life that doesn’t require a four-year degree. 

Based on my own experience at the time and more than 20 years in various positions in the unionized electrical industry since then, I also know that just finding out about apprenticeship or vocational training is half the battle. My first exposure to apprenticeship was through my cousin, who helped me realize quickly that I’d be making more money as a first-year apprentice than I was working full-time as a technician for a cable company, and with far more potential for growth. If that conversation didn’t take place, it’s very unlikely I’d be where I am today. My experience is not uncommon, and it’s why Cook County’s unionized electrical industry has invested heavily in outreach in underserved communities in the last 20 years, as the Crain’s story mentioned some trades were doing.   

Through partnerships with high schools and community groups, we’ve educated young people about how to access our apprenticeship program through hands-on programs inside of public and private high schools like Dunbar, Simeon, Prosser, Juarez and Leo. By attending hundreds of church-sponsored events, adult-based job readiness programs and career fairs across the city’s South and West sides, we’ve opened the door to the electrical industry further. The Jumpstart program was created 17 years ago to offer 24 hours of intensive classroom instruction as an introduction to the electrical construction industry to anyone willing to attend. These efforts have paid dividends. Close to 1,000 Jumpstart participants have gone on to apprenticeship and, today, 41.1% of our electrical apprentices are people of color, many from communities where the wealth gap is most severe.  

Thousands of hours spent in the communities where apprenticeships are needed most has also made it clear that more needs to be done to make people aware that a job in the trades is available to them. While we’ll continue doing our part, along with groups like Hire360, truly changing the paradigm must begin in junior highs and high schools, which the story mentioned only in passing. Until vocational programs are valued in schools as equal to college preparation, every trade will fight an uphill battle to expose young people of color to the career opportunities that exist for them without a college degree. This requires not just a shift in curriculum, but a total reevaluation of how schools are assessed and funded. If “success” continues to be tied to the current metrics/evaluation system, thousands of young people in Chicago each year will have missed the chance to work toward careers that can provide them with stability they’re unlikely to achieve otherwise.   

I would encourage Crain’s to examine this in more depth in future stories in the equity series, because this is one key to unlocking the full potential of our city. 

Elbert Walters III
Director, Powering Chicago