Mayor Walsh Congratulates First Graduating Class of Syracuse Build Pathways to Apprenticeship Program

Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh, Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon, CenterState CEO and other community partners celebrated the graduation of the first class of Syracuse Build’s Pathways to Apprenticeship program. This comprehensive apprenticeship readiness training program focuses on preparing women, people of color and veterans to help them gain access to the Building Trades’ registered apprenticeship programs. Eighteen people participated in the paid 11-week program created to prepare a local workforce for the significant number of construction jobs being created by federal, state and local infrastructure investments including I-81.

“Congratulations the graduates. Their hard work, dedication, and readiness for access into the construction trades speaks to the robust and inclusive workforce pipeline of Syracuse Build,” said Chris Montgomery, Executive Director of Syracuse Build. “Pathways to Apprenticeship’s success is one of many ways Syracuse Build is working to design and invest in local training opportunities that will place diverse, local, and veteran workers onto career pathways with construction firms, union apprenticeships, and within anchor partner institutions. We are off to a great start!”

“We are incredibly proud of the first cohort of individuals who will have successfully completed the program at the end of this month,” said Ebony Farrow, Pathways to Apprenticeship program manager at CenterState CEO. “This first cohort proved that intentional recruitment and programming can position people for success who otherwise wouldn’t have access to these opportunities. Now, as we look to build our second cohort, we want to focus our attraction efforts on women of color to truly ensure diversity in the construction trades. We believe that if we are going to be purposeful about moving the needle of poverty, based on this first Pathways to Apprenticeship cohort’s success, we need to engage more women of color, veterans and marginalized people and encourage them to sign up.”

All 18 graduates are now in the process of applying to apprenticeship programs or jobs in the construction field.  Throughout the Pathways to Apprenticeship program participants have gained physical, and technical skills needed to be competitive and successfully apply to a registered union apprenticeship. Entering a union-sponsored registered apprenticeship can be highly competitive; throughout the program, participants received exclusive networking opportunities with local trade unions and coaching and preparation for the registered apprenticeship application process.

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