From Ironworkers Magazine – February 2024 edition –

Driving up to the nondescript facility is reminiscent of drive in the woods. The entrance is inconspicuous, with one small sign that reads Coffee Creek Correctional Facility (CCCF), Oregon’s only women’s prison. CCCF is a 1,684-bed facility that opened in 2001, housing minimum, medium and death row Adults in Custody (AIC).

Recently, the minimum-security AICs have been allowed to apply for a new pre-apprenticeship program — U-PACT Oregon, a pre-apprenticeship created by the Portland-based Iron Workers Local 29 (Portland, Ore.), the Cement Masons Local 555 and the Bricklayers and Allied Crafts Local 1. The collective unions have jurisdiction in Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Southwest and Eastern Washington.

When Kevin Crocker, Local 29’s apprenticeship coordinator, stepped into his role, he saw a need to increase the number of women within the local. After seeing a successful prison pre-apprentice ship program in Washington state, Crocker took action and applied for a new grant offering, Future Ready Oregon, an Oregon work force development grant. Crocker, understanding ironwork may not be everyone’s trade choice, invited the local Bricklayers and Allied Crafts and Cement Masons apprenticeships to join him in a potential new pre-apprenticeship program at the women’s prison. “These three trades need more female participation, and these AICs need a plan for their future. It’s a good opportunity for everyone,” said Crocker.

By October 2022, two Future Ready Oregon grant proposals were written and awarded for $274,740. The apprenticeship coordinator and journeyman program lead, Anna Martin, certified U-PACT Oregon as a registered pre-apprenticeship through the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries, and then purchased tools, classroom books, consumables and VR welders.

In May 2022, U-PACT Oregon began the first of two 10-week cohorts funded through the Future Ready Oregon grants. Each cohort started with an interview and a physical tryout.

For the ironworkers’ portion, the tryout consisted of packing an 80-pound, 20-foot piece of rebar, walking it 50 yards, dropping it, and picking it back up for 30 minutes.

“I want to see if they can push through or if they’re going to give up. Do they have the determination to complete the task or not?” said Crocker. After the participant selections and classes began, the participants were taught basic to intermediate ironwork and the fundamental skills of cement masonry and bricklaying.

Martin teaches the ironwork portion of the program’s first five weeks. In those weeks, the women packed 80 pounds of rebar every morning. They tackled the fundamentals of the trade, including learning five different ties and 26 different knots, layout, reading installations, proper rigging techniques, use of chain falls and come-alongs, how to tie a rebar mat, how to safely and effectively use a cutting torch, how to install safety cable, properly set and tie off an extension ladder, how to get plate weights and rebar weights, how to plumb columns and training on virtual reality welders.

“Not being able to bring fuel to the facility combined with a lack of space and fumes were one of the major reasons the VR welders were purchased,” said Martin. During the ironworkers’ section of the training, students also received classroom instruction encompassing the history of the Iron Workers, construction math, flagging, fire watch, scissor lift, aerial lift, fall protection and anti-harassment training. Additionally, AICs earn their first aid/CPR/AED and OSHA-10 certification. The CEO of the Ironworker Federal Credit Union conducted a financial literacy class, and the students were given an addiction and recovery course and a suicide awareness class. After the five weeks with Martin, the students had two weeks of training with each of the other two trades, beginning their skills on setting concrete pads, figuring out square yardage, and reading blueprints for building brick walls, fireplaces and cornerstones.

During the last week of U-PACT Oregon, the students were assessed by the coordinators and instructors and given an exit interview. They participated in a showcase day to allow the participants to show the skills they mastered and gave an introduction to community leaders, state officials, union representatives and Department of Corrections staff to U-PACT Oregon. Once the women are released from CCCF and have chosen which apprenticeship program they want to join, they are given either preferred or direct entry into those apprenticeships with their tool belts, tools, and given an exit interview.

They participated in a showcase day to allow the participants to show the skills they mastered and gave an introduction to community leaders, state officials, union representatives and Department of Corrections staff to U-PACT Oregon. Once the women are released from CCCF and have chosen which apprenticeship program they want to join, they are given either preferred or direct entry into those apprenticeships with their tool belts, tools, hard hat, first set of boots, initiation fee and first month’s dues being paid for by U-PACT Oregon.

“The upfront costs associated with joining a union apprenticeship can often make someone second guess their decision to join,” said Crocker. “We know the women with the skills they learn in U-PACT can succeed in a union trade and be financially stable and independent.”

U-PACT Oregon participant and Local 29 first-year apprentice Katherine Reichert says of the program, “It’s physically and mentally tough, but it is well worth it.” Reichert continued, “Ironwork has changed my life; it’s a great future career and the life change is for the better.”

Graduates of the first cohort contributed feedback about the program and how it could be improved. Across the board, the participants said they wanted more time with the Cement Masons and Bricklayers. Through the initial funding from Future Ready Oregon, the pre-apprenticeship was a 10-week program. U-PACT Oregon secured funding for a quarterly pre-apprenticeship class for the next three years. The cohorts will be increased to 12 weeks — the Iron Workers will teach six weeks and the other two trades will teach three weeks each, with expansion into other facilities throughout the state.

As with any program, the success hinges on the people in the program. Twenty-five-year-old Lyric Farmer has her sights set on joining Iron Workers Local 29. Farmer says she has participated in many of the programs offered at CCCF but says this is the first program that has offered a career upon release rather than skills that might help her get a job.

Rachel Smith, a U-PACT Oregon graduate and Martin’s teaching assistant, calls the program a life changer and intends to join Local 29’s apprenticeship upon release. As the teaching assistant for the second cohort, Smith learned some advanced skills, such as welding with an LN25. At the time of this article, three graduates have been released from custody, and two of them are currently ironworker apprentices.

Martin looks forward to the next pre-apprenticeship class starting in January 2024. “The women will show up that first day a little unsure of what they’re about to embark upon. They will gain knowledge, skills, confidence, and strength in those 12 weeks. They will learn being in a union is a part of something bigger, and when released, they will have a future career ready and waiting for them. That’s pretty amazing,” she said.

CAPTIONS – Ironworkers Magazine photos – ABOVE: A group of minimum security women inmates of the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility assemble for a U-Pact Oregon class. The program is a pre-apprenticeship program jointly sponsored by Ironworkers, Cement Masons and Bricklayers. Completion can lead to either preferred or direct entry into apprenticeships with any of the three trades, with tool belts, tools, hard hat, first set of boots, initiation fee and first month’s dues being paid for by U-PACT Oregon.

BELOW: For the Ironworker portion of the pre-apprenticeship program, the tryout consisted of packing an 80-pound, 20-foot piece of rebar, walking it 50 yards, dropping it, and picking it back up, for 30 minutes.