Klauss Garibaldi sat in the Carrie Blast Furnace building in Rankin, intently molding wax into a dragon. He used fire to bend the material and eventually laid his creation into resin-bound sand.<\/p>\n
For Garibaldi, it will help him chase his dreams of becoming an electrician.<\/p>\n
Garibaldi, 29, from Pittsburgh\u2019s North Side, went to a university in Brazil and spent two years as an architect until he realized there weren\u2019t \u201cgood opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Longing to do more hands-on work, he found a workforce development program started by Rivers of Steel, which aims to expose people to the trades in a new way.<\/p>\n
The program was a perfect fit for Garibaldi because he could develop skills while getting paid.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I saw it, I thought it was a lie,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A group of eight trainees who have backgrounds in the arts, cooking and welding spend 25 hours a week getting paid $20 an hour to learn from a textbook and get hands-on experience in manufacturing, welding, electricity, heavy equipment and cementing.<\/p>\n
Although the students may seem unconventional tradespeople, this is the future of the workforce, according to Derek Stein, who is head of instruction for workforce development at Rivers of Steel.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs there has been more and more demand, people who maybe would have not considered trades are getting interested,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are getting people from very
\ndiverse backgrounds.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trainees graduate with three certificates and six months of workforce experience, Stein said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want them to be able to make that next step and not go into that next step blind,\u201d Stein said. \u201cWhat they learn here is translatable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Infrastructure work sparks demand<\/p>\n
The demand for jobs in the sector is a trend in Westmoreland County, too.<\/p>\n
Westmoreland County Community College near Youngwood is seeing an increase in programs related to the trades, according to President Kristin Mallory.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been shown that there is a great need that\u2019s developing here,\u201d she said. \u201cAll the folks that we need to run the infrastructure are aging out.\u201d<\/p>\n
So the school is taking advantage of this change.<\/p>\n
Megan Sheesley, vice president of advancement and community engagement at the college, said the school is rolling out a series of boot camps and noncredit programs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a void for individuals who don\u2019t have two years to get the degree but still need the training,\u201d she said. \u201cThis prepares you to enter the workforce in a more competitive way. I think accessibility is key. We want to meet people where they are.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not just helping individuals, but we\u2019re filling the needs of employers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Past to future<\/p>\n
Trades are the foundation of what Pittsburgh is with its history of glass factories and steel mills, said Ron Baraff, the vice president of historic resources and facilities for Rivers of Steel.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis city built this country and the world, and it\u2019s on the backs of labor,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen people think of Pittsburgh, they think of labor and trades.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although there was a decline in the steel industry in the late 20th century, there are still trades that make up a large part of the workforce in the region, such as plumbing, construction, welding, steel and iron.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, things have changed, but it\u2019s still at its core, it\u2019s still a blue collar city,\u201d Baraff said. \u201cThey\u2019re very needed to drive the economy in this region and keep the region sustained.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although Pittsburgh has become known for AI and robotics with institutions such as Carnegie Mellon University making strides in those sectors, Baraff said, trades workers are still behind those endeavors.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re still going to need plumbers for folks working in AI because there\u2019s a lot of water being used,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you look a little deeper, you realize that the trades are behind all of this.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Help is coming\u2019<\/p>\n
Eastern Westmoreland Career and Technology Center in Derry Township offers a wide variety of programs to high school students, including auto technology, collision repair, construction, masonry, plumbing, HVAC and welding.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur enrollment is growing,\u201d administrative director Todd Weimer said. \u201c(The programs) are reaching max capacity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Weimer attributes the increase in students to people\u2019s recognition of the impact of career and technology centers.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing able to finish high school with a tangible skill and no debt is a no-brainer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In Allegheny County, Kevin Rice, executive director of Steel Center for Career and Technical Education, said they are seeing the same uptick in students.<\/p>\n
When Rice started working at the center, there were about 577 students, and now there are 1,035. Last year, there were 149 students on the waitlist.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor far too long, folks believed in college as the golden ticket, and that hasn\u2019t worked out for them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
That has created a problem in the industry.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are more jobs than there are people to fill them,\u201d Rice said.<\/p>\n
But the increasing enrollment at Steel Center is \u201ca sign that help is coming.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joseph Laquatra, who is the business manager of Pennsylvania\u2019s Labor District Council, said he is seeing the result of the increased interest in trades. He oversees 15 local unions throughout the states, 11 of them being in Western Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are in a boom right now,\u201d Laquatra said. \u201cIt\u2019s an exciting time to be in the trades.\u201d<\/p>\n
On top of recruiting efforts made by union business managers, he said, a lot of people are turning away from four-year degrees.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of members have four-year degrees, and they didn\u2019t get a job in the field they went to school for,\u201d Laquatra said.<\/p>\n
This is why trainees in Rivers of Steel workforce development program turned to the trades.<\/p>\n
Jessie Glaser, 25, of Squirrel Hill originally went to the Pratt Institute in New York to study art.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know an artist that doesn\u2019t have a job that gets them by,\u201d Glaser said.<\/p>\n
Glaser decided to get into the trades so she can still have a job where she is making things.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we\u2019re learning is going to make me a better maker,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The industry\u2019s increase in numbers gives Laquatra reason to believe the future of these professions in Western Pennsylvania is bright.<\/p>\n
\u201cPittsburgh is a different beast,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s like a tradition. It\u2019s a pride that you have that you\u2019ve constructed that bridge that thousands are crossing every day.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Klauss Garibaldi sat in the Carrie Blast Furnace building in Rankin, intently molding wax into a dragon. He…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":266350,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-266349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=266349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/266350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=266349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=266349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=266349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}