Memphis & West Tennessee Building Trades Council’s “Midsouth Construction Careers” pre-apprenticeship program equips unemployed and underemployed residents with the skills they need to secure high-paying, stable jobs in the building trades. The program breaks down silos between trade unions, private contractors, and community-based organizations while also creating economic mobility for participants and building a skilled workforce for the region. MCC works to recruit women, people of color, veterans, high school students, and people impacted by the justice system.
Their goal is to graduate 80 to 100 participants and help place them into union apprenticeships or other full-time employment in 2025.
Programs like this are one of the many different types of community and equity-focused economic mobility initiatives that have faced federal policy rollbacks. Pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs supported by federal funds help to broaden economic opportunities and strengthen local partnerships between disconnected employment sectors. Cutting funding to them now would not only undo years of progress but also deepen existing workforce inequities and shortages.
MCC isn’t giving up on putting Memphians to work, and neither is SEAP. We have supported MCC’s work to secure local funding by providing proposal development and strategic planning assistance through the Our Dollars, Our Dreams initiative. As we continue to respond to shifting federal policy, we are also working to continue to provide alternative funding support for Our Dollars, Our Dream partners throughout the South.
“SEAP has had our back! We would be at square one without their involvement. We’re committed to moving our program forward and are looking forward to continued collaboration with SEAP to make that happen.”
Midsouth Construction Careers program director Matt Brown
