Comstock's magazine 0519 - May 2019 | Page 101

Special Supplement Northern California Carpenters Regional Council BUILDING THE REGION’S SKILLED WORKFORCE T he Northern California Carpenters Corps and California Prison Industry Authority opportunities for them to fill looming gaps in Regional Council, the umbrella in Folsom, offering targeted populations the the skilled residential construction workforce.” organization over 23 local unions opportunity to launch construction careers across 46 counties, represents nearly 40,000 carpenters and other skilled construction professionals. NCCRC provides leadership and resources, helps negotiate with more than 1,000 contractor employers, and works with members and employers to ensure best safety practices. Capital region institutions and businesses benefit from a through pre-apprenticeship training. NCCRC is addressing California’s housing affordability crisis through relationships with Millions of dollars of carpenter union nonprofit developers of affordable housing and members’ compensation are set aside annually helping secure more opportunities for those “Northern California Carpenters [Regional Council], in partnership with forward-looking project owners and contractors, commit what it takes to build and sustain a comprehensively skilled construction workforce.” stable, self-sufficient, career- developers. Also, partnerships with recent startup firms will help revolutionize the market by making factory-built housing a reality. “It’s been long talked about, and now we’re working with employers to have unionized workers oriented construction workforce. The NCCRC- for training, and employers benefit from that in factories building complete housing units affiliated Carpenters Training Committee for career-long training and skills upgrading. to be trucked to permanent sites. This will be Northern California is the leading provider “Our 6,000 apprentice members are the instrumental in helping to solve our housing of instruction to carpenters and allied trades core of tomorrow’s comprehensively skilled affordability crisis,” concludes Littlehale. apprentices from the Sacramento region. construction workforce,” says Scott Littlehale, Journey-level members of Carpenters Local NCCRC senior research analyst. “Currently, Union 46 and Drywall Lathers Local Union 9109 attend health and safety classes and obtain specialized skill certifications. Union carpenters also partner with the Sacramento Job Corps Center, Sacramento Regional Conservation those apprentices are primarily working on nonresidential projects like bridges, water- treatment plants, hospitals and office building projects, but we must work with developers, contractors and public policymakers to expand Scott Littlehale 510.376.9506 510.430.9706 x 110 [email protected] www.nccrc.org May 2019 | comstocksmag.com 101