10 Days of Giving Back: Nontraditional Employment for Women (NEW)
Nov 29, 2024 brooklyn,career,charity,giving,giving tuesday,new,new york,red hook,Women
As part of our celebration of the holidays — and as a thank you to the larger community that supports us all year long — Realty Collective is proud to feature the work of key non-profit organizations making the borough (and beyond) better every day. We’ve selected 10 non-profits to highlight and we encourage everyone to learn a bit about their respective missions and, if possible, to join us in making a small monetary donation to further their work. We thank them for everything they do and thank you for supporting a small, woman-owned Brooklyn business for nearly 20 years.
Good-paying jobs in the trades (particularly if they’re backed by a union) have long been a way for families to get ahead in this city. Unfortunately, plenty of systemic issues have prevented that pathway to prosperity and security from being viable for everyone. Enter NEW (Nontraditional Employment for Women), which offers a widely respected pre-apprenticeship training program to women seeking employment in the trades.
NEW began in 1978 and, since then, has trained approximately 350 women annually – not only creating a school-to-work pipeline for women traditionally shut out of trades, it’s also filling a vital need for skilled workers for in-demand fields supporting critical infrastructure, across construction, maintenance, building trades, green energy, and more.
Programs run between 7-9 weeks and participants get quality instruction from industry professionals in either day or evening and weekend class options. The program is also completely free to participants, who’ll receive an overview of key jobs across several trades, after which they can apply for apprenticeships to move into more targeted fields. The academic component is also rigorous, with trainees tackling trades math, as well as occupational safety and standards.
No background in the trades is required and applicants must be high school graduates, 18 or older, with an interest in the trades and be able to work in the United States. All women, transgender, and nonbinary individuals are encouraged to apply. In addition to the educational component, the nonprofit also ensures that trainees get access to community supports and wraparound services, including MetroCards, work boots and toolkits, and help with applying for housing and childcare assistance, and initial union dues, to name just a few.
It’s almost as if NEW has anticipated every obstacle to employment (noting on its website, that this is training for a career, not just a job) and identified a solution. For this reason alone, we’re proud to throw our support behind the work they do. We encourage you to join us in donating – or spreading the word about the work they do to those who might be interested in their offerings. The need for skilled labor and well-paying jobs is only growing.