June 26, 2009

CHOICE PROGRAM

Courtney Guthrie is a second-term apprentice in the CHOICE pre-apprenticeship program.

Students sticking with CHOICE pre-apprenticeship program in Toronto

DON PROCTER

correspondent

Not many pre-apprenticeship courses can claim as high a retention rate as the CHOICE Pre-apprenticeship Program for Youths at Risk can. In its fifth year, the unique Toronto-based program offers its students a chance to learn carpentry skills on the job at social housing properties operated by Toronto Community Housing Corporation.

Typically, 12 or 13 students in a class of 15 students graduate. That’s a high rate of retention which is in line with the graduation numbers of successful apprenticeship programs, says Cristina Selva, director of training, Carpenters’ Local 27 Joint Apprenticeship & Training Trust Fund Inc.

The program is a partnership of the Carpenters’ union, Toronto’s Housing Services Inc. (HSI), the YMCA Employment & Newcomer Services, and the Ministry of Training Colleges and Universities.

Selva says so few students drop out of the program in part because an intensive screening process of 80 or so applicants is done to select 15 students. Another reason is that students get paid $11 an hour from the time they enter the program until they graduate. Of that hourly rate, the YMCA kicks in about $8 hour per student and the Toronto Housing Authority provides the rest. In addition, the YMCA pays for a start-up tool set for each student.

The course is open to anyone between 16 and their late 20s. While many of the students are from social housing projects, it is not mandatory for admission into the program.

Each course ranges from 10 to 14 weeks, with students spending three weeks in class getting health and safety training (including, fall protection, basic tool operations and WHMIS) before moving onto renovation sites at Toronto Community Housing developments. Students work in crews of four-to-five per instructor.

Successful graduates have the option of pursuing an apprenticeship in the one of the trades they have been exposed to through the course, including general carpentry and drywall. The program also provides job placements and follow-up support by the program partners.

Selva says students showing an aptitude and interest in formwork carpentry are offered positions in a new pre-apprenticeship course on the trade offered through the Carpenters’ union. The six-week formworkers program was set up last year because of the shortage of formwork carpenters in the industry.

Based on the success of the program it is surprising that other trades haven’t developed similar pre-apprenticeship courses, says Eddie Thornton, executive director of training at the Carpenters’ apprenticeship & training trust fund.

“We think it is a great opportunity to give young people a break and do a trade and save them potentially getting into trouble on the streets.”

The program is based on a U.S. program for youth at risk.

Thornton says he is not aware of any others unions or trade associations developing anything like it in Ontario but the City of Toronto recently put together a trades training course for low-income youth.

The carpenters union is discussing a possible partnership with the city on that initiative.

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