Women Building Rhode Island Program Director

About the Opportunity

Careers in the unionized construction industry are rewarding and challenging careers, yet women make up only approximately 3% of the construction trades workforce and 10% of Building Futures' pre-apprenticeship graduates. This position is an opportunity to change that. The Women Building Rhode Island Director will lead initiatives to expand women's participation, retention, and advancement in the building and construction trades. This new position will design and implement strategies to strengthen gender equity in apprenticeship and employment, while supporting the leadership and activities of the RI Women’s Council of the RI Building and Construction Trades Council. The ideal candidate will have a demonstrated track record of developing successful programmatic initiatives, building relationships with diverse partners, and leading groups in conversation and training. They will bring a deep understanding of the barriers women face in nontraditional occupations and a commitment to developing collaborative, solutions-oriented approaches towards lasting systemic change.

About Building Futures

Building Futures was founded in 2007 as a construction industry partnership focused on leveraging the Registered Apprenticeship model of workforce development. For over 100 years, unions and employers have jointly operated quality registered apprenticeships in construction occupations to train individuals as highly skilled tradespeople. Our work spans three distinct but highly aligned areas. For the benefit of low-income Rhode Islanders, Building Futures developed and operates a comprehensive pre-apprenticeship program to prepare diverse, low-income men and women for success in employment as registered apprentices in the building trades. In addition, we work in partnership with a wide range of stakeholders to ensure construction projects provide employment opportunities for apprentices at the appropriate level to meet future demand for skilled labor through our Apprentice Utilization Program. Our pre-apprenticeship and apprentice utilization program provide an effective workforce development system in Rhode Island's construction sector. From this foundation, we have established Apprenticeship Rhode Island, an initiative to expand the use of Registered Apprenticeship beyond the construction sector. Now, we are helping develop new registered apprenticeship programs in multiple sectors, including healthcare, information technology, advanced manufacturing, and marine trades. Working with employers, industry partnerships, government, and community-based organizations, we are spreading the proven model of Registered Apprenticeship to benefit the state's workforce and economy.

Key Responsibilities

Program Development & Implementation

Develop and manage the Women Building Rhode Island (WBRI) initiative, focused on the recruitment, retention, and leadership development of tradeswomen and construction industry initiatives that support women in construction trades, which include:

• Supervise, support and mentor the WBRI Trainer in developing a new hands-on apprenticeship readiness program that helps women explore construction careers, build physical/technical skills, and learn industry culture, rooted in high quality and best practice standards Building Futures has developed over 18 years’ experience providing pre-apprenticeship training.
• Support participants in completing the program and in their next steps after completion, including entrance into Building Futures' pre-apprenticeship and post-program employment as a construction trade registered apprentice. • Collaborate across teams at Building Futures to ensure women pre-apprenticeship participants receive the support needed for success.
• Identify and implement strategies to improve women’s participation in building trades, leveraging the lessons learned across Building Futures’ programs.
• Create workshops, peer support, and mentoring opportunities for apprentice readiness and pre-apprenticeship graduates and other tradeswomen.
• Support ongoing programming as needed.

Partnerships and Community Engagement

• Assess strengths and barriers for women in entering and retaining employment in building and construction apprenticeship programs, mapping programmatic goals with input from relevant stakeholders, and in close collaboration with the RIBCTC’s Women’s Council.
• Build consensus among stakeholder, employer, and institutional partners towards WBRI goals, and track implementation.
• Facilitate collaboration among union leaders, contractors, community partners, and government agencies to identify and implement innovative external programs.
• Provide coordination and administrative support to the RIBCTC’s Women’s Council, aligning activities with shared goals for recruitment and retention.
• Represent Building Futures and the Women Building Rhode Island initiative in regional and national networks advancing women in the trades.

1. Outreach, Communications, and Data Collection

• With support from External Relations Team members, lead targeted outreach and engagement efforts to attract women to pre-apprenticeship, registered apprenticeship and construction careers.
• Support communications initiatives that elevate stories of tradeswomen, highlight progress, and track, analyze, and report program and workplace outcomes related to women's participation and retention.

Leadership Development and Advocacy

• Develop and deliver leadership and professional development programming for Building Futures' program alumnae and tradeswomen in Rhode Island.
• Support tradeswomen in developing their own leadership and advocacy capacity within their unions and workplaces.
• Support other participant and graduate programming as needed.
• Contribute to Building Futures' policy and systems-change efforts to promote best practice in Registered Apprenticeship.

External Relations Team

• Support and participate in team and organization-wide events and activities as needed.
• Other duties, as assigned.

Qualifications

Alignment and commitment to our organizational mission are essential: our mission is to meet employer needs for skilled workers through Registered Apprenticeship, creating equitable paths to family-sustaining careers for Rhode Islanders. Additionally, successful applicants will have:

• 7+ years of professional experience in workforce development, nonprofit program development, community organizing, labor organizations, or related field.
• Demonstrated success in program development and implementation.
• Demonstrable experience leading and supervising teams.
• Excellent partner and relationship-building skills.
• Strong commitment to working with people experiencing poverty and people who are formerly incarcerated.
• Demonstrated track record of delivering leadership and organizational skill training.
• Excellent facilitation skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, both interpersonal and public.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively with diverse teams and lead by example.
• High-level time management and prioritization skills.
• Familiarity with workforce development, apprenticeship, labor, and/or community-based nonprofit organizations is preferred.

Additional Information

Building Futures is located in the Valley neighborhood of Providence, RI.

Building Futures is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. People of color, women, LGBTQ+ candidates, gender-nonconforming individuals, individuals with disabilities, and individuals from diverse backgrounds and experiences are strongly encouraged to apply.

Building Futures offers a comprehensive and competitive benefits package that includes life insurance, health insurance, 401(k) match, and generous vacation, sick, and holiday leave.