Valley News – Keene Community Education to kick off 10-week training in the trades

Amid an ongoing shortage of people going into the trades, Keene Community Education will offer a pre-apprenticeship program for the first time this summer.

The 10-week program is designed to help prospective employees gain skills that would make them better candidates, including workplace safety, using power tools and reading a construction map. At the end of the course, students can take a series of tests to earn a certification from the National Center for Construction Education and Research, which Heather Jasmin, Keene Community Education’s director, said will demonstrate basic knowledge that’s sought after in trades careers.

Students could also choose to attend one of the center’s four-year plumbing or electrical apprenticeship programs following the course, Jasmin said.

Now hiring

The construction industry is booming. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects an average of roughly 663,500 openings annually in construction jobs through 2033. And a career in construction opens the door to higher pay, according to federal data. The median annual wage for construction workers was $55,680 in May 2023, which was higher than the median across occupations of $48,060.

Keene Community Education, which is part of the Keene School District, offers adult classes including vocational, apprenticeship and trade tracks, as well as GED and English as a Second Language programs.

The new pre-apprenticeship program, which is slated to start Monday, has 15 slots, and seven students had already signed up as of late last week, according to Jasmin. She said the center is covering the costs of launching the program with a $20,000 grant from the National Center for Construction Education and Research, the Coalition on Adult Basic Education and the Lowe’s Foundation.

To qualify, students must be 18 on or before Oct. 1. There’s also a $500 fee, according to Jasmin, who added that the course is a great way for students thinking of going into the trades to get a taste of these fields before they commit to an apprenticeship. Though there’s no sliding scale option for the fee, Jasmin said the center has been working with some applicants on payment plans.

The apprenticeship track is a four-year commitment, costs $1,550 per year and includes classes and on-the-job training.

Keene Community Education offers plumbing and electrical apprenticeships, which have more than 100 students between them, but Jasmin said pre-apprenticeship students could also choose to join manufacturing apprenticeships elsewhere.

According to Jasmin, students will have an opportunity to interview with local employers, such as Bensonwood and DEW Construction, at the end of the pre-apprenticeship program.

Jasmin said Keene Community Education sidestepped the need to hire additional instructors, who are in short supply, by working with its existing plumbing and electrical instructors for this inaugural pre-apprenticeship class.

Finding qualified instructors is a challenge another local program, at the Cheshire Career Center, contended with this year. The center, which trains roughly 800 students a year for careers in fields such as firefighting, automotive technology and more, had to pause its automotive and construction courses for lack of staff this academic year.

Director Richard TowneJr. said last week that instructor positions for the automotive and construction classes are now filled and these classes will be available for students in the next academic year. He also expressed hopes to fill the computer programming, woodworking and family consumer science slots before the beginning of the next academic year.

“We’ll know more in the next couple of weeks,” he said.

Jasmin, for her part, is already thinking about growing the pre-apprenticeship program to offer year-round courses, including for younger students.

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