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There’s something special going on in the Motor City. Organizations in the electrical construction industry in Detroit, Michigan have formed a unique relationship, and are working together to expand employment opportunities to local Detroiters amid an industry navigating labor constraints.
Together, the Public Lighting Authority of Detroit (PLA), IBEW Local 17, Harlan Electric Company (Harlan Electric), and Universal Contracting found a way to increase exposure to Detroit locals who may not be aware of opportunities in the electrical trade and promote a more inclusive workforce. By collaboratively developing a new pre-apprenticeship program, they found a way to do just that. All parties benefit, but no one more so than the individuals joining the PLA’s program which is called the Public Lighting Authority Nurturing Talent Program, or PLANT.
Marcos Juarez is a PLANT pre-apprentice who wants to become a journeyman lineworker and considers the program a great opportunity to grow. He said, “What really excites me [about the program] is being able to become somebody more in life.”
“You get to learn a lot about working under the foreman,” PLANT pre-apprentice Willie James Mann, Jr. said. “They prepare you for what is yet to come, so when you do get into the apprenticeship, you’ll already be ready.”
What they have built in Detroit is a program they hope will inspire other cities and companies to take and use as a model for their own efforts to be more inclusive and to provide career opportunities to those who may not have otherwise had knowledge about the trade.
“We can only have about 10 or 12 individuals in our program [at one time], but what we have done, I believe, is created a roadmap for others to follow in different industries and even in similar industries to be able to address the issue of lack of minorities within the skilled trades,” said PLA’s Director of Government and Community Relations De’Andre Brooks.