Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney got together with the
schools and the building trades to talk about how to provide more good-paying
jobs to city students who are not college-bound.
The meeting at City Hall was designed to make sure more
city students enter union apprentice programs. Mayor Jim Kenney says it's an
effort to help people find their American dream.
"One of our biggest problems as a city is our
poverty rate," Kenney said, "and that poverty rate is directly
related to the inability for people to get jobs that sustain families and buy
homes and raise children and all the things our parents all wanted for
us."
Mike Neill runs the apprenticeship program for the
electricians union and is making a commitment to find more diverse recruits
for the challenging training program.
"We have to sell them on what the end goal is and
let them know this is a college, the same as going to college," Neill
said. "My daughter is an architect. My son is a fourth-year apprentice.
Their education is very similar."
An apprentice can make $57,000 a year after graduation.
Source: NewsWorks
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