For more than 10 years, OPCMIA Local 633’s Joint Apprentice Training Committee (JATC) has been conducting a model, highly successful pre-apprenticeship programs in partnership with area Indian Tribes, giving Native Americans the opportunity to learn cement masonry and gain access to lifelong careers as OPCMIA members. A collaboration between the Minnesota Department of Transportation and area Tribes, the program takes place for 10 weeks each year at the JATC Local 633 Training Center in New Brighton, Minnesota.
The Union Sportsmen’s Alliance recently produced a video about the program, featuring JATC Local 633 Apprenticeship Coordinator Brian Farmer, as well as instructors Moke Eaglefeathers and Marissa Goodsky.
As Brian says in the video, “We’re teaching them a craft, and then you actually see life change in that individual—financial security, insurance, all of these things. Their whole life demeanors change and we are a part of that, we get to walk beside them through that whole process.”
Please watch to learn more about this outstanding program and our great trainers.
