Women in Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Occupations (WANTO)

The U.S. Department of Labor awarded nearly $1.5 million to help recruit, train, and retain more American women in quality pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs. Nontraditional occupations targeted include manufacturing, infrastructure, and cybersecurity. The Women in Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Occupations (WANTO) grants provide gender-appropriate supports to remove barriers and help women successfully move up along career pathways. The Philadelphia partnership is a subrecipient of a $398,971 WANTO grant awarded to Chicago Women in Trades. This grant includes established programs in Chicago and Massachusetts and provides support to two newly established pre-apprenticeship programs in Central Ohio, the Columbus Building Trades Building Futures program and the Electrical TradesTraining Center and incubates two new training programs in Philadelphia and Lorain; supporting them with general and gender-specific guidance and curriculum.  Keystone development partnership will act as fiscal agent. Philadelphia Works and their partners will provide training in nontraditional occupations with gender-based supports to improve retention and successful placement and retention in pre-apprenticeships and apprenticeship. The grant period extends from September 30, 2018 through September 30, 2019.