In April, FC Cincinnati, Turner Construction and CityLink announced a local training and hiring program to support the on-going construction of the team’s West End Stadium, as well as the city’s residents desiring training in a high-demand field.
Last Friday, the first participants of the Cornerstone Construction Training Program graduated after completing the 20-day session. Ten local residents successfully finished training that focused on construction tools, terminology, math, and construction safety. Each of the participants also passed the NCCER certification and completed a 10-hour OSHA program.
At the end of the program, the participants interviewed with various construction firms for jobopportunities, with all 10 successfully receiving job offers.
“We are incredibly excited at the success of the first program,” Johnmark Oudersluys, Executive Director of CityLink, said. “The commitment that these participants made to undergo 20 eight-hour days of training really paid off with job opportunities with excellent local firms.”
While graduating shows impressive commitment, passion and dedication, receiving the certificate only offers a slight glimpse into the work the 10 individuals went through to complete the training.
“Many of them were working second and third shift jobs to support their families while they were attending a full day of training, so they’re just tremendously dedicated people who want a new start in a new career,” Oudersluys said. “It was really exciting to see them go through that.”
And now that they did, some of their work will be seen in FC Cincinnati’s West End Stadium. Multiple graduates were hired by subcontractors to work on building the stadium for companies including Turner and Josten.
“It’s wonderful that FC Cincinnati, Turner and Joston have taken the real intentionality to help support our creation of this program and see an opportunity like this is really open for individuals to walk into and transform their lives,” Oudersluys said. “What we were really interested in was connecting people to the stadium job, but also really helping people set themselves up for a long career in construction.”
With the first class completed, CityLink will have additional courses beginning later in 2019 to help provide opportunities for local residents to start a career in construction at a time when Cincinnati is undergoing a booming transformation of growth and development.
“We’re looking forward to even more future connections between our trainees and construction employers as projects need staffing around the city and region. We can’t wait to see success of the individuals that just graduated.” Oudersluys noted.
More information about the First Source Hiring Program – including the industry training sessions like the Cornerstone Construction Training Program – are available at firstsourceoperator.com.
