NRCC Sisters in the Brotherhood to Hold 4th Annual Open House

KENILWORTH, N.J., May 3, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Northeast Regional Council of Carpenters (NRCC) will hold its 4^th annual Sisters in the Brotherhood (SIB) Open House on May 3^rd from 10:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the NRCC Kenilworth Training Center (221 South 31st Street).

Attendees of the event include: New Jersey local elected official Newark City Councilwoman Mildred Crump, NRCC representatives, New Jersey educational institutions (Bergen County Community College, Hackensack High School and Gloucester County Vocational Technical School), community organizations (Good News Home for Women, Operation Chill Out and YWCA of Union County) and New Jersey State institutions (Workforce Investment Board of Passaic County, Patterson Housing Authority and Middlesex County Workforce Development).

The event will highlight the important topic of encouraging women in the State of New Jersey to start a career in carpentry.

Speakers at the open house include:

• Mildred Crump, City of Newark Council President
• John Ballantyne, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the NRCC
• Jack Kocsis, Jr., CEO of Associated Construction Contractors of New Jersey
• Susan Schultz, Chair of the NRCC Sisters in the Brotherhood Committee
• Ridgeley Hutchinson, Executive Director of the NRCC Training Funds
• Lizette Delgado-Polanco, Deputy Political Director (Event's Master of Ceremonies)

"Our Sisters in Brotherhood program is helping to break through barriers and overcome previously held perceptions and long-held beliefs that construction jobs could only be filled by men," said John Ballantyne, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the NRCC. "That's something we are trying to change, because our organization believes that jobs don't have a gender."

The Northeast Regional Council of Carpenters was chosen by the United Brotherhood of Carpenters to pilot this program to increase the number of women in the carpenters' apprenticeship program from two percent of registered apprentices to 10 percent.

Northeast Regional Council of Carpenters' SIB program is a six-week training course that prepares women to become carpenter apprentices. The 40-hour per week course trains women carpenters in a variety of in-class curriculum and hands-on training in mathematics, occupational safety and hazards, hand/power tool training and job-site culture. After successful completion of the program, women carpenters graduate to the NRCC Apprenticeship program.  

"It's time dismiss misconceptions about women joining the carpentry workforce," said Susan Schultz, NRCC Council Representative and Chair of the Sisters in the Brotherhood committee. "We are so pleased that so many organizations are joining us at the event as we need their help to recruit women interested in a career as a carpenter."

NRCC's Apprenticeship program in New Jersey, is a 5 year accredited training curriculum that requires individuals to annually complete hundreds of hours in the classroom and more than 1,000 hours of on-the-job training with skilled union carpenters. Apprenticeship specializations include: general carpentry; cabinet making; flooring; pile driving/dock building; millwrights; and trade show. NRCC training centers are located in New York (Elma, Hauppage, Horseheads, Rock Tavern, Rochester and Albany), New Jersey (Kenilworth and Hammonton), Delaware (New Castle and Georgetown), Maryland (Baltimore, Upper Marlboro) and Pennsylvania (Allentown and Philadelphia).

For more information about the Sisters in Brotherhood Pre-Apprenticeship program, please visit our website at: http://www.northeastcarpenters.org/sisters

About the NRCC

The Northeast Regional Council of Carpenters (NRCC) represents nearly 40,000 hardworking men and women in Delaware and New Jersey and portions of Maryland, New York, and Pennsylvania. NRCC is one of the largest trade unions on the East Coast. The NRCC equips professional men and women carpenters with the skills, training and quality workmanship that are demanded in today's construction industry. For more information on NRCC, please visit our website: www.northeastcarpenters.org; Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NortheastRegionalCouncilofCarpenters; or Twitter: @NRCCarpenters.

SOURCE Northeast Regional Council of Carpenters (NRCC)

Related Links

http://www.northeastcarpenters.org