Nineteen tribal members in Chiloquin recently repaired park benches and picnic tables while learning basic construction skills.
The short course is part of a growing partnership between the Klamath Tribes’ Tribal Employment Rights Office and Klamath Community College. The goal is to create a clearer path from introductory training to paid apprenticeships and jobs in carpentry, plumbing, electrical work and other trades.
The workshops combine classroom instruction with hands-on experience. Participants learn construction skills while completing projects that benefit the tribal community.
“It’s a cultural value for our people to really be there for one another and to support one another,” said Joshua DeLorme, director of TERO.
The office also offers monthly job-readiness training covering professional communication, mock interviews and conflict resolution in the workplace. Workshops generally last one to four days.
Participants who want more training can take an expanded skilled-trades course at Klamath Community College. Mark Griffith, the college’s director of apprenticeships, said students can earn credentials in job-site safety, OSHA standards and forklift operation.
The course can prepare students to enter an apprenticeship or find work with local contractors.
Klamath Community College represents 13 apprenticeship occupations, Griffith said, including carpentry, electrical work, plumbing, heating and cooling, cement masonry, painting and drywall finishing. The college also has grant funding to cover a yearlong heating and cooling pre-apprenticeship program for tribal members.
Griffith said the college’s average apprenticeship lasts four years. Participants first get hired by an employer, then complete about 8,000 hours of paid, on-the-job training and 576 hours of classroom instruction.
“They’re given regular pay increases as they go throughout their apprenticeship program,” Griffith said.
Employers cover apprentices’ tuition and fees and pair them with experienced workers at job sites. Graduates receive an Oregon journeyman card.
The partnership is also expanding beyond construction. Twelve participants are expected to enter the college’s commercial driver’s license program this fall. DeLorme said the training is intended to prepare workers for upcoming tribal projects while opening the door to other jobs that require a CDL.
For DeLorme, the introductory classes also give women and others who have not traditionally seen themselves in the trades an opportunity to explore those careers.
“It’s providing that exposure opportunity for these individuals so that they can see, ‘Hey, this is something I can do, and I can excel at,’” he said.
Guests
- Joshua DeLorme, director of the Tribal Employment Rights Office, Klamath Tribes
- Mark Griffith, director of apprenticeships, Klamath Community College.
