NJ BUILD Assists Women & Minorities

January 24, 2012... The Bergen One-Stop Career Center (BOSCC) has received funding notice and a directive to once again implement the New Jersey Builders’ Utilization for Labor Diversity Initiative, commonly known as NJBUILD. The program is sponsored through the New Jersey Department of Labor & Workforce Development’s (LWD) Minority and Women Construction Training Fund Utilization Program. The goal is to provide pre-apprenticeship training and employment opportunities for women and minorities in the heavy equipment and construction trades.  The BOSCC has been allocated a maximum of $168,000 for this initiative, for a minimum of 24 participants.

The maximum amount per individual training grant will be $7,000 to qualified customers seeking technical training, but additional funding may be granted if a promise or guarantee of employment is provided. Eligible participants include women and minorities interested in acquiring technical skills. Training preference will be given as follows in priority order: 1) unemployed, 2) underemployed 3) employed. The BOSCC must complete an Employability Development Plan (EDP) for each interested individual to assess basic skills and ability to complete the training program. Counselors will assist students with the selection of an appropriate training provider and ensure that the provider is on the State’s Eligible Training Provider List.

The Individual Training Accounts are to be given to wom en and minorities in one of twenty three occupations, including but not limited to Carpenters, Electricians, Construction Laborers, Heating, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers, Plumbers, Painters, Operating Engineers, and related fields.
NJBUILDS runs from July 15, 2011 through January 15, 2013. The initiative was created by the Department of the Treasury to ensure that public works contracts be given to contractors who have agreed to utilize and comply with affirmative action guidelines. It is funded through legislation which requires certain public entities with construction contracts of $1,000,000 or more to give one-half of one percent of the contract’s total value to LWD to fund NJBUILD.