This program development guide outlines the procedures for replicating the B-WEST (Building Workers Entering Skilled Trades) program, a two-term professional certificate program designed to prepare women for skilled jobs in the traditionally male-dominated electrical, mechanical, and construction trades. The components and major activities of the…

The B-WEST (Building Workers Entering Skilled Trades) project was an 18-month demonstration project at a campus of Portland Community College (Oregon). During the B-WEST project, the following programs/components were developed: (1) a model building construction (electrical, mechanical, construction) trades program for unemployed and underemployed…

Part of a project to expand and improve the occupational options of low-income women, this program model (one of thirty nationwide) describes classroom training and work experience in the building maintenance skilled trade areas (maintenance and repair of electrical machinery, construction carpentry, plastering, painting, and papering). Part I, an…