The hands-on experience of a $1.4-million Okanagan-based Community and Employer Partnership between the B.C. government and the Southern Interior Construction Association made the difference for Sara Peyton.

Sara was one of 54 Aboriginal workers who benefited from the government-funded project-based learning program that put clients in the driver’s seat of heavy-duty machinery, receiving training as operators of bulldozers, excavators, front-end loaders and backhoes to prepare for work in the construction industry.

“We get our class time,” Sara said. “After, we get to go on the equipment for a couple hours. When you leave here at the end of the day, you know you’re more familiar with the machines and the basic understanding of how they work and what they do.”

Project-Based Labour Market Training helps groups of people with on- or off-the-job employment training and is a component of Community and Employer Partnerships, which were introduced in April 2012 as part of the Employment Program of B.C.

Quote:

Bill Everitt, chief operating officer, Southern Interior Construction Association –

“The success rate is high. I think we’re seeing something like an 80% passing rate. But really, of greater importance, we’re seeing a high 70% employment rate. Not only are they completing the course, they’re getting skill-trained, they’re learning how to operate mobile equipment, and at the same time learning how to maintain the equipment and work around it safely. It provides a broad range of skills.”

Quick Facts:

• In 2016-17, the Ministry of Social Development and Social Innovation will invest $331 million in employment and labour market programs under the Employment Program of BC.
• The Employment Program of BC is funded by the Province of British Columbia as well as the Government of Canada through the Labour Market Development Agreement.
• Funding supports 84 WorkBC Employment Services Centres throughout the province and the four components of the Community and Employer Partnerships fund:
  • Job Creation Partnerships
  • Labour Market Partnerships
  • Project-Based Labour Market Training
  • Research and Innovation
• The Community and Employer Partnerships program is featured in B.C.’s Skills for Jobs Blueprint and provides more support to people who are struggling to gain a foothold in the job market.
• The Blueprint was launched two years ago to help British Columbians get the skills they need to be first in line for the almost one million job openings that are projected by 2024 and to re-engineer our education programs towards a data-driven system focusing investments toward training for in-demand jobs.
• B.C. invests more than $7.5 billion in education and training each year from early learning programs through to post graduate education.
• Over the next 10 years, to better align annual investments to meet emerging labour market needs, the government will redirect $3 billion in training investments to focus on skills and programs for in-demand jobs.

Learn More:

Watch a video on the project: https://youtu.be/d6b4OmUFt7I

To learn more about WorkBC: https://www.workbc.ca/

To learn more about the Ministry of Social Development and Social Innovation: http://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/governments/organizational-structure/ministries-organizations/ministries/social-development-and-social-innovation