PHOENIX – A new full-time format for the Arizona Department of Transportation’s Construction Academy pre-apprenticeship training program readies participants for highway construction jobs in just two weeks.

The first cohort in the Highway Construction-Jump Start program graduated in October after hands-on instruction in Camp Verde. At no cost to them, seven participants received training and certifications needed to compete for entry-level jobs on construction projects.

Another cohort is currently receiving training in Phoenix, with graduation scheduled for Friday, Nov. 8.

ADOT created its Construction Academy programs to remove barriers to careers in highway construction for women, minorities, veterans and members of economically disadvantaged groups, including those who are out of work.

The agency also offers the Construction Academy in a 16-week format, with participants receiving three hours of instruction three nights a week toward starting careers as masons on construction projects. The next 16-week programs are planned this coming spring in Phoenix and Prescott next summer.

With funding from the Federal Highway Administration, ADOT offers both programs through its On-The-Job-Training Supportive Services Program, part of the agency’s Business Engagement and Compliance Office.

“The new Jump Start program gives those who can participate full-time a fast track to careers in one of the best industries in Arizona,” said Steve Navis, manager of ADOT’s On-The-Job-Training Supportive Services Program. “Whether you can commit a full two weeks or a few nights a week over a longer period, we’re tailoring these high-quality adult education programs to you.”

Participants in the two-week program receive certification to work as flaggers on highway projects, commercial driver license permits needed to drive commercial trucks and Occupational Safety and Health Administration 10-hour safety training certification covering general safety and health hazards for entry-level construction workers.

They also receive training in construction math, reading construction plans, work-readiness and resume-building.

Many of these trainees will move on to construction apprenticeships and later reach journeyman status, with ADOT providing continuing support and guidance.

Future two-week programs are scheduled in Tucson (Feb. 3-14), Phoenix (March 2-13), Nogales (March 30-April 10), Globe (May 4-15) and Show Low (June 1-12).

In both programs, ADOT covers training costs and fees for participants and provides support finding employment as well as job-readiness training. Those with 100 percent attendance receive free gear including hand tools, tool belts and hard hats.

For more information or to apply for either Construction Academy format, please visit azdot.gov/Academy, call 602.712.7761 or pick up materials at the ADOT Business Engagement and Compliance Office, 1801 W. Jefferson St., Suite 101, in Phoenix.

PHOENIX – An unemployed single mom of three, Iris Bost hoped to break into the male-dominated construction industry that would provide better pay than working retail.

Through a social media post, the 42-year-old Globe resident was excited to learn about an Arizona Department of Transportation-sponsored Construction Academy at Gila Community College. She signed up for the free apprenticeship program to learn carpentry and earned college credit too.

After finishing her training last year, Bost decided to start her own business teaching classes on job-related safety and health hazards as well as flagger/traffic control certification in partnership with ADOT and Gila Community College. The photo at right shows Bost (third from the left, back row) with her Construction Academy class.

“There should be more women in the construction field, and I want to do what I can to help them,” said Bost, who taught her first Occupational Safety and Health Administration class at Gila Community College in August. “I want to teach both women and men about what they can and cannot do on the job so that they will work safely.”

To help remove barriers to careers in transportation construction, Construction Academy programs that ADOT offers with employers, community colleges, Native American tribes and others provide free training and other support – including safety gear and help with transportation and child care – for members of economically disadvantaged groups. While the list of qualifying individuals also includes minorities, veterans and those who are unemployed, among others, one benefit of this program has been helping more women enter the construction trades.

Of the more than 600 people who have graduated from Construction Academy pre-apprentice training programs since they began in 2014, about 35 percent are women. Three-quarters of participants have gone on to work in the construction field as flaggers, commercial truck drivers, heavy equipment operators, highway surveyors, electricians, carpenters, painters, pipe fitters, concrete finishers and block masons. Depending on the position, they start out earning $14 to $24 an hour, and sometimes more.

“ADOT is investing in attracting and training skilled construction workers. Our Construction Academy not only benefits individuals but helps the construction industry in Arizona as a whole while connecting women and others with construction job opportunities,’’ said Dr. Vivien Lattibeaudiere, ADOT’s employee and business development administrator. “We help place Construction Academy graduates into apprenticeships and trainee positions with contractors that build roads in Arizona. This helps advance Arizona’s transportation system and the state’s economy.’’

Women comprise about 9 percent of construction workers nationally, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

Offered through ADOT’s On-The-Job-Training Supportive Services Program, part of the agency’s Business Engagement and Compliance Office, the Construction Academy combines hands-on activities and classwork that includes computer technology, construction math, commercial driving and job-related safety and health hazards. Training is offered in the evenings and some weekends to make it more accessible.

Along with safety gear such as hard hats, protective eyewear and boots, Construction Academy participants receive job-readiness training and continued mentoring to help them achieve journeyman status.

As an added bonus, Construction Academy participants like Bost perfect their construction skills by giving back to their communities. Bost and her classmates built a shed for the Globe Miami Piranha swim team and rehabilitated an elderly man’s home. She’s also found the skills helpful in her personal life.

“The ADOT Construction Academy is a great opportunity not only to prepare you for a job in the construction field, but you also learn what to do if you want to make repairs in your own home,’’ Bost said.

Patricia McKinley, another Construction Academy participant, said she wanted to do more than office work at the small trucking company that she and her husband started in Phoenix. She wanted to drive a large truck for construction jobs but couldn’t afford the training to get a Class A commercial driver license.

Thanks to ADOT’s Construction Academy, McKinley was able to obtain her commercial driver license at no cost. While working full-time, she participated in a six-week program offered four nights a week at Southwest Truck Driving School in Phoenix. She also earned her traffic control flagger certification.

Today, the 39-year-old mother of two operates an 18-wheeler to transport dirt excavated for highway projects. She and her husband, Jonvai, own KHAVL Transport LLC, an ADOT-certified Disadvantaged Business Enterprise.

“I was the only woman out of six students in the commercial driver license class, and I was intimidated at first. But my husband encouraged me to keep going,’’ McKinley said. “This is a great opportunity for anyone looking to grow. ADOT’s program provided me with free gear and taught me what I needed to go to work.”

For more information or to apply for a Construction Academy, please visit azdot.gov/BECO, call 602.712.7761 or pick up materials at the ADOT Business Engagement and Compliance Office, 1801 W. Jefferson St., Suite 101, in Phoenix.

PHOENIX – With the Arizona Department of Transportation covering the cost of training and providing safety gear for participants, dozens of members of the Yavapai-Apache Nation have completed a Construction Academy that helps them launch careers in transportation.

Among other instruction, the academy offers flagger certification and safety training required to work on construction projects within and around the reservation in the Verde Valley. In addition, some participants have received training required to obtain commercial driver licenses allowing them to drive for construction contractors.

It’s another example of ADOT’s On-The-Job-Training Supportive Services Program helping expand career opportunities for members of tribal nations. In 2017, a Construction Academy sponsored by ADOT helped members of the Tucson-area Pascua Yaqui Tribe earn certification to work on tribal construction projects.

“These partnerships with tribes are a natural extension of programs designed to connect people with opportunities in the transportation industry,” said Dr. Vivien Lattibeaudiere, ADOT’s employee and business development administrator. “Training offered through ADOT, through contractors, through community colleges and through other avenues connects members of disadvantaged groups, including those who are unemployed, with construction careers.”

Seven members of the Yavapai-Apache Nation who completed the most recent Construction Academy training also got hands-on experience in concrete masonry and carpentry trades through various construction projects on the reservation. In the process, those who completed all instruction offered over 16 weeks received six units of college credit in blueprint-reading, construction math, masonry and carpentry.

This latest phase of instruction, offered in collaboration with Gila Community College, expands a Construction Academy Pre-Apprenticeship Training Program that ADOT and the Yavapai-Apache Nation’s Tribal Employment Rights Organization (TERO) launched last year.

“The partnership with Gila Community College and ADOT has helped to educate and give practical skills to our tribal members,” said Brian M. Kelley, the Yavapai-Apache Nation’s TERO officer. “This was an opportunity that we needed and really enjoyed.”

ADOT’s On-The-Job-Training Supportive Services Program, part of the agency’s Business Engagement and Compliance Office, offers Construction Academy programs to help remove barriers to construction careers for members of disadvantaged groups, including minorities, women and those who are unemployed. ADOT’s commitment extends to helping participants move on to construction apprenticeships and providing support and guidance as they work toward journeyman status.

Various other Construction Academy opportunities are available around the state. Individuals also can receive training that will help them become concrete finishers, block masons, highway surveyors, heavy equipment operators and commercial drivers.

ADOT covers training costs and fees for participants and provides support including transportation and child care assistance, job-readiness training, and safety gear such as hard hats and protective eyewear.

During the recently completed federal fiscal year, ADOT’s On-The-Job Training Supportive Services Program received $112,000 from the Federal Highway Administration to offer workforce-development initiatives.

For more information or to apply for a Construction Academy, please visit azdot.gov/BECO, call 602.712.7761 or pick up materials at the ADOT Business Engagement and Compliance Office, 1801 W. Jefferson St., Suite 101, in Phoenix.

 

NOGALES – The Arizona Department of Transportation’s first-of-its-kind international truck safety training program is adding another innovation to its resume: focusing instruction on commercial truckers from the maquiladora industry.

At the request of operators of border-area plants in Mexico making goods for export, ADOT’s Border Liaison Unit recently offered its first International Border Inspection Qualification training session for the maquiladora industry in Hermosillo, capital of the Mexican state of Sonora.

“Expanding to maquiladoras demonstrates that our partners in Mexico see as much value in this safety training as we do,” ADOT Director John Halikowski said. “Interest from the maquiladora industry also means the safety and economic benefits we have seen in this program’s first year will multiply.”

Maquiladora factories import certain material and equipment without duties or tariffs. Goods are assembled, processed or manufactured using that material and then returned to the U.S. The industry employs about 34,000 people in Sonora near the Arizona border.

ADOT’s Border Liaison Unit developed the International Border Inspection Qualification program to help make Arizona roads safer and to support international trade by training Mexican truck drivers and mechanics – in Mexico – about the safety regulations they must follow to drive on U.S. roads.

The 469 drivers who have completed the training since it began a little more than a year ago have crossed the border nearly 5,500 times but have had only 12 significant safety violations that required trucks to be stopped for repairs.

“Arizona is leading the nation in developing innovative ways to make our ports of entry safer and more efficient - it's been a priority for Governor Ducey since day one,” said Juan Ciscomani, Senior Advisor for Regional and International Affairs to Governor Doug Ducey. “This kind of proactive approach implemented by ADOT and supported by the Arizona-Mexico Commission, under Governor Ducey's leadership, drives Arizona's border to move at the speed of business and supports international commerce in the state."

Following Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance guidelines, which are the standard across the U.S., this training stems from ADOT’s use of the Arizona Management System championed by Governor Ducey to have all employees continuously improve state agencies’ value to their customers.

The Hermosillo session was the 18th held in Mexico since International Border Inspection Qualification training began in summer 2017.

The program also has expanded beyond locations near the Arizona border and Hermosillo, with training offered in Mexicali and Ensenada in Baja California and in Caborca, Sonora, at the request of trucking companies in those areas.

To learn more about ADOT’s Border Liaison Unit and International Border Inspection Qualification training, visit azdot.gov/BLU.

NOGALES – More than 1,300 truck drivers from Mexico have now completed training from Arizona Department of Transportation safety inspectors through an innovative program that is making Arizona’s inspection process more efficient and Arizona roads safer.

That number includes drivers trained at Arizona border ports of entry in Douglas, Nogales and San Luis, as well as about 320 drivers trained in a unique two-day training program at locations in Mexico. More than 30 additional drivers are expected to attend a training session in Nogales, Sonora, in the first week of April.

“The large numbers of drivers from Mexico who continue to ask for safety training from our officers is a testimony about how important and how effective this program has become in less than two years,” said Tim Lane, director of ADOT’s Enforcement and Compliance Division.

ADOT’s Border Liaison Unit began conducting classes in fall 2016 to educate truck drivers and company leaders from Mexico about safety inspection requirements for drivers who cross the international border. These half-day classes, held in Arizona, address such things as acceptable tire wear and securing loads.

On July 31, 2017, inspectors began taking the classes to convenient locations in Mexico to reach even more drivers. International Border Inspection Qualification classes in Mexico take two days and require drivers to pass written and field exams to become qualified.

Qualified drivers earn the right to contact inspectors using a smartphone application, WhatsApp. Drivers can send photos and ask questions before approaching the border so they can make any needed repairs more conveniently and more affordably on their own property. So far, 83 drivers have communicated with inspectors using WhatsApp, and 75 have used the information to prevent their trucks from being removed for service for repairs.

The classes are popular with the Mexican trucking industry. In February drivers from Mexicali, Baja California, travelled about 100 miles to take part in the IBIQ program in San Luis. Other classes have been held as far south as the Sonoran capital of Hermosillo.

The impact of the program has been dramatic. Historically, about 5 percent of drivers who enter Arizona from Mexico have their trucks stopped at the border for needed safety repairs. But among IBIQ qualified drivers, trucks have been stopped just eight times in about 2,400 border crossings – about one-third of 1 percent.

In addition, Arizona inspectors can focus their efforts on higher risk trucks, such as those with a history of violations and those with non-IBIQ drivers. That resulted in more safety violations discovered despite fewer intensive 37-point inspections.

“We are stopping unsafe trucks from driving on Arizona roads, but at the same time we are encouraging international commerce by not unnecessarily delaying trucks by qualified drivers,” Lane said.

ADOT Director John Halikowski praised the program as an example of binational collaboration that benefits both Arizona and Sonora. That collaboration also led to the creation of Mexico’s first safety corridor on the road from Arizona to Rocky Point, Sonora. Mexico implemented the safety corridor March 5 after getting traffic incident management training from ADOT leaders.

The International Border Inspection Qualification program stems from ADOT’s use of the Arizona Management System championed by Governor Doug Ducey. This approach to continuous improvement empowers employees at state agencies to come up with innovative ways to better serve customers.