Apprenticeship Readiness

There are shortages in the construction trades in the Arrowhead region and across the state, we are not building enough housing, and code-built housing contributes significant and unnecessary carbon emissions. Boreal Development's apprenticeship readiness program is designed to make an impact in all of these areas. We are turning out participants who are grounded in basic skills like tool use, job site safety, construction math, and more. We are also training all participants in green construction practices so they can have an impact on climate change through the way they build.

Construction Trainer Ron Gurno showing a class how a Boreal Development wall is constructed

Because we are focused on the needs of both the people and the planet, our program works primarily with people with barriers to employment, such as low education attainment. In this way, we are seeding the construction workforce with individuals who may not have had a pathway to construction without us, and who now have the skills to work a construction career, and have learned how they can have an impact on climate change through the way they build.

Our apprenticeship readiness programming is a component of our goal to increase interest and recruitment in green building and sustainability-related educational programs and professions. In 2026, we will hold our first YouthBuild cohort, and we will partner with other nonprofits to complete hands-on projects that will benefit their facilities. Our first hands-on project with YouthBuild participants will be to weatherize a transitional housing facility.

We are proud of the progress our workforce development programming has made over the past year, and we appreciate the support of the community to make it happen. By stimulating more local economic development in energy efficiency-related fields, we are contributing to the green revolution our community and the whole world needs.