$700K+ grant to support women in construction in Southern Nevada

When Julie-Ann Peeples started her electrical apprenticeship, she was a single mother. While she was able to lean on her family for support, she recognizes many women aren’t so lucky.

“Many child care facilities are not open, let’s say at three or four o’clock in the morning, when you may have to drop your child off so that you can drive,” she said. “It is a real struggle for them to have access to the child care.”

Peeples started her apprenticeship in 2007, finished in 2012, and now serves as the assistant director of Electrical Joint Apprenticeship Training Center of Southern Nevada, which is associated with International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 357.

Lack of resources for women in the construction industry is one of the reasons Southern Nevada women building trade workers received a $716,701 grant on Monday from the Department of Labor.

U.S. Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su traveled to Las Vegas to announce the grant to the Southern Nevada Building Trades Union alongside U.S. Rep. Susie Lee D-Nevada and Rep. Dina Titus D-Nevada. The award comes from the Biden-Harris administration’s Investing in America agenda to support infrastructure improvements, clean energy and manufacturing growth in Southern Nevada.

Administered by the DOL’s Women’s Bureau and Employment and Training Administration, the Women in Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Occupations grant will go towards supporting women in construction and building, advanced manufacturing and technology industries.

Su said the DOL chose to award the grant to Southern Nevada Building Trades Union because of its partnerships on such projects as Brightline West’s high-speed rail construction project.

“The Brightline West leadership has also been very clear: we want to do this job right,” Su said. “We want to get this done in time, so we want to make sure that they’re union workers.”

The union represents 20,000 construction workers in 19 unions, with over 3,000 apprentices in Southern Nevada.

“This fund will help make sure that over 300 women get into the trades, get into apprenticeship programs and are able to do these good jobs to allow them to live a secure life,” Su said.

Peeples said in her apprenticeship program only around 10 percent are women, which she said does not reflect the demographic of women in Southern Nevada.

“With this money, we’re going to be able to not only expand opportunities, but mentor and support the women who are in the trades and continue to expand how many are involved,” Peeples said.

Contact Emerson Drewes at edrewes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @EmersonDrewes on X.