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The Austin Carpenters Training Center just finished hosting a 3-week skill information course for area youth interested in starting an apprenticeship program in the construction industry. The class, called Multi-Craft Core Curriculum (MC3), is designed to highlight the North American Building Trades Unions to these young people so that they can make a more informed decision before committing to a particular apprenticeship program. 

Special thanks to tool manufacturers Milwaukee and DeWalt for demonstrating various common job site tools and providing hands-on opportunities for the students.

The Multi-Craft Core Curriculum (MC3) is a comprehensive pre-apprenticeship training curriculum. It was developed and approved by the Building Trades National Apprenticeship and Training Committee in 2008. In 2012, the U.S. Department of Labor awarded the Building Trades and the MC3 the Department’s Registered Apprenticeship Innovator and Trailblazer Award at its 75th Anniversary celebration.

“It is essential to present the opportunity to become a professional carpenter to these young men and women, and MC3 is an effective way to do that,” said Austin Training Coordinator Bobby Vasquez.

The MC3 connects two high quality education systems: America’s secondary schools and the Building Trades registered apprenticeship programs. Once a student completes the MC3, he or she will join one of the largest privately-funded workforce development systems in the nation. The Multi-Craft Core Curriculum includes: 

• Construction Industry Orientation 
• Tools and Materials 
• Construction Health and Safety 
• Blueprint Reading 
• Basic Math for Construction 
• Heritage of the American Worker 
• Diversity in the Construction Industry 
• Green Construction 
• Financial Literacy

Apprentices receive high quality hands-on training and classroom education – with no student debt: 

• Unlike college, students work full-time while being trained for a well-paid construction trade and there’s no cost for the training – meaning no student debt!
• Because of the demand for skilled workers, Building Trades contractors and their union partners have invested heavily in education and training for registered apprenticeship. 
• The Building Trades and their signatory contractor partners invest over $1 billion annually in apprentice and journey-level training. 
• Apprentices accumulate hundreds of hours of training both in the classroom and on the job – where they are taught and supervised by certified and highly-trained construction apprenticeship trainers.