Hello and Happy Giving Season!

We’d like to talk about some of the amazing things we’ve done this year! We ran three courses and graduated 18 students, most of whom are working here in Maine. Some are working on Infrastructure with the Ironworkers Union, and Casco Bay Steel building bridges. Some are working in fabrication building HVAC units and Public Bathrooms. We are in our fourth year of operation and are following through with our mission to reshape New England’s current blue collar demographic by guiding well trained women, BIPOC and LGBTQAI+ individuals into good paying jobs. 

This year we worked closely with the Maine AFL-CIO. We hosted a cohort of the Union Construction Academy for a welding workshop and ran a Trades Training Pipeline in the Spring. In November we ran the More Union Tradeswomen Training in partnership with the AFL-CIO. This training provided 5 weeks of welding and safety training, and the participants received a weekly stipend. We look forward to placing all of these new women welders in Union Trades positions here in Maine at the beginning of the year! We are so excited to be working with unions across the state, and to see our students join and strengthen the union movement. At PIW we value solidarity. 

We became an approved Pre-Apprenticeship Program with the Department of Labor and have partnered with the Local Ironworkers Union. Since then, we have been working more closely with Vocational Rehab, Maine Adult Education, and other community based education programs. We were honored to be invited to speak at the Inaugural Maine Apprenticeship Summit.

We are excited to have received our very FIRST, and then SECOND and THIRD grants this year! The Stephen and Tabitha King foundation generously contributed $20,000 towards program enhancement, DeWalt gave us $10,000 in tooling, and UNUM granted us $5,000 towards shop repairs!! 

We have more exciting programming in 2025 and we are reaching out to you this giving season to ask for your support. Our students and alumni would not be able to move into these vital trades positions without the amazing community support that we receive. Please consider us for your end of year giving because your money goes towards the women, BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ communities that we teach. Your contributions help promote our mission of diversifying the trades here in Maine. Every dollar helps to start a new career in the welding industry and it supports Maine to keep its bridges, buildings and infrastructure safe, working and beautiful.

Sincerely,

Jo Remillard

Lead Instructor 

People's Inclusive Welding