The state Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) recently awarded a $296,396 grant through the Pre-Apprentice and Apprenticeship Grant Program to the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 357 Joint Apprenticeship and Training Fund in Allentown.
The IBEW Local 357 will use the funding to increase the number of apprentices to approximately 30.
“We are very grateful to DCED for this apprenticeship grant that will help grow our existing program and expand apprenticeship opportunities in the Lehigh Valley,” Robert Franklin, IBEW Local 357 training and safety director, said. “With the ever-changing workforce and the retirement of the baby boomer generation, now is the perfect time to use these funds for outreach, registering, and training the next generation of apprentices.”
IBEW Local 357’s curriculum focuses on the National Electrical Code, solar power, power quality and power grid updates, safe job practices, programmatic logic controls, and telecommunications wiring and fiber optics to improve broadband access to rural and underserved areas of Pennsylvania.
The program’s goal is to place more than 300 employers in the Lehigh Valley.
IBEW Local 357 represents people employed in power generation, electrical trade construction, cable television and communications, public works departments, and other related industries.