Last week, Timothy Mongeau, ABC’s director of workforce development, spoke on the Workforce Development for Veterans Through Apprenticeship panel during the National Association of Drug Court Professionals All Rise 2019 conference, the world's largest conference on addiction, mental health and justice reform.Ìý

The Construction Industry Needs to Hire an Additional 440,000 Workers in 2019Ìý

On Wednesday, April 17, ÀÏÅ£Ó°ÊÓPresident and CEO Michael Bellaman joined Carolyn Lee, executive director at The Manufacturing Institute; Karen Pittman, co-founder and CEO of the Forum for Youth Investment; and Carrie Schwab-Pomerantz, board chair and president of the Charles Schwab Foundation, for a Boys and Girls Club of America panel, Building a Diverse Talent Pipeline: The Policy and Business Case.Ìý

From interviews to editorials and many articles in between, Women in Construction Week, March 3-9,Ìý showcased the voices of women from all areas of the construction industry.Ìý

The ÀÏÅ£Ó°ÊÓSouthern California chapter hosted their 25th annual craft championships on Saturday Jan. 26, 2019. Along with the craft competition, there were over 500 visitors, 22 vendors, a nine-team chili cook-off, a high school visit with hands-on activities presented by chapter instructors and demonstrations from Job Corps and ÀÏÅ£Ó°ÊÓSouthern California.

ÀÏÅ£Ó°ÊÓmembers overwhelming reported that government-mandated project labor agreements harm their businesses, hiring and workforce development practices and ability to complete work safely, on time and on budget, according to the results of a December 2018 membership survey published today.

On Dec. 22, 2018, at the end of the 115th Congress, President Trump signed The FIRST STEP Act, a bipartisan criminal justice reform bill that aims to reduce recidivism rates by improving educational opportunities for federal inmates and implementing modest sentencing reforms.

ÀÏÅ£Ó°ÊÓsent aÌýletterÌýto the U.S. Senate in support of the FIRST STEP Act, which was introduced by Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa). This bipartisan bill addresses the important issue of prison reform with the goal of lowering recidivism rates by helping incarcerated individuals prepare to reenter their communities.

Updates to equal employment opportunity regulationsÌýthat apply to all sponsors of apprenticeship programs registered either with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Apprenticeship or a state apprenticeship agency are just around the corner. TheÌýfinal ruleÌýupdating EEO regulations was issued in 2016 by the Obama administration and went into effect on Jan. 18, 2017; however, some of the provisions wereÌýdelayed for two years until Jan. 18, 2019.Ìý

Eugene Jowers, aÌýProject JumpStartÌýgraduate and employee of ÀÏÅ£Ó°ÊÓmemberÌýRegional Contracting Services, was featured in a Nov. 2ÌýCNBC segmentÌýthat also ran onÌýPBS Nightly Business ReportÌýhighlighting ABC’s efforts to attract more workers to the construction industry.Ìý