Office of Civil Rights News
 It’s National Apprenticeship week! Each day of Apprenticeship Week has a theme. To celebrate Women in Apprenticeship Day, the Minnesota Department of Transportation Office of Civil Rights is spotlighting Cora Holt.
Cora Holt is a first-year electrical apprentice. She graduated from a Building Strong Communities program offered in partnership with MnDOT OCR. This 12-week program helps participants make informed decisions about choosing a trade and entering a registered apprenticeship program.
Holt had been working as a consultant and helped facilitate the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise and Workforce Collaborative, an advisory group to MnDOT. At one of those meetings, she met Rick Martagon, executive director of Building Strong Communities. “His passion for recruiting people who don't have a foot in the door to the construction industry (people like me!) really drew me to his mission,” Holt said.
“I pursued the electrical apprenticeship because it combines a rigorous background of theory with a lot of creative and artistic skills,” Holt said. “I knew I made the right choice when we did our first conduit bending lab during the hands-on training week of BSC. It was a great physical and mental challenge, and I felt really proud of myself for figuring out the task at hand. BSC gave me the confidence I needed to assert myself in a traditionally male dominated space.”
After graduating from BSC/MnDOT training in May 2024, Holt went through additional training at Local 110. She started working in July and her career is well underway. “Since then, I've contributed nearly 700 hours towards my apprenticeship,” Holt said. “The apprenticeship takes five years of schooling to complete.”
On the job, training is ongoing and comprehensive. When Holt first started working as an electrician, “I had to learn the new social structure of a jobsite, which is different from an office or school setting,” she said. “It was great getting to hear about the life experiences of the journeymen I worked with, and they gave me a lot of great advice to get my feet under me.”
The U.S. Department of Labor promotes Apprenticeship Week because apprenticeships are good for individuals and for the economy. For individuals, apprenticeships provide pathways to sustaining careers. For the economy, apprenticeships develop a highly skilled workforce to build and maintain our infrastructure.
If you or an individual you know is interested in participating in the next BSC/MnDOT training, visit www.buildingstrong.org to sign up for an informational session. For more information about any of the Office of Civil Rights programs, please contact us at ocr.dot@state.mn.us.
“I encourage you to check out a training program like BSC,” Holt said. “I would have felt way more out of my depth if I had just gone in without any support behind me. If you come in with an open mind and a willingness to learn, the doors will open!”
More information
Find more information about MnDOT’s training programs for individuals on the Office of Civil Rights’ workforce training website.
Contractors! Find out how you can meet on-the-job trainee goals for your projects, hire graduates of MnDOT training programs, and promote equity for people who are historically underrepresented in highway construction trades.
Photo: Cora Holt (right) on the job as a first-year apprentice electrician. Photo provided by Cora Holt.
This article was updated on Nov. 25, 2024
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