Project CREW program seeks funding sources

Ozarks Technical Community College received final word from Job Council of the Ozarks at the end of July that its resources would not allow the college to continue recruiting Project CREW (Construction Readiness Education for Women) students. Unfortunately, being so close to the start of class, Project CREW has been suspended for this semester due to lack of funding.

To be successful, the program must find approximately $18,000 in time to start CREW 7 by January. In the meantime, Job Council is paying tuition for women who meet economic criteria to complete an OTC construction certificate.

Until additional funding is secured, the strength training, and personal and professional development components of Project CREW are not financially feasible.

Meanwhile, OTC and an exclusive group of approximately 75 students that have passed through its doors in the past six years are reflecting appreciatively on the successes that have been enjoyed by the Project CREW program.

The program began with a single brilliant idea and countless hours of hard work from a group of special people who believed that there was a need to train women to be competitive in a male-dominated profession.

As more and more women were finding themselves as heads of their households, it seemed imperative that they attain higher-paying jobs. This was an idea that the Missouri Women's Council, who funded the program in its first two years, was able to stand behind.

The Missouri Women's Council selects a project to support each year. With only one exception, MWC never funds the same project twice. The council believed there was such promise in Project CREW, and the training that OTC was equipped to provide, that it abandoned its one-time-only policy to fund Project CREW two years in a row.

The project immediately captured the attention of the media and, somewhat more reluctantly, the attention of the construction community. Graduates of Project CREW were just beginning to show themselves and construction professionals what they could do.

Suddenly, the focus of the program was changing. Local companies were hiring and retaining CREW graduates. And with an overall shortage in labor, the program couldn't have been more timely.

With a change in focus, so, too, came a change in the way the program was funded.

OTC and Project CREW were responding to two community needs: attempting to overcome the barriers to suitable employment that many women faced[[In-content Ad]]