Women Graduates Honored for Courage, Determination

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)
"Nine years ago, I wouldn't have been here," said Washington Area Women in the Trades (WAWIT) graduate Marshila Davis at a graduation ceremony Monday at the AFL-CIO. Davis, who overcame drug addiction, heard about the WAWIT program at her church and decided to apply. She and thirteen other women finished the grueling 12-week program and now have the tools for a career in the building and construction trades. The WAWIT program - a joint project of the Community Services Agency, the YWCA National Capital Area and Wider Opportunities for Women - has provided hundreds of homeless and low-income women with career and construction industry exploration, hands-on work experience in the union trades, and placement in high wage union trades apprenticeship programs. Graduates from this cycle - the fifth since the program started 18 months ago - worked with multiple building and construction trades unions, including the Joint Carpentry Apprenticeship Committee, the Sheet Metal Workers Local 100 Joint Apprenticeship Committee (JAC), Cement Masons Local 891, Insulators and Asbestos Workers Local 24, Iron Workers Local 5, Rodmen Local 201, the Laborers JAC, and the Steamfitters Local 602 JAC. "To the graduates, I want to say congratulations for taking your life in hand, for having the courage to come forward and say, 'I want to live a different life, a better life,'" said Community Services Agency Executive Director Kathleen McKirchy. "We hope this proves the beginning of a great future for you," said Wider Opportunities for Women Director of Local Programs and Policy Camille Cormier. "You are making a difference for other women." Click here for more photos from Monday's ceremony.
- report/photos by Andy Richards