Friday, October 28, 2022, Indiana Kentucky Ohio Regional Council of Carpenters Representative Jon Parman and the Ohio Joint Apprenticeship’s Director of Education Dan Sustin presented a $5,000 grant from the Regional Council to the Building Trades program with Knox County’s Career Center (KCCC).

KCCC’s program currently has 20 juniors and 20 seniors. Students in the class visited the IKORCC training centers in Columbus and Richfield for their annual open-house events this year. As the representatives delivered the check, students from the class presented both Parman and Sustin plaques to thank them for their partnership and dedication to preparing students like themselves for the workforce.

The grant money for the schools is intended to be used for additional training, such as new equipment to keep up with the upcoming work to the Central-Ohio area. Some systems, such as cleanrooms, are expected to be utilized in the upcoming projects in the area including at the Intel mega-site and the newly announced Honda Battery Plant.

In August, Parman and Ohio Joint Apprenticeship Area Coordinator Aaron Gunderman provided two additional $5,000 grants to Ashland County West-Holmes Career Center Construction Trades program and the West Holmes High School Building Trades program.

“We need this next generation,” Gunderman said. “The fact that there is just so much construction work coming…We want to help steer these young people in the right direction. We want to show them all the career opportunities they have in construction.”

The council is expected to continue with select grants for schools with strong carpentry programs within the region. 

WILLIAMSPORT, OH – On September 15, IKORCC leadership and staff took to the Yellowbud Solar Project to host an appreciation lunch for the workers. All union workers were invited to stop by one of the three setups onsite for their lunch made by The Scioto Ribber. For the over 220 IKORCC carpenters onsite, staff handed out shirts and tumblers to thank members for their work on the project. Nearly 500 trades workers in total on the job picked up lunch during the event.

“The Yellowbud luncheon was to thank those IKORCC members working onsite. They took the classes, came to work with a good attitude, and got the job done! This job is a perfect example of what the UBC does; we train, we show up with a can-do attitude, and we get the job done!”, IKORCC Director of Ohio Anthony Holbrook said of the event.

Thanks to IKORCC members’ professionalism and productivity, IKORCC Contractors, like Kiewit, are committing to using union carpenters and millwrights to complete their solar projects.

“The UBC’s performance both with safety and productivity has been outstanding,” David Marko Kiewit’s Labor Relations Director spoke about the IKORCC’s presence at Yellowbud.

Marko wrote the IKORCC to commend the performance reported on the Yellowbud Solar Project in Ross and Pickaway counties near southern Ohio.

The productivity of the solar energy work at the Yellowbud site is just one example of IKORCC’s ongoing efforts to continue learning from emerging industries and adapting to the needs of contractors.

Nearly $14 billion are projected to be invested in Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio by the federal government due the Inflation Reduction Act being passed at the federal level. This legislation is expected to invest that money into large-scale power generation and storage in clean energy, including solar.

To date, IKORCC training centers have taught over 10,000 solar training hours and expect to more than double that by next year to keep up with the demand from contractors bidding on these new solar projects across the region.