Northwest College of Construction holds first few evening classes

Libby Tucker

It's a vision five years in the making - a school that will serve as one-stop shopping for all of a company's construction training needs.

A new, private, nonprofit technical college, the Northwest College of Construction, began holding a few evening classes at Portland's Parkrose High School this fall. Now, the Vancouver-based contractor Team Construction has begun work on a building at 8111 N.E. Holman St. that will house the college.

When it opens its doors for the spring term next March, the school will offer training and apprenticeship programs in carpentry, construction labor, heavy equipment operation, HVAC and sheet metal work, as well as management and business courses - all under one roof.

The project, spearheaded by Dan Graham of the Oregon-Columbia chapter of the Associated General Contractors, is the result of a collective effort by four area construction trade organizations to address an industry shortage of skilled labor.

There is a shortage of the skilled worker set, so opportunities like this are going to be critical for employers, said Graham, workforce manager with the AGC. Partners on the project include the AGC, the Associated Builders and Contractors Pacific Northwest Chapter, the Oregon Chapter of the National Utility Contractors and the Home Builders Association of Metropolitan Portland.

The school will recruit recent high school graduates and young adults to the industry as well as offer additional training to workers already in the industry.

Night classes will be offered at the school to accommodate apprenticeship programs that require full-time work in the industry and so that employers can send workers to the school for additional training or to learn new skills. All of the school's approximately 200 initial students will attend part-time.

NWCC will also offer placement services to employers for a small fee. The school currently has 300 registered employers that plan to participate in the service and expects that number to grow to 1,500 employers in the next few years. Graham estimates that more than 5,000 construction-related companies in the Portland area could benefit from such a placement program.

Our members are certainly looking for good employees, and (the school) will provide apprenticeship and craft training as well as job placement services, said Cindy Regier, director of education and training with the ABC, who has worked on the project for two years. The construction industry has an image problem. It's hard to attract youth to construction when colleges are promoted as the only alternative. The school recognizes that construction can provide long term careers and not just a job.

Industry fix for normal

college schedule

NWCC, Regier said, is really an industry-based solution to provide training options for the current and future workforce, in all phases of construction.

To start, the school will offer apprenticeship programs accredited by the state Bureau of Labor and Industries, as well as craft training courses accredited by the National Center for Construction Education and Research. Programs and courses currently offered by the AGC and ABC through Portland Community College (PCC) will be transferred to NWCC.

The construction college is also seeking state approval for apprenticeship programs and courses in brick masonry and concrete finishing and is looking for ways to add estimating and project management to its roster.

It's important to our members that there are trained craftsmen in the system, said Kevin Curry of the HBA. There are construction programs at PCC, but they're on a regular college schedule, so they're often difficult to fit into a full-time job. The industry is leveraging our resources to make that happen.

The cost of the initial project, including renovations and staffing, is expected to be close to $1 million. The project's partners have contributed more than $700,000 to date, and they hope to raise the remaining funds before work on the building is complete.

Once the school is open, it will rely on revenues from tuition and employment services fees to stay afloat.

We're trying to (start) it at a reasonable cost and then grow it as we can, said Graham, who expects the number of students to eventually reach 500 when all of the school's programs are up and running.

Tuition will be $100 per credit hour, with most classes offered consisting of four credits. Apprenticeship programs in construction typically require 12 credit hours a year for four years.

We have specifically worked to keep tuition at a reasonable rate so the industry can take advantage of getting high quality training at a reasonable price, Graham said.

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