When Gov. Mitch Daniels and his Workforce Development staff went around promoting the state's $12 million pre-apprentice program, Major Opportunities, the message was clear: This is aimed at bringing young black and Hispanic workers into building and construction trades.
Daniels and Ron Stivers, director of Workforce Development, worked with state Sen. Earline Rogers, D-Gary, to promote the plan, which was funded with a small part of the $3.8 billion the state received for the Indiana Toll Road lease.
At Major Opportunities' Oct. 11 unveiling at Gary's WorkOne center, though, Rogers and Stivers seemed to believe two different things about Major Opportunities. Rogers said the program was for black and Hispanic candidates. Stivers said it was mostly geared toward black and Hispanic workers.
Both are correct. State leaders said the $12 million in state money is set aside to recruit black and Hispanic workers. The workforce program also has federal funds that can be used for non-minority applicants, Rogers said.
Because the Indiana Department of Workforce Development is a service provider, it aims to also assist non-minorities in the same goal if they are seeking pre-apprenticeships and can use federal funds, according to Joe DiLaura, department spokesman.
One of those federal funds is the Workforce Investment Act, DiLaura said, which can be used to steer non-minority applicants toward work related to Major Moves' highway construction projects.
But to boost minority participation and future job training, the state has set aside $2 million a year for six years to benefit minority pre-apprenticeship programs in the building and construction trades.
In further explaining Major Opportunities, the Workforce Development Web site reads:
"The goal of this program is to increase the employment of Hoosiers in the construction trades by preparing more minority Hoosiers for construction apprenticeship programs. The targeted populations are African-Americans and Hispanics."
State officials said the program was needed, as Major Moves pours billions in new work projects, because blacks hold only 4 percent of construction jobs and Hispanics hold 8 percent.
"These statistics are significantly below the share of the total workforce African Americans and Hispanic Americans represent," the department's Web site reads.