Training programs help youth build careers in the trades
Spotlight on the work of WRTP | BIG STEP, a Milwaukee-based organization chosen for the 2025 Youth Skills and Employment Accelerator. It provides a pathway for young people to enter careers in construction, manufacturing, and emerging sectors.
Young people in Wisconsin are making great strides and building successful futures – thanks to a nonprofit that prepares them for careers in the trades.
Milwaukee-based WRTP | BIG STEP works with partners to help job seekers get ready for stable, family-sustaining union jobs in construction, manufacturing, and emerging sectors. Its training programs prepare economically-disadvantaged young people for paid apprenticeships in industries where diverse groups, particularly women and people of color, have been underrepresented.
Ricardo Rojas is an example of that mission. He graduated from the BIG STEP Builders program in 2021 and now works as an apprentice laborer. Ricardo said: “WRTP | BIG STEP helped me better my life. I’m about to be done with my classroom time of 400 hours and about 90% completed with apprenticeship. I hope to eventually move up the ladder and become a foreman.”
WRTP | BIG STEP (it stands for Wisconsin Regional Training Partnership | Building Industry Group Skilled Trade Employment Program) was chosen by the Global Business Coalition for Education to take part in the 2025 Youth Skills and Employment Accelerator.
With employers across all sectors in the United States struggling to find young talent with the expertise they need, the Accelerator is part of a nationwide drive to ensure that by 2030 all young Americans will have the skills needed to find work in a rapidly-changing job market. The Accelerator equips nonprofits with the tools and support they need to make a real difference in the lives of young people from underserved communities.
WRTP | BIG STEP’s Chief Marketing Officer Stephanie Gallion said: “We are paving the way to make sure everyone has a pathway to a family-supporting career. Being part of the Accelerator, we hope to build impactful connections between community and industry in innovative and equitable ways.”
The nonprofit expanded its reach statewide in 2025, adding remote offices in northern Wisconsin. Access to the Accelerator’s network provides connections and resources to help achieve the goal of exposing everyone in its target communities to apprenticeship-readiness opportunities.
We hope to build impactful connections between community and industry
Stephanie Gallion, Chief Marketing Officer of WRTP | BIG STEP
WRTP | BIG STEP currently provides services to more than 2,000 people each year – 74% of them aged 16 to 30. Nearly 70% of all participants identify as people of color, almost one-third identify as justice-involved, and about 12% are women.
As a workforce intermediary, the organization has built a network of nearly 300 “high- road employers” (companies that value and invest in workers’ wellbeing and development), more than 70 labor partners, and over 100 community-based organizations.
All training and support services are free for participants. Programs include:
- Certified pre-apprenticeship training for jobs in construction, manufacturing, clean energy, and other emerging sectors of the regional economy
- Roadbuilding career pathway exposure for youth that includes in-person, high school equivalency diploma instruction
- Trades career exploration for in-school students
The Milwaukee office’s BIG STEP Builders program introduces high school juniors and seniors to careers in construction through hands-on projects, field trips to union halls, and presentations from industry speakers. It shows students a pathway to stable, good-paying jobs in construction that don’t require a four-year degree.
After his pre-apprenticeship training, Ricardo Rojas started working full time in 2022. Today he is employed by Gateway Concrete Forming Systems and makes $34.55 per hour. In 2025, he worked on the construction of the new Milwaukee Public Museum.
Ricardo challenges young people entering the workforce to commit to the work ethic and responsibility required in construction. He added: “I would just advise them to give it their best and have an open mind to getting advice from older people.”
WRTP | BIG STEP and the other organizations in the 2025 Accelerator will join the alumni network of 28 previous participants that collectively have positively impacted more than 250,000 young people. When they complete the program, nonprofits and their leaders stay in the growing network – helping them to work with others and get peer support.
Businesses that support the Accelerator have opportunities to enhance brand recognition and strengthen community ties. They can also provide pro-bono products and services to support participating organizations.
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