About PACT

Our Mission Our Partners Funding Source A Note from Gov. Blagojevich Why a PACT Partnership Limited Access The OAI Advantage   Site Map

Limited Access

The primary issue facing minorities and women, and by far the most difficult barrier to overcome, is limited access to apprenticeships and journey-level jobs. Overcoming this barrier can best be achieved by:

• persuading companies and unions to give minority individuals and women the opportunity to compete on a level playing field for access to apprenticeship training and jobs, and



• preparing minority and women applicants to a level at which they can, in fact, compete successfully with other applicants.

If the opportunity to compete on a level playing field meets high-level preparation, the number of minority individuals and women in the construction trades will increase.

In order to overcome reluctance of employers and unions, a persuasive case must be made that PACT trainees WILL be prepared to compete successfully for entry into apprenticeships and/or for jobs and that they WILL be prepared to do both the class work and the physical work entailed in working in the construction trades. A degree of political pressure may be required to bring about the engagement of contractors/developers and unions in conversation, but employers and unions will only respond if they believe that appropriately prepared candidates will, in fact, be sent to them.

In the end, political pressure and persuasion will be for naught if the individuals being recruited, trained, and referred by the PACT Program are not adequately prepared to compete. In order to prepare individuals to compete successfully on entry tests, in interviews, in apprenticeship classes, and on the job, OAI has designed an intensive training and guidance program that will prepare participants in the PACT Program to be highly competitive when applying for apprenticeship and work positions.