Free Press: State and local officials kick off grand opening of training facility in Detroit
State and local officials are promising Detroiters a chance at skilled trades work and training through an apprenticeship program at the Michigan Regional Carpenters and Millwrights’ new center.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Mayor Mike Duggan and several county, city and union officials kicked off the grand opening of the union’s $30 million investment in a 145,000-square-foot training facility at 11687 American Ave. in Detroit on Wednesday. Officials touted a four-year apprenticeship for carpenters, floor layers and millwrights, which will be available to 1,500 students per year.
Duggan said much of the region’s construction work has been in the suburbs, although the city has seen more construction in recent years among auto plants, a sports arena, high-rise buildings and housing projects. “Detroiters were not only left out in the trades, they were left out of access to the building sites because it wasn’t easy to get to. But what we’ve seen in the last eight years is that the center of construction has shifted back to Detroit,” Duggan said. “I wanted to make sure as we move the construction back, that Detroiters had access to these jobs. We fought very hard for it.”
