Nontraditional Employment for Women (NEW) held its annual Equity Leadership Awards Luncheon on May 18.
The event provided a forum for two skilled tradeswomen who went through NEW’s pre-apprentice training program to share their stories about how the program changed their lives.
Nora Vega, the annual tradeswoman honoree, persevered through medical setbacks to make it out on the job-site with the New York City District of Carpenters.
NEW is an equity-based program primarily serving low-income women of color that prepares, trains, and places women in apprentice programs in the construction, utility and maintenance trades.
“Increasing representation in our industry is key. This is what NEW stands for. I haven’t forgotten the privilege to meet some of the strongest, confident, smartest, amazing women who are industry leaders such as organizers, project managers, estimators. And for women. It is vital for our success that we keep striving for representation in our field,” Vega said at the event.
In Vega’s case, NEW’s support was critical in helping to get through her apprentice program. Over a week into her first job, she had to undergo an emergency medical procedure that set her back six months. She said that NEW jumped in and made sure she was placed on a call center team, signing up prospective students and attending career fairs, while she was recovering.
Once she was medically cleared, she got back on a new site, excited and eager to learn.
In the course of sharing her story at the luncheon, Vega was momentarily overwhelmed and several NEW staff members and other supporters came to the stage in encouragement.
“Once you go through NEW you have NEW for life, as you can see,” she said laughing. “You undergo a personal transformation. You carry yourself differently. You learn to believe in yourself and you realize that the only limitations in life are the ones that you allow yourself to believe in.”
The luncheon also showcased a video about the path of Nkosa Barrett, who said that her life had literally been saved by the NEW program. Barrett went through the program and is working as a journeyman with Plumbers Local 1.
When she was younger she dropped out of college and worked in retail for several years before looking for opportunities that would give her benefits like a 401k and a pension. She had a friend who was working as an electrician and told her about NEW for years but she always thought to herself “That’s man’s work.” When she finally gave the program a shot, she said it gave her the skills and comfort to succeed.
“They instilled a certain level of confidence that when I did get into the field and on the job site, I wasn’t scared because I knew that I could do this,” Barrett said. “NEW provided the pathway for me to get to the point where I am able to take care of myself. And local one has provided the means for me to be able to take care of myself.”
Barrett had her daughter in 2020 when she was working with the union.
“I had my daughter on a Friday and I had a brain aneurysm on Wednesday. That was literally five days after I had the baby,” she said, adding that it was a miracle she set her life up in the way she did because without benefits the cost of the procedure would have been out of control.
“I got a statement from the insurance company and the course of my, my, my brain surgery and my stay in the hospital in all care after the aneurysm, it was a total of $800,000. I didn’t come out of pocket for anything,” Barrett said.
