November Workforce Developments

Submitted by Michelle Dreier, Director of Member Engagement & Government Affairs

 YTD  Electrical Association has participated in 84 events and reached 16,963 potential job seekers.

Here are the numbers of individuals credentialed to perform work in Minnesota:

	Located in MN	Licensed in MN
Unlicensed Registered Elec	10,439	11,989
Journeyworkers	10,203	12,225
Masters	5,214	6,364
Power Limited Technician	3,448	3,852
Unlicensed PL	3,636	4,453

This month in Workforce, Cynthia Bennett and I visited Goodwill Easter Seals(GESMN) new facilities in Energy Park, St. Paul.  While Electrical Association(EA) has worked with GESMN for years and was named their Construction Partner of the Year for 2025, this new facility paves the way for a brand new Clean Tech workforce program. EA will now partner with 3 separate workforce readiness programs Clean Tech, their Adult Construction Program, and their YouthBuild program.

Michelle accomplished the following:

• advised a CTE coordinator at Spring Lake Park High School about the Electrical Industry and Electrician as a career.  This is part of a larger project as the high school collects and develops career exploration resources for their students.
• attended a statewide meeting hosted by the MN Department of Employment & Economic Development entitled “The Indigenized Employer” focused on Native employment.
• provided mock interviews at Summit Academy.
• represented at the 2 day CTE Works! Summit, a conference of 300 career and technical education instructors across the state.  EA provided resources to educators and created new and refreshed current connections around the state.  Part of this outreach included connecting with Best Prep and assisting in reconnecting Best Prep with Project Build MN.  One speaking engagement at Richfield H.S. has been booked as a result of these efforts.

Katie tabled a Career Exploration event at Buffalo High School and Michelle spoke to several classrooms of Buffalo students at Buffalo H.S. Career day.

Cynthia and I met with the Center for Energy & Environment’s workforce team to discuss collaboration on a particular clean energy grant as well as increased collaboration on workforce initiatives.

Looking forward to December, I will be at the following:

• tabling a career fair at Columbia Heights High School.
• tabling a Veterans Career Fair in Arden Hills.
• presenting to GESMN Youthbuild participants.
• representing EA at St. Cloud Technical College’s Construction Electrician Advisory Committee.