INSPIRING YOUTH since 2015
An industry leader and model setting the standards for work-based learning in Rhode Island
Students from all over the state in action showcasing their skills working along with industry and their teachers to construct and connect two solar tree houses, designers showcase and landscape. The treehouses are completely off the grid, powered with solar energy and outfitted with a vertical platform lift. April 2016
Industry Involvement and Guidance K-12
Our work with the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE), the Career and Technical Education Board of Trustees, Career and Technical Centers, and K-12 High Schools Statewide became more prominent in 2015 as we expanded our outreach and awareness of careers in residential construction and provide industry insights for the curriculums and standards being delivered today, and into the future.
RCWP is an active industry leader supporting PrepareRI and the statewide initiative to prepare all Rhode Island youth with the skills they need for jobs that pay. PrepareRI is one of the most ambitious plans in the nation to improve youth career readiness. It represents a strategic partnership between the Rhode Island government, private industry leaders, the public education system, universities, and non-profits across the state. PrepareRI launched in 2016, after Rhode Island was awarded a New Skills for Youth grant from JPMorgan Chase and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO). To learn more about PrepareRI, please visit the PrepareRI website.
Work-Based Learning and Building a Pipeline
With declining numbers of Rhode Island students showing interest in the construction trades, RCWP and its dedicated team of leaders realized an opportunity to reach out to the community, parents, students, and school administrators with a mission, “make the trades cool again!” The mission came to vision with a statewide venue in the planning, our committee of talented marketers, industry leaders and community partners agreed to dedicate otherwise revenue space at the 2015 RI Home Show, to pilot a student built display feature, with the help of dedicated staff at RIDE and the commitment from Providence Area Career and Technical Academy teachers and students, it was a huge success and started the progression forward, growing from one school to twenty three schools, and over 300 students statewide thanks to additional funding to be built into the pipeline from Real Jobs RI in 2016. Students of all programs, and all over the State, were welcome and enjoyed the camaraderie working along with their peers from other schools for the first time. The once pilot is now a standing theme, successfully bringing real world work experiences, and often even placing them into jobs and internships, with that success the team at RCWP became the model for career and technical work-based learning standards statewide in the K-12 schools.
The student constructed solar treehouses were donated to the Boy’s & Girl’s Club of Providence, South Side Clubhouse. Students, teachers, and industry members from all over the state came together once again to re-build the treehouses. Students and teachers alike received well deserved recognition by state and local leaders at the treehouse dedication and celebration. October 2016