Construction Center of Excellence & OFCCP Introductions

On November 2, 2023, Jennifer Fritzel, Regional Outreach Coordinator, met with Christina Rupp, Director, Construction Center of Excellence. Jennifer provided a thorough overview of OFCCP's mission, enforcement, outreach training, and the Sumas Mega Construction Project. Christina shared an overview of the Construction Center of Excellence and expressed a lot of interest to collaborate closely with OFCCP with reaching the underserved communities of Washington State. She shared her background, which she is not only the center's director, but also on several boards, committees, and is an active leader in Washington State with anything related to the construction industry. Because her agency is a state program, she puts together the Toolbox Talks for all of Washington free of charge. Christina has offered to host any of OFCCP's training sessions on her platform to help reach a large and wide audience in Washington State. In one of her former roles, she created and established a unique apprenticeship program that reached an underserved community. She is going to pull the data and LMI reports from the project, along with any data around Whatcom County for OFCCP to better strategize outreach efforts. Christina also referenced the large Ag community of workers interested in a new career path, and that there's a lot of interest for Ag workers to get into the construction industry. She is going to connect OFCCP to LETI, Center of Excellence (Ag), Center of Excellence (Clean Energy), and Association of Government Contractors - Education and Workforce Development. Christina shared there's interest for Washington State's advocates to learn more about effective outreach for Whatcom County. Over the past few years, people have relocated from Bellingham to Whatcom County due to the high housing costs. There's a new community of people in Whatcom County adapting to the rural location seeking new opportunities. Christina invited OFCCP to a conference in April 2024, and mentioned if OFCCP wants to deepen their reach and relations with Washington's construction industry, this would be the conference to attend. Details are forthcoming in an email (April 17, 2024, WSATC Bellingham). Jennifer and Christina will be reconnecting for program planning in the coming weeks.