| Tony Castaneda is a household name for many Madisonians. Every Thursday morning he hosts the 8 O'Clock Buzz on Madison's community sponsored radio station WORT 89.9. He is also the namesake for The Tony Castaneda Latin Jazz Sextet, a Madison-based band which graces area nightclubs and events with Latin jazz classics from the '40s to the present. Formed in 1998, the group has been voted Madison's favorite jazz band for six years running in the Isthmus Readers Poll. They play every Sunday night at the Cardinal Bar and will celebrate their ninth anniversary on April 22. As a community activist, Castaneda as taken stands on many issues including opposing the war in Iraq with his involvement in Military Families Speak Out. While many are familiar with his music, politics and radio show, it is his work at his "day job" that perhaps receives the least attention. It is his hope, however, that he can spread the word to area females and minorities about the YWCA's Training Partnership for the Skilled Trades program. Castaneda recently took over as coordinator for the program that works to increase minority and female participation in the skilled trades. "The whole purpose of the program is to recruit and prepare minorities and women to get into the skilled trades," Castaneda said. The apprenticeship readiness program is one area initiative working to offset a projected labor shortage, while simultaneously introducing minorities and females to a sector long dominated by White males. In Wisconsin alone, there are an estimated 10,000 new apprentice positions opening each year. This number will only increase in years to come. According to the South Central Federation of Labor, over half of the skilled trades workforce is expected to retire in the next 20 years. While job opportunities abound in this sector, females and minorities remain vastly under-represented. Castaneda attributes this to a lack of recruitment and education efforts. "In the past, [the skill trades sector] was an old boy's network," he said. "If your father was a carpenter, you became a carpenter. There weren't a lot of minority role models in the trade." According to the NAACP Milwaukee branch and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Employment and Training Institute, minorities and females remain largely excluded from the building trades. Their findings in "Report Card on Minority and Female Participation in Construction Trade Apprentices in the Milwaukee Area; Who's in the Pipeline for Skilled Construction Trades" were dismal. "Long standing efforts to prepare and indenture more members of minority groups and women into apprenticeships in the Milwaukee area building trades have met with disappointing results," they reported. The study revealed that of the 475 Milwaukee area companies who employ construction apprentices; 404 had no African-American apprentices and 411 had no Hispanic apprentices. The report further states that Native Americans, Asians, and women are "barely represented." The scenario in the Madison area is not much different. In 2004, minorities made up fewer than 4% of the union workers in the construction trades in South Central Wisconsin. Castaneda said it is high time that minorities and females are introduced to the skilled trades, a sector he credits with providing good paying jobs and quality benefits. "People need these opportunities," he said. "These are family-supporting jobs with great benefits, a great pension plan, and job security." Each year, approximately 60 people participate in the YWCA's Training Partnership for the Skilled Trades program, the majority of them minorities. Over the course of six weeks, participants learn about everything from blueprint reading to job-readiness skills. They are paired with tutors and guided through the often cumbersome apprenticeship application process for various trades including; carpentry, steam fitting, roofing, plumbing, painting, and many more. Castaneda describes the program as a "clearinghouse for information" on how to become employed in the skilled trades. Classes for the program will begin again on April 23. There are still spots available and Castaneda recommends that anyone interested attend one of the many upcoming orientations. For more information on orientation dates and times contact Tony Castaneda at (608)-287-1602 or tcastaneda@ywcamadison.org. |
| Tony Castaneda: Madison's favorite jazz musician Attracting minorities and women in skilled trades by Laura Salinger |
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