PIT2Work: One Year – And Counting – of Changing Lives

Few airports in the U.S. have programs geared toward the development of their regional workforce.

One of those airports is PIT.

Now celebrating its one-year anniversary, the PIT2Work pre-apprenticeship training program, hosted at PIT, comes at no cost to participants. For the participants, who come from six Western Pennsylvania counties, it means much more than a new career.

“This has been a great opportunity… a life-changing experience,” said Devin Hale, a PIT2Work graduate and new member of the International Union of Operating Engineers.

Hale is currently working on the new PIT terminal construction site, the very place where his new career through PIT2Work began. “I can better provide for my family and everything. It [has been] an amazing journey.”

Approximately 80 participants have gone through the PIT2Work program in its first year, and many are now working members of local Pittsburgh trade unions.

“This is not typical of what airports do, but we feel an obligation to make sure that we are providing equal access to opportunity,” said Allegheny County Airport Authority CEO Christina Cassotis.

“We are doing it in a way where people can walk out and into jobs that are really going to change their lives.”

Held at the National Aviary in Pittsburgh’s North Side neighborhood, the anniversary celebration’s guest list included PIT2Work participants and alumni, local trade union representatives, Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato, PIT team members and other special guests.

“This is life-changing work, and when you see the videos and what people are doing now, they have changed their lives through this program, through this work,” said Rob Cherry, chief executive director of Partner4Work, one of the program’s partnerships. “We’re just proud to be a part of that in any way Partner4Work can.”

Darrel Young, director of player development for the Pittsburgh Steelers and a former NFL player, spoke to the distinctiveness of PIT2Work and offered advice to the program’s participants and alumni. “How can we expect to do ordinary things and expect unique results?”

“There are so many opportunities and the best thing you can do is relate to people,” he said. “Everyone has leadership qualities — figure out what those leadership qualities are and figure out what makes you different.”

PIT2Work participants benefit immensely from the program’s partnerships with Partner4Work’s Introduction to the Construction Trades program and numerous local trade unions.

“I see the potential coming through each [PIT2Work] cohort,” said Brent Sopko, president of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, Local 432. “I love “Pittsburgh building Pittsburgh.”

The connections PIT2Work participants make are amplified by their training, all of which provides them with career- and life-changing qualifications. By the conclusion of the five-week program, graduates have completed hours of construction-related coursework and receive an OSHA 10-Hour safety certification, PennDOT Flagger certification, Pennsylvania Registered Pre-Apprenticeship certification and an environmental health and safety certification.

“We had a vision of how we could engage folks from Pittsburgh who were often underrepresented and give them opportunities to work with local unions to transform Pittsburgh,” said Alicia Booker, director of workforce development for Allegheny County Airport Authority.

“We had a vision to leverage the growth of our new terminal with the remarkable work of our local workforce agencies and partners.”

That vision has led to PIT’s recognition as a Fast Company Most Innovative Companies in Transportation winner and World Changing Ideas Awards honoree. Additionally, the National Association of Workforce Boards awarded PIT with the W.O. Lawton Business Leadership Award for its support of the Pittsburgh region’s workforce through PIT2Work.

And it is that vision that has positively affected the lives of so many, as it will continue to do so for many more.

“It’s definitely a life-changing program,” said PIT2Work alumnus Antoine Long, now working on the new PIT construction site.  “They give you everything that you need to prepare you for the future.”