Delta Airlines Provides OSHA Training to Community

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OnFriday, March 17, 2023, City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams stopped by the second cohort graduation to offer words of inspiration and support to forty community members completing their OSHA 30 and Flagging Certification classes sponsored by Delta Air Lines at Rochdale Community Center.

Herlema Owens, President, Founder, and principal consultant of the Association of Women Construction Workers of America, Inc. (AWCWA), conducted the training. Owens a former construction worker, started AWCWA as a not-for-profit organization to advocate for women in construction, but it has grown beyond that.

The week-long training was attended by people who came from the Bronx, Westchester, Brooklyn, and of course, Queens and Rochdale which shows the value of the OSHA 30 certification.

“I started the organization in 2006 because as a woman in construction, I didn’t feel like we were getting the fair end of the stick, it was always the short end. Especially for women and minorities, it seemed like we were the last hired, first fired every time, and there had to be a way to make a difference in that,” states Owens.

The scope and goals of AWCWA have grown to include helping contractors such as Delta Airlines to fulfill their MWBE goals, as well as MWCW, which opens the door for women and minorities in construction. “The heartbeat of the AWCWA is Building Success in pre-apprentice construction, safety, and professional service training.”

“I don’t live in Rochdale but I live in the vicinity of Rochdale, I shop in Rochdale, both malls, I come to a lot of different programs over here and I’m always telling people about this area,” Owens shares, “It’s a beautiful thing to be able to be in your own community, and be able to give back.”

Owens admitted that in the past, she was disheartened by the lack of women in construction, but over time AWCWA has grown. “Today we had a graduation for 40 students, it was 51% women. It was a week-long pro- gram of 30 hours or OSHA and then we took a whole day because of the number of people to receive training, in flagging at construction sites,” she said.

She explained that OSHA 30 and flagging cards are universal certifications and graduates can use them to obtain employment across the country. There’s no denying that people like Herlema Owens is doing a great service to the community by providing valuable free training programs.

In addition to the two cohort sessions for OSHA 30 which certified over 70 attendees, Delta Airlines has sponsored three cohort sessions for Public Safety certification, training for over 90 individuals, creating life-changing career opportunities.

Rochdale’s Public Safety CPR Training

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