SoDo Inc.--Trades Training for Youth

Watch the SoDo Inc. video!
Q13 Fox story on SoDo Inc. (summer 2011)
Read about a successful youth participant...

The innovative SoDo Inc. program introduces youth to a wide range of trades via hands-on learning at South Seattle Community College's Georgetown Campus--then connects them to paid internships with local employers.

SoDo Inc., a collaboration between South Seattle Community College, YouthSource (King County Work Training Program), the Manufacturing Industrial Council and the WDC of Seattle-King County, shows the power of partnership between business, education and government.

 Begun as part of the 2009 ARRA-funded summer-jobs program, SoDo Inc. has been incorporated into the GreenLight Project, a federally funded, community-wide green-jobs training program led by the WDC. Almost 250 young people have completed the program.

Learning and Earning on Campus

For the first three weeks, the students attend classes at South Seattle Community College to learn about apprenticeships, increase their math skills to prepare for entering apprenticeships, and learned a wide variety of skills—including tool use, safety, first aid, and basic work habits and attitudes.

 They explore apprenticeships in weatherization, energy auditor, power utility worker, cement mason, carpentry, drywall, heating and cooling installation, and energy-efficient windows in classes taught by union-affiliated instructors paid by the college.

On-the-Job Experience

Then, for the next three to four weeks, each student works in a paid internship with a private employer to apply what they learned on the job. Thanks to the partnership of the Manufacturing Industrial Council, more than 50 employers have participated and hired interns.