President and Founder of the Nevada Women in Trades, Evelyn Pacheco, joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast to discuss making history in Nevada, helping women get into organized labor and how a pre-apprenticeship course is preparing women to enter into a union’s apprenticeship programs.
Starting her career as an engineer at a local Las Vegas casino, working on various different pieces of the buildings, Evelyn Pacheco was searching for a way to feed her family when she found the UA Local 525 Apprenticeship program. Five years later, Pacheco officially became the first black female plumber licensed in Nevada. She faced many obstacles while in the apprenticeship program, however, it drove her to complete the apprenticeship and continued driving her to make a difference.
Ensuring the path to join the trades became an option for other disenfranchised women in Nevada became Pacheco’s mission. This was when Pacheco founded the group Nevada Women in Trades. With a team of five women, Nevada WIT has assisted women re-entering society, trauma survivors and women searching for a career to find the opportunities available by joining a union. They assist women in getting a GED, finding childcare, receiving DACA assistance and more in order to get women into apprenticeship programs for their desired trade.
To assist with their mission, Nevada Women in Trades hosts a pre-apprenticeship program called the Pipeline Comprehensive Course. The six-week, 190-hour program helps women with math, science, test-taking skills and more. The program partners with five local unions representing different trades. This partnership allows the women to visit the unions and experience the job before deciding which trade to pursue.
Listen to the entire episode to learn more.