The collaboration five years in the making began as an idea hatched by a professor to bring welding training to tribal communities.
Portland Community College launched its Mobile Welding Outreach & Skills Training Center, a traveling truck full of welding instruments and training materials, able to provide welding training to students in underserved populations and on Native American reservations. The event was punctuated by a student ceremonially cutting through a chain with a welding torch.
The 40-foot traveling training center — a three-way collaboration between PCC, Union Pacific and Vigor Industrial — will offer training and certification in 17 different types of welding over a roughly 11-week course. The first mobile course setup will be at Liberty High School in the Hillsboro School District.
The concept began with welding instructor Todd Barnett, a former logger who retrained into welding based on a coin toss. Barnett said he had the idea to make a welding training operation that could reach and be accessible to Native American students and second-chance communities.
“I’d been working for Vigor Industrial for a long time, and once, to accommodate some testing, we had to rent a mobile welding center. I said to them myself, ‘Why couldn’t we have a mobile welding classroom?’”
He brought the idea to Electronic Engineering Technology program dean Carrie Weikel-Delaplane, who brought the idea to Union Pacific. Union Pacific provided an initial investment of $375,000 over three years to outfit the mobile training center and launch the center’s program. Funding from a Future Ready Oregon grant covered the cost of the tractor.
“We do a lot of recruiting and hiring in this area, so we had been speaking with Portland Community College for quite some time about how we could partner together to build a better workforce pipeline for the trades,” Aaron Hunt, Union Pacific senior director of public affairs for the Pacific Northwest, tells Oregon Business at the launch event. He says the current hiring landscape has made it difficult to find workers. “We’re struggling to fill positions. At certain times, we’ve even opened up hiring bonuses to try and incentivize people. Last year we had some hiring incentives that were up to the $20,000 level here in Oregon.”
Hunt says entry-level welding positions at Union Pacific make between $60,000 and $70,000, and are a good fit for people who live in more remote parts of the state — jobs he says students who graduate with a certificate from the mobile welding center’s program would be eligible for.
“If you want to have more flexibility to choose where you live geographically, these are the kinds of jobs that can lead to a career path that will give you that choice and still be a welder. Your work schedule tends to be molded around earlier starts and earlier wrap-ups, so a lot of the time you can avoid certain commuting problems. There’s a lot of good upside to these trade jobs.”
The mobile welding classroom has booths to accommodate up to six students at one time. In addition to schools, the welding center will also be brought to tribal lands and correctional facilities.
“The Oregon Employment Department forecasts over 250 welding job openings per year. Welding training provides individuals with the opportunity to secure their future in high-demand jobs that pay a living wage,” said Dr. Adrien Bennings, PCC president, addressing those gathered for the event. “We offer short-term stackable certificates through our Career Pathways Program, which prepares students for high-growth, high-demand industries, and we introduce an integrated education and training program that trains students in the art of welding as they learn English.”
Above: Todd Barnett stands outside the Mobile Welding Outreach & Skills Training Center. Photo: Rick Getter
