Raising the BAR Baltimore – a six-week apprenticeship readiness program – celebrated the graduation of 23 students last Friday at IBEW Local 24. The cohort, which is the program‘s largest to date and included five women, topped the previous high of 18 graduates in March 2025.
The program offers participants an introduction to the unionized building trades, jobsite tours, interview prep and mock interviews, math refreshers and practice tests, hands-on activities and projects, and introductions to decision-makers with local contractors.
Speaking at the Aug. 29 graduation event, Raising the BAR graduate Tai’Eisha Martin told the audience she was a 34-year-old single mom of three kids. She said she looks forward to the day when she can drive through Baltimore and show her kids and her family all the hard work she has put in over the years.
“Through this journey,” said Martin, “I’ve gained hands-on experience — mentally, physically and emotionally. And I built the confidence to take on anything and everything I put my mind to.”
Raising the Bar Baltimore graduate Tai’Eisha Martin listens as IBEW Local 24 Journeyman Tewodros Desta El provides instruction on how to wire an outlet.
“Through this journey, I’ve gained hands-on experience — mentally, physically and emotionally. And I built the confidence to take on anything and everything I put my mind to.”
– Raising the BAR Baltimore graduate Tai’Eisha Martin
Through this journey, I’ve gained hands-on experience — mentally, physically and emotionally. And I built the confidence to take on anything and everything I put my mind to.”
– Raising the BAR Baltimore graduate Tai’Eisha Martin
Raising the BAR is built around the Multi-Craft Core Curriculum (MC3) and is a collaboration of the Construction Trades Workforce Initiative (CTWI) and the Baltimore-DC Metro Building Trades Council.
“What we have here in Baltimore is truly special,” said CTWI Executive Director Beli Acharya at the graduation ceremony. “We’re seeing a significant volume of work, historic project labor agreements and a deep commitment to ensuring that those opportunities stay local.”
Addressing building trades unions and their signatory contractor partners, she added: “We are building this pipeline for you. So, we ask: Hire our graduates. Invest in their future. They are ready to work.”
Just one week after the graduation ceremony, seven Raising the Bar graduates were already out in the field working, with six different building trades unions
“What we have here in Baltimore is truly special. We’re seeing a significant volume of work, historic project labor agreements and a deep commitment to ensuring that those opportunities stay local.”
– CTWI Executive Director Beli Acharya
“What we have here in Baltimore is truly special. We’re seeing a significant volume of work, historic project labor agreements and a deep commitment to ensuring that those opportunities stay local.”
– CTWI Executive Director Beli Acharya
“You are going to be joining a workforce where skill matters every single day,” said Baltimore-Washington Laborers Training Fund Executive Director Jason McDonald. “Not just the hard skills that you learn as you join an apprenticeship program, but also the soft skills that you begin to pick up on as you walk through this program. The way you communicate with one another. The importance of showing up every single day.”
Maryland State Senator Antonio Hayes, whose District 40 covers much of West Baltimore, told the audience that Baltimore is seeing “unprecedented investments in infrastructure,” including improvements to transportation networks, water systems, public buildings, roads, tunnels, bridges, and broadband connectivity.
Addressing the graduates, he said: “The role that each of you are embarking upon is important. It’s important to Baltimore, it’s important to Maryland, it’s important to our community and to our nation.”
“These investments aren’t just improving our physical infrastructure,” he added. “They’re also creating thousands of good-paying jobs for our residents, particularly in construction, skilled trades and project management.”
Raising the Bar Baltimore graduate Tegan Bargasse is congratulated by CTWI Executive Director Beli Acharya before receiving her program certificate.
Raising the Bar Baltimore graduate George Webb marks a line before installing outlet and switch boxes on a 2×4.
CTWI is accepting applications for the next Raising the Bar Prince George’s County cohort. Learn more at a virtual info session at 5pm on September 9th. RVSP for the info session. Contact jane@ctwi-btca.org to learn more.