Colorado sheet metal apprentices seek to fill gaps in trade field, nonprofit supports their education

A global skilled trade worker shortage has reached a critical bottleneck, leaving an estimated 1.4 million to 2.1 million skilled trades jobs unfilled in the United States alone. 

At a warehouse in Denver's Globeville neighborhood, students are combatting that statistic. Working with sheet metal, crafting their own toolboxes, each class inches closer to completing the Colorado Sheet Metal Workers Apprenticeship Program. The four-year program pinpoints on specific job skills and even provides equipment needed to enter the workforce. 

Learning trade skills can be stressful; Brandi Tafoya knows that all too well. 

"Senior year, I was trying to figure out what to do after I graduated," Tafoya said. "Getting into the trade gave me something to do with my hands. You have a sense of pride like going to a building, and you say, 'Hey, I actually worked in this building, and I know what it looks like from the bones.'"

Tafoya completed the Colorado Sheet Metal Workers Apprenticeship Program not only with firsthand knowledge, but money in her bank account. It's all thanks to Prosperity Denver. Since the taxpayer-funded nonprofit was founded, it's helped 63,000 students, distributing $65 million.

"Companies and nonprofits provide stipends like the apprenticeships to pay their students while they're learning, so they're earning while they're learning," said Michelle Neuenschwander, Prosperity Denver director of programs . "We're able to reimburse them for money that they're spending on training and scholarships. When we inform students that they have multiple pathways, that not only impacts the individual themselves, but it also impacts their families it strengthens employers. It really impacts our entire community."

That scholarship was life-changing for Tafoya. 

"They've taught me so much along the way, and I've just put it in my toolbelt," Tafoya said.

More information about the "Earn As You Learn" program is available on the program's website. 

Now, Tafoya is able to use those tools to train up the next generation as an instructor within the apprenticeship program.

"I'm second oldest of a lot of children, so seeing the younger generation grow and learn new things is just fascinating, and it is pretty spectacular to witness," Tafoya said.