The Canadian Apprenticeship Forum (CAF) has partnered with Build A Dream, an initiative to attract, encourage, and empower female students tp pursue careers in skilled trades, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math), emergency response, and entrepreneurship.
Build A Dream will be the Presenting Sponsor for the Calgary Career Discovery Expo to be held at the Telus Convention Centre, immediately following the closing session of the 2020 National Apprenticeship Conference.
The federal government recently announced $728,000 from the Skilled Trades Awareness and Readiness Program to support Build A Dream’s Career Exploration Expansion Program that aims to attract female high-school students to the skilled trades. Build a Dream Calgary is the organization’s first career expo to be held outside of Ontario.
CAF executive director France Daviault said she sees the partnership as a unique opportunity to advance participation, retention, and success of young women in skilled trades careers,” said. “The Canadian Apprenticeship Forum has a long history of encouraging and supporting youth and women in trades, including our biennial Supporting Women in Trades Conference. With the increasing demand for skilled trades workers across the country, CAF-FCA is committed to building an inclusive workforce and removing barriers for all women who want to enter the trades, careers where they are traditionally underrepresented.”
Build A Dream is a Canadian Apprenticeship Forum member and a valued partner on CAF-FCA research projects and outreach activities. Build A Dream’s President, Nour Hachem-Fawaz is a member of CAF-FCA’s task force working on the development of a National Strategy for Women in Trades.
“Build a Dream has always made it a priority to work with organizations with similar goals. It is only by working together that we will be able to see a shift in the participation of women in under-represented fields like skilled trades,” said Nour Hachem-Fawaz, President and Founder of Build a Dream. “Being part of CAF-FCA,and having them host Build a Dream Calgary is a natural fit for enhancing how we expose young women to promising careers.”
Build A Dream Calgary will be held at the TELUS Convention Centre in Calgary on the evening of May 26, 2020. Build a Dream has helped thousands of students (and their parents) expand their career choices by exploring pathways underrepresented by women. Career discovery expos spotlight these careers and equip young women with the power of choice by providing information, resources, networks, and role models. Each expo includes key information on careers all in one place with a Dream Maker panel of professional women sharing their career experience and advice, a networking expo for speaking directly with employers (and female employees) to gain insight into each business or industry, hands-on activities, and more.
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