Local construction industry leaders highlight Brown’s role in employing women in building trades

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] - Women comprise half of Rhode Island's working-age population, but on construction sites across the state, it's not unusual to have 0% to 3% of the labor hours performed by women.

Notably, on one of Brown University's most ambitious construction projects - the William A. and Ami Kuan Danoff Life Sciences Laboratories, which will become the largest academic laboratory building in Rhode Island after it opens in 2027 - the percentage of labor hours performed by women is more than double the state average. That's according to leaders at Building Futures, a longtime Brown partner and nonprofit apprenticeship program that helps low-income workers build skills and move into construction careers.

Yet Building Futures aims to significantly boost the number of women in the trades in the Ocean State. To that end, the organization launched an initiative called Women Building Rhode Island in collaboration with the Rhode Island Building and Construction Trades Council, its affiliates, signatory contractors and project owners.

Building Futures chose Brown's under-construction Danoff Laboratories as the backdrop for a Friday, May 8, event to launch the initiative. Skilled construction workers, local elected officials and leaders from Building Futures, Brown and the trades council gathered in a park adjacent to the construction site in Providence's Jewelry District.

It was a fitting location, leaders said. Since 2012, Brown has partnered with Building Futures to ensure that at least 15% of labor hours on University construction projects exceeding $5 million are performed by apprentices. Over the years, hundreds of thousands of hours have been performed by Building Futures' pre-apprenticeship graduates at Brown construction projects, including Danoff Laboratories.

Building Futures President and CEO Andrew Cortés said Brown's participation in the program serves as a model for how organizations can expand access to rewarding careers in the trades.

"When we are building Brown, we are building community, we are building lives, we are building real pathways for people to succeed," Cortés said. "Every day, Brown is showing how this work can happen and creating opportunity."

Brown President Christina H. Paxson noted during the event that while the 7% of labor hours on the Danoff Laboratories project being performed by women may be a significant achievement in the construction industry, she supported Building Futures' goal to radically boost those numbers.

"We're thrilled that women from the Building Futures program are gaining world-class experience right here on our campus," Paxson said. "But Women Building Rhode Island is about moving the needle. It's about ensuring that talented women have the support they need to build lifelong, exceptional careers. We want to see more tradeswomen on our sites, and we want them to lead the way."

Jenna Andrianopoulos-Kornichuk, who will serve as an advisor to Women Building Rhode Island, is vice president and project executive for Suffolk Construction, the lead contractor for Danoff Laboratories. In that role, she works with Building Futures to ensure apprentices gain significant on-the-job experience on the site. She noted that Brown's partnership with Building Futures has already helped increase opportunities for women as well as men in the construction trades.

"We are just under 20% utilization for apprenticeship on the Danoff Labs project, and we are much higher than the standard for women utilization on the project as well," Andrianopoulos-Kornichuk said.

Among the tradeswomen who spoke in support of Women Building Rhode Island was Stephanie Trejos, a Building Futures pre-apprenticeship graduate who transitioned from a working as a waitress to become a commercial carpenter apprentice with the North Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters Local 330.

Danoff Laboratories was Trejos' first project as a carpenter. She said she is proud to be involved with a project that will serve the community and that more women deserve the kinds of opportunities provided by Building Futures and Brown.

"I was here about a year and a half ago pouring the foundations, and I'm very overwhelmed to see it here today," Trejos said. "I'm really happy with my job. I wake up excited to get to work."