Piping Industry News

The Northwest Ohio Piping Industry released a new video in March showing its commitment to creating a diverse membership.

Northwest Ohio contains a diverse population, as people from varying backgrounds – including race, gender and ethnicity – call the area home. The Piping Industry proudly conducts outreach programs to the area’s minority populations, helping educate them on career opportunities within the piping trades.

Through strengthening relationships with the area’s minority organizations and the Toledo Public Schools, the Piping Industry is looking to further diversify its membership by actively recruiting minority candidates into their apprenticeship programs.

In January, thanks to a growing relationship between the Piping Industry and the Toledo Public Schools’ Hispanic Outreach program, minority students visited the Piping Industry Training Center and learned about different career opportunities.

Students of Hispanic descent, from four different area high schools – Waite, Start, Bowsher and Woodward – received an inside look at the Training Center and learned about different career options available in plumbing, pipefitting, welding, and HVACR work and the apprenticeships programs.

On March 9, the Piping Industry visited Rogers High School to help Dr. Romules Durant, Superintendent of the Toledo Public School District, experience firsthand the partnership between the skilled trades and the school district's Career Technology Department.

Along with Dr. Durant, the Piping Industry's Chris Weaver and Steve Stewart met with Keith Dawson, program coordinator for the Construction Career Academy; Tom Dimitrew, director of Agriculture, Construction and Engineering for TPS; and the Career Technology Advisory Committee.

Dr. Durant got the chance to get his hands dirty as he interacted with real life scenarios, like donning a safety harness hooked to a chain-fall while a student lifted him above the ground.