Step-up (Office of Labor Relations Apprenticeship Opportunities Program)

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Summary:
Step-Up is an apprenticeship-based employment and training program that provides career potential for low-income persons by enabling them to work on construction projects that have certain prevailing wage requirements.

Purpose:
Step-Up encourages work by offering apprenticeships through which low-income participants earn wages while learning skills on the job, supplemented by classroom-related instruction. All jobs are on sites where Davis-Bacon and Related Act prevailing wage requirements apply, as well as HUD-determined prevailing wage rates for certain maintenance and nonroutine maintenance work. All training projects are based on formal apprenticeship standards containing the Step-Up component registered with the the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training (BAT) or State Apprenticeship Council. A project is designated to be part of the Step-Up program following a review by HUD Headquarters and DOL.

Step-Up provides a vehicle for achieving compliance with the objectives of Section 3 of the HUD Act of 1968, which requires that preference be given to public housing residents, participants in HUD’s Youthbuild programs, and other low- and very low-income persons in the metropolitan area in employment, contracting, and other economic opportunities.

Type of Assistance:
The characteristics of each training project (e.g., number of participants, ratios of apprentices to journey workers, wage rates, support services, placement opportunities, union involvement) are determined locally by the Step-Up program sponsor in consultation with BAT, a State apprenticeship agency, where appropriate, and HUD’s Office of the Assistant to the Secretary for Labor Relations (OLR). (OLR also administers HUD’s activities concerned with Davis-Bacon and Related Acts.

The Step-Up program provides excellent opportunities for supporting the welfare-to-work program. A key component of Step-Up is a full range of support services, such as day care for children, transportation, health, education and life skills, and related services. HUD also works with other agencies such as the Health and Human Services and Justice departments to connect with resources benefiting local programs.

HUD Step-Up projects may be linked to or may provide a basis for other similar employment and training opportunity programs through relationships and partnerships with other agencies. A good example is the Superfund Job Training Initiative sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). HUD and EPA have a memorandum of understanding to seek the development of apprenticeships for low-income residents near Superfund cleanup projects using Step-Up as a model. Efforts are under way to team contractors, labor unions, colleges, and support service providers to prepare residents for environmental cleanup employment and apprenticeships.

Eligible Grantees:
Public and Indian housing agencies, Community Development Block Grant recipients, community development corporations, local and State agencies, and other employer/employment entities may sponsor Step-Up projects.

Eligible Customers:
People who benefit from Step-Up include residents of public and Indian housing and other low-income persons, particularly those living at or near Superfund sites or Brownfields sites or HUD-assisted project neighborhoods.

Eligible Activities:
Any activities and support services needed to sustain Step-Up programs and participants are eligible.

Application:
HUD has published a Step-Up Guide, which provides technical information including an informal "application" format through which a prospective Step-Up sponsor obtains program site "designation." The Guide is available from OLR and will soon be available at OLR’s Web site. (See below.)

Funding Status:
The Step-Up program is supported by funding from existing programs: Comprehensive Grants, HOPE VI, EDSS, and others.

Technical Guidance:
Step-Up is administered by the OLR, working in partnership with the DOL-BAT. Step-Up assistance is available from OLR.

For More Information:
Visit the OLR page.

Success Stories:
HUD and DOL have designated 25 programs as Step-Up sites.