Wilmington, Del.— In case you missed it, DETV highlighted Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester’s recent jobs training conversation with L.E.E.P. Inc. advocates, program students and graduates, and local union leaders on the importance of apprenticeship programs in building pathways to good-paying, family-sustaining careers and access to the middle class for Delawareans.

You can watch the full video here.

On the importance of vocational education and training:

• “Transitioning from school to a full-time career is no easy task. The world of job hunting rewards experience and interpersonal connections, and for many recent grads, those things can be difficult to amass. Remedying this is a core goal of L.E.E.P., a Dell organization centered around labor economics, education, and empowerment. L.E.E.P’s Pathways to Business program, commonly shortened to P2B, focuses on training underserved individuals in vocational fields and transitioning them from the classroom to the workforce. It’s this mission statement that caught the attention of Congresswoman and Senate candidate Lisa Blunt Rochester as she visited the L.E.E.P office […] and spoke with a number of the program’s students and overseers.”

On how investing in skills and trades is investing in Delaware’s middle class:

• “Among the takeaways from this conversation were concepts of racial equity and generational wealth, as Rochester emphasized the importance of L.E.E.P. in helping Delawareans support both themselves and the community through vital vocational work. 
  
  “We’ve got to make sure that it’s exciting, not just a job, but something that people are looking forward to, that parents are saying ‘you need to go into being a plumber. You need to […] work at the port, you need to create an opportunity for yourself,”’ said Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester.