CTA, ACE host Trades Day for CPS Students

Chicago Transit Authority
Published: November 19, 2020

While COVID has hit the pause button on so many opportunities for our high school students, CTA is helping provide a path for CPS high school students to pursue architecture-, construction- and engineering-related careers through CTA’s historic Red and Purple Modernization (RPM) Phase One Project.

On Wednesday, November 18^th, CTA, RPM contractor Walsh-Fluor and the ACE Mentor Program hosted ACE Trades Day with CPS, a virtual event that introduced students to the trades and future career opportunities. Over 30 students attended the event in which they got to see testimonials from tradespeople working on the RPM project on what it is like to work in construction and how they got their start in the industry, as well as ask questions in real time. From the beginning of the project, RPM has been about making a better future for all Chicagoans, including Chicago students, and this effort is another way CTA hopes to break down barriers for students to pursue their career dreams.

CTA, Walsh-Fluor and ACE plan to host another one of these virtual events later in the school year. For more information about ACE and the RPM Phase One Project, please see below.

About ACE

ACE Chicago is a unique partnership among industry professionals – architects, interior designers, engineers, construction managers, college and university representatives and other affiliated organizations – who work together to attract young people to those professions. The ACE Mentor Affiliate of Chicago was established in 2000 and has a 19-year partnership with CPS. Since its founding, the program has touched the lives of more than 3,500 high schoolers from 36 Chicago public schools. ACE Chicago places a special focus on recruiting students of color and female students; groups that are significantly under-represented in the construction and design industry, and in professional occupations overall (93% of participants are minority and 30% are female).

About RPM Phase One

RPM Phase One is the largest capital investment project in CTA history that includes the construction of a new bypass just north of the Belmont station, followed by a Red and Purple line track structure rebuild between Belmont and Newport/Cornelia; a complete rebuild of the Lawrence, Argyle, Berwyn and Bryn Mar Red Line stations, including the tracks and support structures; and the installation of a new signal system between Howard and Belmont.

This historical project goes beyond modernizing Chicago’s public transportation system by serving as a catalyst to provide equitable opportunity and to develop diverse businesses as CTA works to ensure that the project’s contractors and workforce is as diverse as its customers and the City of Chicago.

Keywords: Architecure, career, construction, CPS, CTA, diversity, engineering, High School, trade, Workforce Development