In an effort to meet the demand for more lineworkers while also investing in the local workforce, Chattanooga, Tenn., Local 175 is partnering with area organizations and utilities to offer a pathway to a career that is often overlooked in schools.

The New Heights Scholarship Program provides tuition assistance, as well as a stipend and mentoring, to attend the Southeast Lineman Training Center, where trainees can do either a 15-week electrical program or an eight-week communications program.

Those who successfully complete the pre-apprenticeships then have the opportunity to enter the Southeastern Line Constructors Apprenticeship and Training program or begin work with partner organizations like the utility EPB or the Tennessee Valley Authority.

"We're showing the private community and education community that it's OK to be a blue-collar worker," Tenth District International Vice President Brent Hall said. "This will change a lot of attitudes."

The program aims to educate Chattanooga-area high school students from underserved and underrepresented areas about careers in the electrical trades. It came about when Ketha Richardson, who works on diversity and inclusion initiatives with EPB, toured the SLTC in nearby Trenton, Ga., and noticed how few students were from Chattanooga.

"It made me wonder why we have such a great resource here in our backyard and yet our own community wasn't taking advantage of it," said Richardson, who is also a member of the American Association of Blacks in Energy. "Part of my job at EPB is to work with students and expose them to the opportunities in our industry. I thought this was a great way to do that."

The program provides students with a chance to learn about their chosen trade and determine whether it's a good fit. Those who enroll will be better prepared for a full apprenticeship, where Local 175 comes in.

"We can provide the career. That's the end goal," Local 175 Business Manager Toby Shelton said.

The partnership with area schools and educational organizations like Chattanooga 2.0 has expanded Local 175's reach in the community, allowing it to introduce more students to its apprenticeship and career opportunities.

"We weren't getting the invites before. Now we're in every school in our jurisdiction," Shelton said. "We've got counselors calling us all the time."

The goal, said Chattanooga 2.0 Executive Director Keri Randolph, is for qualified candidates to receive high-quality preparation and enter a career with a local utility, with at least 75 scholarship recipients hired into lineworker jobs by August 2027.

"Employers are struggling to find a skilled lineworker workforce, and our students need the exposure, opportunity and support to complete a path to thriving-wage career," Randolph said. "This provides a diverse, well-trained workforce for the energy sector while also creating economic mobility for individuals in underserved and underrepresented communities."

While the lineworker and communications programs are relatively short, they provide a lot of training and growth opportunities, said Richardson, who serves as a mentor to the students.

"It's amazing to see how much the students change and grow in such a short period of time. They literally go from boys to men," he said, noting that young women express interest in the programs.

The success of the program, now in its second year, has sparked discussion for an inside construction pre-apprenticeship.

"They like what they see," Local 175 Assistant Business Manager Grant Rains said of the program partners. "And for someone who gets into the lineworker program but only then realizes that they have a fear of heights or just that it's not for them, but does well in other aspects, this provides another pathway."

As the program continues to grow, so has the buzz it's created around in-demand energy jobs, Richardson said, and in particular within communities that have been historically overlooked.

"Most lineworkers find out about the career through family and friends. If we can get some great workers from this program and other people in their community see their successes, they can organically consider line work as a viable career option," Richardson said.

The Tennessee Valley Authority, where the IBEW has represented employees for generations, and 10 other local power companies will receive a $250 million grant from the Energy Department to ensure that hundreds of communities have more resilient power service via clean energy.

The grant is part of the department's Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships Program and will speed developments in solar and wind power and increase grid capacity to 2,400 megawatts.

About half of the grant funding will go directly to 360 disadvantaged communities. There is projected to be a 94% reduction in power outage durations in those communities when the projects are finished.

The grant is expected to create about 800 jobs during the next five years, with 99% expected to be union construction labor. The TVA pledged that 33% of the work will be filled by apprentices, boosting apprenticeship wages.

The TVA is owned by the federal government but receives no taxpayer funding and operates closer to a privately held utility. It provides power for more than 10 million customers, covering all of Tennessee and portions of Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia.

Tenth District Vice President Brent E. Hall, whose district includes Tennessee and North Carolina, said he looks forward to working with TVA officials to ensure that IBEW signatory contractors land work associated with the grant.

"Our relationship is proof that public power is good for the valley, good for the country and good for organized labor," Hall said. "We look forward to working closely with the local power companies that receive this funding to ensure that the work is done on time, on budget, with quality and with the IBEW."

The TVA was founded as part of President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal legislation in 1933 to bring electrification to a largely rural area that lacked infrastructure.

Now, the Energy Department grant will develop a state-of-the-art grid for one of the fastest-growing parts of the country. Population in the TVA service area is expected to increase 22.5% by 2050, according to projections by the Baker School of Public Policy and Public Affairs at the University of Tennessee.

"Electricity is America's energy future, and the men and women of the IBEW are ready to partner with TVA and local power companies to reduce carbon emissions and create good, middle-class jobs throughout the region," International President Kenneth W. Cooper said.

"IBEW is on the front line in recruiting and training the highly skilled workforce needed to build out a clean energy infrastructure and a resilient and modern grid," Cooper added. "Together we can make these projects a reality."