IEC Foundation Provides Very Real Benefits to IEC Chapters

Barb says chapter members always have been amazing. In the early years — IEC Central Ohio has been around since 1998 — member contractors would open their facilities for classes and labs and maybe even teach. There were about 30 contractor members and 60 to 80 apprentices at the time.

With the need for more electricians, they soon outgrew this arrangement. Within a couple of years and due to generous members, they were able to move into a place with two classrooms of their own, including labs.

This also was due to the Independent Electrical Contractors Foundation and Barb learning how to approach them to help them equip those facilities.

“I would say that the IEC Foundation purchased every chair, table, and whiteboard in our first two classrooms and they have continued to support us over the years as we’ve grown,” Barb says. “We’ve expanded again and again until just a couple of years ago, we purchased the building that we’re in now that boasts of 14 classrooms, with labs included, and offices for our team. The Foundation has provided us with upwards of $200,000 in equipment and other donations over the years.”

The building is 31,000 square feet, and IEC Central Ohio occupies 80 percent of it, renting space to a couple of small, long-time tenants. Future expansion remains a possibility — maybe even a probability beginning in June 2024. Barb says its location is ideal and central Ohio is ripe with construction and therefore the need to train more electricians.

“We have a tremendous amount of work going on in central Ohio right now with tech companies,” Barb says. “Google, Intel, Facebook, and Magellan are all building within 15 miles of the training center. Our members are hiring and the IEC Apprenticeship Program has a very, very good reputation. We have about 20 instructors, hold classes daily Monday through Thursday, and have about 650 apprentices including our mid-year classes which began in January.”

Elsewhere in the state, IEC Western Reserve too is experiencing growth and is equally as grateful to the IEC Foundation for its support along the way. Marilyn McConnell is executive director of IEC Western Reserve and she calls their chapter “one of the smaller ones.”

“Three of the original five founding members are active in IEC Western Reserve today,” says Marilyn. “Aey Electric, Inc.; B&J Electric of Poland, Inc.; and Enertech Electrical, Inc. have been joined by another 10 or so active and dedicated contractors. We have two classrooms with extensive labs and our latest apprentice numbers are about 50. We are on a busy road near an interstate and we have great visibility in the community which makes it great for merit shop contractors as well as current and future apprentices.”

Marilyn says the chapter purchased its building in December of 2014 and have about 2,500 square feet to accelerate learning. Like Barb, Marilyn knows that being able to apply for and receive IEC Foundation grants has allowed her chapter to upgrade their labs to be competitive in the marketplace. It also allows them to see that their ‘asks’ of the contractor members are better suited to their expertise and not solely financial.

In addition to Foundation grants, IEC Western Reserve has secured local grants for purchasing tablets, computers, and more to reflect today’s learning and technology use in the field.

“Recently, with the help of the IEC Foundation, we were able to double the size of our smaller classroom to be on par with our large classroom,” Marilyn states. “This, of course, offers a better environment for learning and we are extremely grateful to the IEC Foundation for their assistance with that.”

They hope to grow the classroom space and increase the number of apprentices and continue to offer world-class training through the excellent IEC curriculum and top-notch labs, says Marilyn.

“To keep growing, we have to continue to upgrade our labs, expand our classes, and prepare our apprentices for this challenging field,” Marilyn says. “Apprentices are committed and hard-working. They have full-time jobs and then they come here two nights a week. It is our responsibility to provide them with a stable learning environment. It is so rewarding when you see them transition to year 3 or 4 when they begin to see that light at the end of the tunnel. They’ve earned it. We are grateful to the IEC Foundation for helping us provide that world-class training.”

The IEC Foundation has amazing sponsors. Learn about them on the website.