Community Involvement

Each year, Local 1024 members answer the call for volunteers to repair and renovate low income housing. It's part of the NAILS mission Project, which is funded in part by city and county grants and by the Allegany County United Way. Local 1024 Rep. Bill DuVall sits on the United Way Board, and is an officer of the Western Maryland Labor Management Cooperation Program, a mainstay of United Way.

When the City of Cumberland needed help preparing a wall for a mural, Local 1024 volunteers built scaffolding for the artists and helped construct an historic-style façade adjacent to it. The mural, depicting historic Cumberland, became a centerpiece for tourist attraction. Local 1024 members also helped build a wall honoring local Gulf War Veterans.

Information taken from Mid-Atlantic Punch List, Winter 2006 issue, 17.

Business Rep. Bill DuVall stands in front of a new billboard promoting Local 1024.

Training occurs at multiple levels of membership.

One of the main features of community involvement is related to the jobs provided for union members, which translates to local people getting local work. Part of this is facilitated by the training provided to workers from the Union's involvement at the Allegany County Career Center High School and the Local's apprenticeship program. "The school's carpentry teacher, Gary Taylor, says he 'promotes a seamless transition from vocational education into Local 1024's apprenticeship program.' Taylor is a former Local 1024 apprenticeship coordinator. He says, 'when my graduates enter apprenticeship, they generally start out in front of other trainees...'" Part of the training they experience comes from participating in a skills contest judged by Local 1024 members. Another aspect of the pre-apprenticeship training comes from building a house in cooperation with the Allegany County Building Trades Education Foundation, in which Local reps serve on its board.

Information taken from Mid-Atlantic Punch List, Winter 2006 issue, 18.