A Final Letter of Gratitude from the Director

“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them; that only creates sorrow… Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.” —Lao Tzu

As the Washington State Construction Center of Excellence (CCE) prepares to close its doors on June 30, I find myself doing what I imagine most of you do at the end of a long project: walking the site one more time, taking stock, noticing the intricacies of what was built, looking for any last items to refine. Twenty-five years ago, this Center was founded on a belief that Washington’s construction industry could be smarter, safer, more equitable, and more connected to the education and training system that feeds it. That belief was not naive. It was a roadmap. And we have spent every one of those years building out every lane of it. The relationships we made, the systems we designed, the tools we created: they outlast the funding lines. They were designed to do just that. The next phase belongs to you. We are not at the end of that road. We are at a milestone.

Together, through collaborations and partnerships, we have created a SHIP grant Toolbox Talks library of more than 370 DOSH-vetted and approved safety briefings in English, Spanish, and Russian, making jobsite safety accessible across language in ways this industry had rarely seen. New toolbox talks are still being released monthly, the project will continue under Christina Riley’s leadership, and the CCE site will host them until AGC of Washington, the Pierce County Labor Council, AFL-CIO, and ANEW integrate these materials and videos into their own websites. Our thanks to Ricardo Ibarra of Trio Group for leading CCE online asset transfers.

We built Apprenticeships Rock, a statewide career exploration platform designed to meet the next generation of tradespeople where they are. My deepest thanks to Jason Petrait of Aspect Works for leading this crucial update, and to ANEW for agreeing to host the website moving forward.

We launched the Construction Education Community of Practice (which will continue with Renton Technical College as host and Jason Petrait as facilitator), created the Washington State Construction Durable Skills Framework, completed a DACUM in Construction Management, and built the Construction Equity Dashboard: tools designed to tell the truth about where this industry stands and where it still needs to go. We’ve advised on and supported projects for cities, counties, state agencies, unions, colleges, universities, employers, and nonprofit organizations across a wide array of subject areas that shape the construction industry. In the last three years alone, that work has totaled 47 projects, reports, initiatives, and consultations.

We built TradeEmpower.com, the nation’s only living document library for the U.S. Department of Labor Women’s Bureau, which will now live permanently with the Washington State Women’s Commission, ensuring those resources remain accessible to everyone who needs them. The Enlighten Women’s Forum and the EmPower Women’s Leadership Conference brought hundreds of tradeswomen together, from pre-apprentices to CEOs, to build connections, community, and tools the industry has too rarely made space for.

We also led work that others were not willing to risk, let alone talk about. We developed the first industry-specific toolbox talks in the nation addressing gender-based violence and harassment with Kate Miceli; GBVH workshops with Robin Runge, JD; and menstrual health and menopause in the trades trainings and toolbox talks with Mathilde Roux. These are not comfortable topics for an industry that has long avoided them. We walked straight toward them, named them out loud, built the resources, and put them directly in the hands of workers and supervisors. Silence, fear, and embarrassment have never protected anyone or improved a workplace.

Women still represent just over 4% of workers in onsite construction and extraction occupations nationwide. That is not a pipeline problem. That is a structural problem built from decades of exclusion, hostile job sites, and a culture that has too often told women they are guests in their own industry. Our sisters are not guests. They are our coworkers, supervisors, leaders, and advocates, and they are holding this industry up while still being asked to prove they belong in it.

The next step for inclusion must move beyond mentorship to sponsorship. Mentorship offers guidance; sponsorship drives action. Sponsorship means advocating for workers who have been overlooked, creating high-visibility opportunities, opening doors that have historically stayed closed, and ensuring that workers from marginalized communities, workers with disabilities, and everyone who has had to prove their right to be onsite can get into the rooms where decisions are made and contribute their expertise. Equity and access are not a “values statement.” Right now, the leaders and journeypersons of the future are standing in the very workforce this industry has excluded and made unwelcome for decades.

Everyone is watching. Workforce development professionals, CTE instructors, college faculty, apprenticeship coordinators, and most importantly, every person standing at the entrance to this industry wondering if there is a place for them inside. They are making that decision right now, based on what they see you do next. I believe this industry is ready. But believing is not enough. The work awaits, and what comes next will be built by your hands, hearts, and minds.

To every tradeswoman who fought for a seat at the table and then turned around to pull someone else into it, and to every instructor, coordinator, journey worker, union rep, employer, consultant, and partner organization who treated workforce development not as a transaction but as a calling: you are why this work mattered.

To our collaborators, grantors, and consultants, who understood that workforce equity and industry strength are the same priority: thank you for contributing to the infrastructure we now leave as legacy.

To Renton Technical College, our host institution: this partnership has been a genuine gift. Dr. Stephanie Delaney and Dr. Yoshiko Harden, you gave the WSCCE a home, a strong network of support, and a family of thought partners. Never once was there hesitation to support the WSCCE when the work required courage and risk. Your unwavering commitment to diversity, equity, access, inclusion, and social justice made everything we did possible.

The WSCCE Advisory Board has been the compass that kept all of our work purpose-driven and human-centered. More than 35 catalysts, representing industry and colleges across the state, have served on the board, led during my tenure by the visionaries Diane Kocer and Laura Soma.

The Centers of Excellence are closing because of state budget cuts. Not because our work was finished. Not because the value was uncertain. Not because the need went away. The need is as urgent as it has ever been. To every past and current director, coordinator, and team member at all 12 Centers: your work has mattered. Deeply, measurably, permanently. I am thankful for the journey with each of you, through good times and difficult ones.

For everyone reading this letter, thank you for being here. Not just today. For all of it. Every meeting, every phone call, every email, every time you showed up at a conference, a site visit, or a committee table and said, with your presence, this work matters and I am going to put my name behind it. That is not a small thing. I have never taken any of it for granted. The Center closes June 30. The work it produced does not. Toolbox Talks are still being downloaded. The Durable Skills Framework is still evolving. The women who found their people in those rooms have not forgotten each other.

Whenever we traveled, my Pops would have me look out the windows of the car. “What do you see,” he’d ask, “that someone in the trades designed, built, and maintains to keep us on the road right now?” When I was young, my answers were simple. As I grew, my mind wandered into the infrastructure and composition of thoroughfares, signal systems, electrical grids, gas stations, bridges, hotels, rest stops. The trades, he taught me, are everywhere. Every day. In everything we do. That lesson is as magical to me now as it was then. And for the last three and a half years, I have had the profound privilege of working alongside the people who keep our world alive and running.

Here is what I know about people who construct things for a living: they do not walk away from a good foundation. They build on it. So today I am asking you to do what you have always done. Show up. Bring your expertise. Use your influence. Hold the door open for the next generation and welcome them in ways construction traditions never did. Carry this work forward in every room, every industry table, every hiring conversation, and every apprenticeship enrollment you are part of. Change is inevitable: wondrous, fantastic, and filled with endless possibility. Every structure in this state was constructed, renovated, or demolished by someone who refused to quit and embraced the challenges that change demands. That is your legacy too. Protect it. The good work continues through each of you.

With respect, solidarity, and profound gratitude,

Christina Rupp, MA Ed., Director, Washington State Construction Center of Excellence