Building Skills Partnership

The mission of Building Skills Partnership (BSP) is to improve the quality of life for low-wage property service workers and their families by increasing their skills, access to education, and opportunities for career and community advancement.

In high-rise buildings and industrial parks throughout California, tens of thousands of janitors toil through the night to keep workplaces clean. Ninety percent of them are immigrants, most never finished grade school, and many are struggling to learn English while working long hours for low wages. Building Skills Partnership offers these workers a rare chance to invest in their futures by acquiring skills-training on the job, while also helping employers cultivate a more efficient and knowledgeable workforce. The nonprofit partnership, with seven offices in regions across the state, was founded in 2007 in the wake of janitors’ strikes and contentious negotiations between the Service Employees International Union and employers. Building Skills Partnership provides classes in English, citizenship preparation, financial capability, parent engagement, and health and wellness, as well as job-related skills such as digital literacy. Most of the classes are taught at the work site and often during work hours, making it as easy as possible for workers to participate. Investing in their workers’ training has paid off for employers. New skills and communication abilities among employees have led to higher job performance, allowing building owners to attract new tenants with a higher level of service. As a result, the training program is in high demand from building owners and other employers — more than the partnership can meet.

BSP continues to advocate for programming and leadership opportunities among the Latino population, by increasing its programming including providing leadership opportunities both at their workplace and in the community.

Since 2007, BSP has trained over 5,500 low wage immigrant janitors throughout California. Each year, BSP provides training and related programming that impact about roughly 2,300 janitors across California, 90% of which are Latino. Since 2010, BSP has had a satellite office in Orange County. As of today, about 1,200 janitorial workers have participated in BSP programming that includes workplace English and job skills classes, computer literacy, citizenship training, occupational and general health and wellness, Spanish literacy, and parent engagement programming. Since inception, BSP has developed its programs to cater to the specific needs of Latino janitors, and it has become a national model for targeting this hard-to-reach demographic. By offering English
training at worksites and mostly on paid work-time, BSP removes traditional barriers for low-wage adults to access English and vocational training, such as childcare, transportation and second jobs.

This past year, BSP's newest program, the Infectious Disease Certification program, successfully graduated its 1,000 janitors from the course. BSP will continue to provide the IDC course to janitorial workers, a workforce that was classified as essential workers during the pandemic. As more people resume in person work, it is crucial that frontline workers continue to be safe.

In a recent, multi-program survey conducted by BSP, 60% of workers claimed that the most challenging aspect of participating in BSP’s virtual programs was their lack of digital skills and 30% mentioned that they did not have a digital device they could log in with at home. The survey results also highlighted BSP staff’s major role in assisting workers in logging them online for classes, emphasizing the need for a more personal approach within this population with multiple barriers. BSP will continue advocating and investing in digital literacy programming and material in the hopes of bridging the digital divide highlighted during the pandemic.

Closing the Digital Divide: Since the onset of the pandemic, it was made apparent that BSP's target population lacked the digital skills needed to successfully navigate technology. BSP continues to address the digital divide by investing in additional training as well as supplies in order for the continued success of the immigrant population.

Improving Financial Wellbeing: BSP needs to continue advocating for savings among the Latino community, a population that tends to not think about it.

Career Pathway Development: BSP is continuing to advocate for career ladder opportunities (through stackable certifications, bridge programs, and pre-apprenticeship programs) to help workers achieve long-term financial stability for themselves and their families.

Elevating Worker Voice: BSP is working to elevate the voices of frontline janitors who are seldom included in discussions about rebuilding the economy.

Evaluations Capacity: As BSP expands its program reach, it will need to increase its evaluations capacity to better understand the needs of its growing service population.

Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego, Sacramento, Oakland, Silicon Valley

"For over a decade, BSP has succeeded in meeting the demand from the industry for a skillful workforce, while advancing the dreams of property service workers and their children. This dream encompasses much more than economic prosperity, it symbolizes personal advancement, and the ability to provide a better life for their families."
-Luis Sandoval, Executive Director

It is a great pleasure to serve as a chair of the Building Skills Partnership Board of Directors and to be part of an organization founded with the objective to provide California’s property service workers the vocational training and education to create opportunities to reach the American Dream. To many janitors, this dream encompasses much more than economic prosperity, it symbolizes personal advancement, the ability to provide a better life for one’s children, and the individual pursuit of liberty and justice. Thousands of subcontracted janitors work in obscurity of day and night while they service California’s top industries including commercial real estate, high-tech, biotech, entertainment and others daily. Building Skills Partnership understands that training and education are key components to immigrant integration and upward mobility.  Building Skills Partnership represents a unique non-profit collaboration between the janitors' union (SEIU-USWW), commercial building owners, responsible janitorial employers, client companies and community leaders.  Building Skills Partnership’s ambitious goals are driven by the common interest amongst its collaborators to provide training and education to elevate individuals, families and the communities it serves.
During these hard economic times, there is an urgent need for adults to receive training and education and Building Skills Partnership serves as a model to replicate throughout California and the nation. Its unique partnership, curriculum and successes are models that can be replicated to bridge the vocational skill and education gap amongst workers.  Its core program areas allows workers and their families to become empowered through training and education to ultimately end the cycle of poverty, low educational attainment, poor health and low civic participation. 
Building Skills Partnership strives to develop programs that are effective in meeting the needs of property service workers in California; our goal is to ensure each participant of the program is able to acquire the necessary training and education to enable economic prosperity, personal advancement, and the ability to provide a better life for their children.
 
Sincerely,
 
Victor Narro
Board of Directors Chair