Program helps women build construction careers

Key points:

• A program founded nearly two decades ago in Mississippi has found success training women to break into the male-dominated construction industry.
• Run by Moore Community House, the program is one of more than 80 National Mission Institutions in the U.S. supported by United Women in Faith grants.
• The Women in Construction curriculum teaches the basic skills needed to gain confidence and prepares students to be fit physically and mentally when they hit the job market.

Crystal Latham was ankle-deep in mud at the Bayou View Apartments and loving every minute of it.

“I’m replacing an inch-and-a-half cast-iron pipe with an inch-and-a-half PVC pipe, for a 22-feet water line,” Latham cheerfully explained to an uncomprehending reporter. “It busted, so we cut it out and are replacing it with some PVC pipe and a couple couplings.”

The work is going so well that the manager of the apartment complex put her on retainer to keep up with plumbing issues there.

Latham, 36, proprietor of Crystal Latham All and All AC and Maintenance LLC, spent most of her career in childcare, but never lost her fond memories of helping her father fix things around the house.

“I have three older brothers and I’m the only girl, so I was right there wanting to learn and come right along and help, too.”

Moore Community House and its Women in Construction school in Biloxi were Latham’s bridge to a new, higher-paying career. She graduated two years ago — one of more than 1,000 women who have completed the program, which teaches women the basics of being a construction worker. The school also offers bilingual classes to accommodate immigrants, who constitute about 10% of participants, and boasts a 70% job-placement rate.

Moore Community House is one of more than 80 National Mission Institutions in the U.S. that United Women in Faith supports with grants. It’s also one of the many charitable institutions that has struggled because of federal funding cuts by the Trump administration.

“The Women in Construction program, started in 2008 post-Hurricane Katrina, initially received a $3.5 million, four-year Department of Labor grant in 2016, which supported short-term training and childcare services for low-income women,” said Ruth Mazara, the program’s director. “A grant from the Women’s Bureau of the Labor Department, terminated in May 2025, led to a $250,000 funding shortfall.”

The program also gets funding from the Kellogg and Lowe’s foundations and United Women in Faith, who granted more than $1.2 million to National Mission Institutions last year.

Sally Vonner, the top executive of United Women in Faith, said nearly 500,000 women, children and youth have been helped through such grants.

“At a time when many sources of funding are in flux, United Women in Faith continues to support Moore Community House and the other 80-plus National Mission Institutions around the country,” Vonner said.

“As federal policies and funding priorities shift, it is a crucial part of our mission to continue to support NMIs as they meet the needs of impacted communities, now facing threat of loss of childcare, food security and housing,” she added.

“National Mission Institutions have remained steadfast, shown incredible resiliency and creativity and continued to be a beacon of hope at a time when it is most needed.”

These days, Mazara spends the bulk of her time raising funds.

“I’m really overwhelmed because there are so many things that we want to accomplish, and we have a short time frame,” she said. “But I have a lot of hope.”

On a visit April 9 to Moore Community House, there was no evidence that the Women in Construction school is endangered. About 20 students in green vests were working at several outdoor work stations.

The program starts with the basics: Students were practicing hammering nails into blocks of wood. Later they practiced working with a circular saw.

Posted on many walls of the building’s maze-like interior were encouraging quotes such as “Don’t Quit Your Daydream,” “Do It With Passion” and “Girl Boss.”

Some of the students had made real sacrifices to be there.

Ethel Williams-Haynes, now an instructor, sometimes slept in her car when she was a Women in Construction student.

“I wasn’t located here on the coast (of Mississippi),” she said. “I wanted change. I wanted something different and I so wanted that foundation for myself and my kids.”

Williams-Haynes, who grew up in poverty in Jackson with seven siblings, said she worked at McDonald’s for $7.25 an hour.

“Even when I got paid, I didn’t have any money,” she said.

“At one point, I had a job that paid nine or 10 dollars an hour. But then my kids’ benefits got cut … which meant no food stamps, no Medicaid. … As we’ve seen with the new administration, some people think that the work that we do isn’t important. But it’s very important.”

Other Women in Construction students reported previous low-paying careers as security officers, restaurant managers, waitresses and custodians. One found herself taking a pay cut when she was promoted from waitressing to managing the same restaurant.

“Management doesn’t pay anything,” said Sarah Bernardo, 48. “I am very good at being a manager at a restaurant, but I needed a change.”

Bernardo has good memories of growing up helping her dad, who owned a sprinkler-fitting business.

“I’ve always kind of been prone to blue-collar construction work,” she said. “I like it. I don’t mind getting dirty.”

She started her own company, Rising Roots Rentals, in March. It rents excavators and skid steers. She will do repairs herself.

The Women in Construction program teaches more than new skills.

“They could easily just offer you the skills and be like, ‘There you go,’” Williams-Haynes said. “But, no, they really have you take care of your body and mental state, because it’s really important in the work setting, because if you’re angry and you show up to work, that isn’t going to work out with teamwork and everything.”

Most class sessions begin with light calisthenics and occasionally yoga.

“Every other Wednesday, we’ll have a licensed therapist come in, and he’ll speak,” Williams-Haynes said. “He stressed that when you’re in your construction site, you’ve got to have the right mental state and physical state.”

The women said they weren’t particularly concerned about sexism or harassment on job sites.

“I’ve always been a big, assertive, don’t-(mess)-with-me kind of woman, and no one’s ever really messed with me,” Bernardo said. “But, yes, for my normal women, who are smaller and not as assertive to use their voice, I do worry about them and so I will definitely be looking out for them.”

Another instructor, Marion McAuley, said the stereotype of the overly delicate woman doesn’t jibe with reality most of the time.

“They’re so wrong because … historically, women have always worked very hard physically,” said McCauley, 60. “We worked in fields with babies on our backs. … The women that came to America and were the pioneers, I’m sure they chopped down some trees with axes.”

Women can work smarter, McCauley believes, using physics and gravity to lift things ergonomically better than men.

“The goal for me is to tell the women we train: ‘You’re not in this to dig holes,’” she said. “You’re the one that learns to read and interpret and understand and implement the code book. That’s complex stuff, and that’s the stuff that really pays a lot more. We’re not trying to create neck-down workers.”

Latham is still at the beginning of her journey, but she has big ambitions.

“I just really want to expand my company,” she said.

An early goal is to get her own building where she can store air conditioning and plumbing equipment. Another is to hire a couple of helpers.

Latham has three children, ranging from 14 to 18.

“That’s a great feeling that I’m able to do the job that can make the money to provide my kids’ colleges and growing up and just taking care of them,” Latham said.

Patterson is a UM News reporter in Nashville, Tennessee, and DuBose is a freelance photographer in Nashville.

News media contact: Julie Dwyer at (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umnews.org. To read more United Methodist news, subscribe to the free UM News Digest.