Issue link: http://e-delivery.uberflip.com/i/387316
1 Women Building Futures (WBF) is an organization poised for growth. We continue to deliver programs and services that make it possible for women to enter successful careers in the construction trades. In 2013 we began to build the foundation to graduate more women, into more trades, into more geographies. In other words, we are working hard to deliver more qualified workers into the Alberta and Canadian labour force. WBF continued to move forward our vision of "being valued for empowering women to succeed in non-traditional careers, inspiring positive economic change for women and forever transforming the face of industry in Canada." We recruited and trained 16 women for Imperial's Kearl Oil Sands project and delivered our third contract with LaFarge to prepare ready mix operators. SureHire Occupational Health Testing came on as a partner to provide industry testing (drug and alcohol, fitness for work, audio and numerous other safety parameters) to our students. "This partnership makes a lot of sense in terms of WBF's mandate to place more female workers into industry, and SureHire's belief in promoting safe work environments," says Kyle Powell, President & CEO of SureHire. "We've heard firsthand from our clients the benefits of implementing pre-employment testing in terms of reduced injuries and incidents, increased productivity, and increased worker retention." A new partnership was formed with LIFT Philanthropy Partners to provide in-kind support and funding to advance WBF's organizational capacities to implement its new business model in a way that is scalable and sustainable. The Suncor Energy Foundation and Alberta Innovation and Advanced Education also joined forces to support the vision behind our 2014-2016 Strategic Plan. Our goal is to significantly increase the number of women entering and completing a construction-related apprenticeship. We believe that more employers will meet their trades workforce needs with our graduates. And, we believe that everyone on the WBF team will have the opportunity to contribute fully and where they have the most passion. Thank you to our partners from industry, government, funding agencies as well as our instructors and staff, and our Board for making this possible. Sharon Bell Chair, Board of Directors JudyLynn Archer CEO and President MESSAGE FROM THE BOARD CHAIR AND CEO OUR GOAL IS TO SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASE THE NUMBER OF WOMEN ENTERING AND COMPLETING A CONSTRUCTION-RELATED APPRENTICESHIP.