Metro launches new workforce development program – WIN-LA – to focus on providing career pathway opportunities in the transportation industry

Woman on escalator

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) today launched Workforce Initiative Now-LA (WIN-LA), a groundbreaking workforce development program focused on creating career pathways in the transportation industry.

Today’s event in downtown Los Angeles introduced WIN-LA to prime contractors, small businesses and other potential partners to encourage their participation in the new program that is designed to benefit the entire region.

“The expansion of our transportation system is going to create hundreds of thousands of new jobs, and we have a responsibility to make sure the people in our own communities have the skills to fill them,” said Los Angeles Mayor and Metro Board Chair Eric Garcetti. Workforce Initiative Now-Los Angeles will offer training resources to people across L.A. County, and prepare them for tomorrow’s good-paying Metro jobs.”

Career pathways include construction, non-construction opportunities in operations/maintenance, administration and professional services. Unique to the program, WIN-LA will provide support for participants in areas such as life skills development, skill set enhancement and educational attainment services through a collaboration of program partners. It also will increase the resources needed for training and placement of hard-to-fill positions within Metro and the transportation industry.

Approximately 39 percent of Metro’s workforce will be eligible for retirement over the next three years with 69 percent of Metro employees currently over the age of 40. Succession planning is crucial to maintaining a viable agency and Metro needs a workforce to deliver its aggressive Measure M program over the next 40 years and beyond.

“Metro’s WIN-LA program reinforces to the community our commitment as a teaching organization that attracts, develops, motivates and retains a world-class workforce,” said L.A. County Supervisor and Metro Board Member Mark Ridley-Thomas. “Metro is in the midst of building the largest infrastructure program in the nation and substantial job opportunities in the transportation arena are available to those who are committed. We believe that WIN-LA will make it easier for people to train and apply and that is a win-win.”

WIN-LA is designed to be a collaborative partnership between Metro and those institutions and organizations interested in helping job seekers, companies and local communities through demand-driven workforce services. The goal is to create career pathway opportunities in the transportation and construction industries.

“From employment training, assessment and placement to ongoing outreach, WIN-LA will give people the tools they need to build better lives and sustainable communities across Metro’s service area,” said Metro CEO Phillip A. Washington. “The program’s first priority is putting people to work. To that end, it will provide potential employees with skills training, placement assistance and resources to help them secure industry positions with competitive wages and career possibilities and to keep those positions throughout their careers.”

Measure M, a half-cent sales tax initiative approved by the voters in 2016, will provide $860 million annually to build 40 highway and transit projects throughout L.A. County over the next 40 years. It is expected to generate an additional 778,000 jobs.

About MetroMetro logo

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) is unique among the nation’s transportation agencies. Created in 1993, Metro is a multimodal transportation agency that transports about 1.3 million passengers daily on a fleet of 2,200 clean air buses and six rail lines. The agency also oversees bus, rail, highway and other mobility-related building projects and leads transportation planning and programming for Los Angeles County.

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