Milwaukee Training Center Naming, Renovation Honors Wisconsin’s First Black Apprentice
$1.5 million renovation of WRTP | BIG STEP’s Milwaukee office unveiled at 50th anniversary gala
MILWAUKEE, WIS. (10/1/2025) — The Milwaukee training center for the Wisconsin Regional Training Partnership | Building Industry Group Skilled Trade Employment Program (WRTP | BIG STEP) has a new look — and a new name.
Lindsay Blumer, WRTP | BIG STEP president and CEO, dedicated the Vince Toran Training Center and unveiled the $1.5 million renovation of the nonprofit’s Milwaukee office during the BIG STEP 50th Anniversary Gala on Sept. 18. Over 300 people attended the event and enjoyed food, drinks, music, and a self-guided tour of the renovated building.
Vincent Toran, a carpenter by trade and Wisconsin’s first Black building trades apprentice, started the organization that became BIG STEP. The organization’s mission was to help prepare people of color and women for jobs in the skilled trades. Toran did everything from teaching and tutoring to fighting for pensions and retirement plans to personally driving people to and from work.
“BIG STEP has been such an institution for the past 50 years,” Blumer said. “The work Vince Toran started and that we do to break down barriers to employment is vital for the health of our community.”
Today, WRTP | BIG STEP is the only union-supported certified pre-apprenticeship training center within the Milwaukee city limits. The nonprofit continues to prepare people traditionally underrepresented in construction and manufacturing, particularly women and people of color, to start careers in the skilled trades through certified pre-apprenticeship programs. This training is often the first step to securing a paid apprenticeship.
The Milwaukee office underwent a major renovation starting in February 2025 to modernize the training center and lobby level of the historic building, located at 38th St. and Wisconsin Ave. The new spaces include mobile training pods with tools and materials specific to each skilled trade, a classroom equipped with the latest tools, a jobsite safety training area, smartboards for classrooms, new meeting rooms, a kitchenette for participants, collaborative workspaces, a lactation room for nursing parents, and a more accessible lobby. Welding bays are also being added to meet employer demand for applicants with welding experience.
“We are the last no-cost training facility in Milwaukee city proper, and it’s important that our youth and our adults have access to a state-of-the-art skills training facility so that we can build the workforce of the future,” Blumer said.
Sponsorships and $1.5 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development funded the renovation project. Naming opportunities are still available for select spaces in the Vince Toran Training Center, including the Wall of Support. Donors may purchase plaques to add to the wall to show support for WRTP | BIG STEP. Plaques can be purchased via WRTP | BIG STEP’s Square site. For more information about space sponsorships, contact Stephanie Gallion, chief marketing officer at WRTP | BIG STEP.
Photos of the renovated facility and the BIG STEP 50th Anniversary Gala are available to download here. More information about the renovated spaces at WRTP | BIG STEP’s Milwaukee office is available here.
ABOUT WRTP | BIG STEP
WRTP | BIG STEP is a 501(c)3 nonprofit workforce intermediary dedicated to connecting people to family-sustaining jobs. Its mission is to enhance the ability of public and private sector organizations to recruit, develop, and retain a more diverse, qualified workforce in construction, manufacturing, and emerging sectors of the regional economy. Learn more at wrtp.org.