MILWAUKEE, WI (March 18, 2025) - Milwaukee-based WRTP | BIG STEP has been awarded funding from Madison-based Ascendium Education Group to lead the newly formed Apprenticeship Pathway Coalition Initiative (APCI). Ascendium has granted WRTP | BIG STEP up to $10,000,000 over the next five years to develop Wisconsin's future apprenticeship-focused workforce. These funds are designated
Titan CEO and headline sponsor Wipfli LLP are pleased to announce Lindsay Blumer, President and CEO of WRTP | BIG STEP, has been selected as a 2025 Wisconsin Titan 100. The Titan 100 program recognizes Wisconsin’s Top 100 CEOs & C-level executives. They are the area’s most accomplished business leaders in their industry, determined
At WRTP | BIG STEP’s first Cheers to Careers celebrity mixology fundraiser, we raised money to build ladders of opportunity for more people to enter family-sustaining careers in the constructing and manufacturing sectors, ensuring more Milwaukee families have the satisfaction of a good career pathway and a middle-class life. During the
On October 22, 2021, WRTP | BIG STEP was thrilled to host Senator Tammy Baldwin at our Racine location. During the visit, Senator Baldwin, Racine Mayor Cory Mason, Racine Alderman Maurice Horton, and Gateway Technical College’s VP of Business and Workforce Solutions Matthew Janisin joined WRTP’s CEO Lindsay Blumer, COO Toni White, Region Director
Q&A with WRTP/BIG STEP'S Stephanie Johnston | Daily Reporter | Skilled Magazine Stephanie Johnston is at the forefront of training the next generation of tradespeople in south-central Wisconsin. Johnston is the director of the Wisconsin Regional Training Partnership’s BIG STEP training center in Madison. In her role, she oversees the group’s efforts to bring
As first published by Molly Snyder, OnMilwaukee.com. Milwaukee is revered as a “working class” city and a local, not-for-profit organization called WRTP | BIG STEP strives to ensure it remains that way. WRTP | BIG STEP is a Wisconsin-based training partnership and skilled trades employment program. The group’s mission is to – pun intended –
The First Step to a Career in the Skilled Trades Learn About: Occupations and career pathways within the construction skilled trades Our service offerings, including: one on one tutoring to assist with apprenticeship tests, industry interview prep, and industry recognized credential pre apprenticeship trainings
As posted in Milwaukee Courier The nation’s economy took a hit when the pandemic began, and Milwaukee was no exception. The federal government is hopeful that the American Rescue Plan Act will help give cities the boost they need to get their economies rolling. Mayor Tom Barrett is submitting a proposal to the Common
Menomonee Valley Partners and WRTP/BIG STEP joined a new coalition that launched on June 24 by The Century Foundation (TCF), the Urban Manufacturing Alliance (UMA), and seven other urban workforce development organizations to develop training programs that forge a more racially inclusive future for manufacturing. Concentrated in the Midwest, the partnership plans to strategize
As published by the DWD Joshua Johnson had used the same deodorant for 10 years. In fact, he pretty much used the same everything for 10 years—clothes, toothpaste, snack food, prison bunk. Which is why, when he was released from Winnebago Correctional Center in 2005, after serving a decade-long prison sentence for armed robbery,
