INDIANAPOLIS — Teenage girls are learning about construction and building trades here in Indianapolis.
The program aims to bridge a gap and help encourage employment. Currently, women make up 11% of the nation's construction workers.
On Monday, the Build Your Future Indiana program hosted a construction camp.
Middle and high school girls got to learn about construction trades, hear from women working in the industry, and construction sites. They also got hands-on experience.
"If we start talking to kids about careers at a younger age, kids are better able to know what they want to do when they get older and what they don't want to do," said Macauley Wieland-Horning, a coordinator for Build Your Future Indiana. "Some kids have decided that pouring concrete is not something they enjoy, but they like the bird houses that we are doing. Now they may like residential construction and not horizontal construction. This way we talk to kids and they can chose a pathway in high school."
It's not just a one-day program. This one continues through Wednesday.
There are afterschool clubs that meet to help young women decide if construction is the path for them.