The NECA/IBEW Powering America team is hard at work installing and maintaining our country’s electrical infrastructure and with more and more buildings being constructed every day – none of it would be possible without world-class instructors ensuring that apprentices and journeymen electricians are properly trained.

But where do they get that world-class reputation? Partially, at The National Training Institute or NTI.

NTI has been celebrating 31 years of world-class training. And when it was first founded, the purpose was to professionally train educators instructing IBEW apprentices and journeymen.

Today, that still holds true; however, it has evolved into much more.

When asked what the cornerstone of the NECA/IBEW Powering America Team’s partnership is, Todd Stafford, Executive Director, Electrical Training Alliance, the NECA/IBEW Powering America Team’s training arm, said, “to make sure they both have the highest trained, most skilled workers available to the electrical construction industry. And when you remember that safety and skills go hand in hand, we are able to work together to develop the finest training program in the world for electrical workers.”

Every summer, the future leaders of the industry descend on the host campus of The University of Michigan to learn how they can be better members of the union, employees for contractors and instructors in the schools.

They’re asked to keep an open mind as not only are there opportunities to learn and grow, but also there are opportunities to connect with likeminded individuals.

And after NTI is over, they’re more prepared than ever to take what they’ve learned back to their home areas, and their apprenticeship schools and begin the tough but necessary work to continue to do what helps makes the union side of the trade successful – proper training.