About Samuel Staten Sr. Pre-Apprenticeship Program

The Samuel Staten Senior Pre-Apprenticeship Program (SSSPAP) is a 501-C 3, Pennsylvania non-profit corporation designed to increase economic opportunity and to prepare under-represented, disadvantaged individuals to enter and succeed in the Philadelphia Building Trades Unions' apprenticeship programs.

SSSPAP is modeled after the very successful Diversity Apprenticeship Program (DAP), a pre-apprenticeship training program designed in 2000 by the then Laborers Business Manager Samuel Staten, Sr. and operated by Laborers' Local 332. DAP placed over 400 people of color and women in the construction trades and another 380 in non-construction jobs.

SSSPAP, like DAP, was created as the result of the identified need to increase the diversity of the Philadelphia Building Trade unions and provide those interested in participating in the program with better academic and employability skills to successfully to pass the apprenticeship entrance test and interviews, to make the transition into the building trade unions and to attain self-sufficiency by preparing them to secure employment that provides competitive salaries, benefits, and career potential.

SSSPAP will provide Academic Enrichment and Enhancement Courses, Life Skills Training, Financial Literacy Training, Behavior Modification, Case Management, and other supportive services designed to prepare participants to successfully interview and do well on the Building Trades examinations to enter apprenticeships.

Many of the construction trade unions have signed Memoranda of Agreements to support their commitment of taking in SSSPAP participants. SSSPAP will also seek employers and employment outside the construction trades for participants who desire to improve their earning capacity to take care of themselves and their families