“People come here to go to work.”
After a four year process of building a curriculum and getting licensed through the New York State Department of Education — The Craft Technical Institute is now recruiting students for its first class.
The training center is situated on Manhattan Avenue on Buffalo’s East Side.
It’s a location that was picked with a purpose.
“We recognized there was a need for trainman in the construction field in Buffalo,” said Frank Daniel, the director of CTI. “Particularly in the area we are in downtown because a lot of the building is going on downtown.”
This is a center created to help skilled laborers get working in Buffalo: welders, steamfitters, HVAC and heavy equipment operators.
Each session has just 20 students; 10 per class and the school only employs the most experienced trainers
“They all have at least 10 years experience in the industry. On average, our instructors have 20-25 years.”
The cost of tuition is far below the industry standard, said Daniel. Typically a course like this would run about $15,000 but tuition at CTI is just $7,300 for this welder course. The other courses will be price adjusted based on the industry and time required.
The school hopes to graduate at least 120 students each year — Daniel said in his 32 years working in the industry he has had a 90% placement rate for students.
Daniel said this is a center opened with money out of investors and partner’s own pockets. No government help or grants went into opening up the school.
He said it was arduous, and expensive, but the investment was worth it to put money back into the pockets of those in his community through jobs.
CTI is currently recruiting for its first session. You can call for more information at (716) 464-3442.
