By Dianne Anderson

Until now, most young women of color have yet to see a Black woman in a hard hat, probably for lack of visibility, but more likely, lack of opportunity.

Not a lot of Black women are seen working construction sites, except for Robin Thorne, who goes on-site to make sure the job is done right. To her, it’s a lot like a second home, which she wants young women to experience as they enter a male-dominated field.

“I guess it’s because it’s the world I’m in. I tend to think there are more young ladies seeing us, but when we do the workshops I’m finding they’re not. I’m surprised,” said Thorne, chemical engineer and the founder of DemoChicks, a nonprofit organization.

Last year, her company celebrated five years of operation. Within that time, DemoChicks had given out nearly $30,000 in scholarships.

“I said that we can wait until we grow, or build the story as we grow,” she said. “My philosophy is always to do the work to the extent we can do it until we can do more, even if it’s one workshop at a time.”

In recent times, her six-series workshop with an afterschool program at the Northpointe Housing Community brought in professionals from several outside large companies specializing in planning and engineering. Kids interacted, and got a glimpse into a variety of careers through presenters.

But within the engineering industry, she wonders how many women-led organizations and organizations of color that have relied on some DEI projects can get a fair shake. Now with the onslaught of policies against programs, grants and funding, she feels it is set to have a big impact.

Recently, she was awarded a grant from the Army Corps of Engineers for debris removal at a Palisades school. She has worked for other government agencies, and emphasized she had won several contracts, but this is their First Army Corps of Engineers contract, and she is excited.

She said it’s important that young women in engineering can see someone that looks like them.

“When people see I’m doing it, they feel they too can do it,” she said. “I’m doing the work, nobody is giving me anything. I’ve been knocking on the Army Corps door for years.”

Thorne led her first big project in 2018 with a $3.9 million demolition of a federal prison deep in the desert. Before then, she worked on smaller projects, including the Youth Center for the Department of Forestry.

Engineering is a viable career, but she said there are adjacent skills that do not require as much of a long-term education commitment to earn a decent living, like maritime and longshore workers, or apprentice programs with the carpenters and painters unions.

In working with schools, colleges, and partners, she said her workshops pique the interest of  younger students to know the possibility exists. For older students, it’s how to access scholarships and mentorships from successful women who are willing to guide them. Mostly, the biggest challenge in the industry is to fairly reflect the general population of Long Beach.

So far, she has worked with about 300 young women, helping them to get interested in more lucrative STEM fields.

“Being Black in Long Beach, we’re 14% of the population so when we go into the schools the expectation is that we probably see 14% of our girls. Sometimes, we are intentional about reaching out to all black organizations, and making positive choices as a nonprofit,” she said.

DEI has had a bad rap lately, but she said doesn’t mean less qualified. With her most recent award, she had to prove her work, along with financials. They required work for at least one burn building, but she had already worked and demoed two.

“They’re holding us to the same standard. There’s nothing less qualified about us doing the work. It’s just that if it wasn’t for DEI they wouldn’t have even looked at us. They reached out to me,” she said.

Her award for the burn school entails remove and haul any hazardous waste or unburned debris, and to conduct hazardous materials testing. Her workers are monitored, wear respirators and they monitor if there are any exposures.

Last year, DemoChicks honored Long Beach City College Professor Leslie Forehand, Ed.D., who is leading the program along with colleague, and assistant professor Lilliana Castro.

Prof. Castro said that Dr. Forehand initially brought the design and architecture program back to Long Beach, which at the time only had offered drafting.  But, for the two women, Dr. Foreman and herself, leading the architectural program is nearly unheard of as most schools and architecture businesses are led by white men.

That reality makes it hard to attract women as they don’t see the opportunity.  Last year, their program had a 55 to 45 ratio, with 45 identified female students. Most LBCC students are either Latinx or Black-identified, and draws a good mix of participants.

Lately, they are working on a tiny home with five men and four women, where students are learning code requirements, with direct training in the design and build process.

“In this particular class, what I would call very femme presenting students, it’s very rare to see folks picking up tools and also have their nails done,” she said.

The program is located at the Trades, Technology, and Community Learning Campus, formerly known as the Pacific Coast Campus, where they teach traditional shop on-site, focused on hands-on training with skills and tools that go beyond traditional architecture or engineering programs.

She said there are a few fast tracked courses to land a decent paying job. One student she knows is already working in design after one semester.

Once built, the tiny house will be dedicated to a needy student dealing with housing insecurity, and set up for $1 a year lease. Students in her program design and build within 8 intensive weeks learning to draft, design to create a presentation, and pull permits. For 8 weeks of the course, they build.

Being a very hands-on design and build person, she said she tries to convey to her students just how many fields of opportunity exist in the trades.

“Do you want to be an architect? Do you want to be an interiors person? What do you want to project manage?” she said. “There’s so much someone can go into once you leave the program because of the versatility of the skills they get.”

For more information, see https://demochicks.org/

For more information on the LBCC Architecture program, see https://www.lbcc.edu/architecture