Erin Johansson

Erin Johansson is Research Director for the Jobs With Justice Education Fund, where she’s spent almost two decades producing research and developing programs to build collective power for working people. Much of her research focuses on uplifting women and people of color in the trades. Specifically, Erin’s research is used to guide unions and employers on how to better recruit women and people of color into registered apprenticeship programs and train them to access family-supporting careers in the construction and manufacturing trades. This research includes a 2016 report detailing the best practices in promoting construction diversity through apprenticeship, a 2017 report exploring the topic of apprenticeships and diversity, and a 2019 report documenting efforts to ensure more Black workers had access to manufacturing careers. Erin and her colleagues at Jobs With Justice later moved this research into practice in Denver, helping Colorado Jobs With Justice launch its program for tradeswomen, Equity and Possibilities in Construction (EPIC). Erin currently serves on the federal Advisory Committee on Apprenticeship.