$1.5 million renovation of WRTP | BIG STEP’s Milwaukee office unveiled at 50th anniversary gala
MILWAUKEE, WIS. (10/1/2025) — The Milwaukee training center for the Wisconsin Regional
Training Partnership | Building Industry Group Skilled Trade Employment Program (WRTP | BIG
STEP) has a new look — and a new name.
Lindsay Blumer, WRTP | BIG STEP president and CEO, dedicated the Vince Toran Training
Center and unveiled the $1.5 million renovation of the nonprofit’s Milwaukee office during the
BIG STEP 50th Anniversary Gala on Sept. 18. Over 300 people attended the event and enjoyed
food, drinks, music, and a self-guided tour of the renovated building.
Vincent Toran, a carpenter by trade and Wisconsin’s first Black building trades apprentice,
started the organization that became BIG STEP. The organization’s mission was to help prepare
people of color and women for jobs in the skilled trades. Toran did everything from teaching
and tutoring to fighting for pensions and retirement plans to personally driving people to and
from work.
“BIG STEP has been such an institution for the past 50 years,” Blumer said. “The work Vince
Toran started and that we do to break down barriers to employment is vital for the health of
our community.”
Today, WRTP | BIG STEP is the only union-supported certified pre-apprenticeship training
center within the Milwaukee city limits. The nonprofit continues to prepare people traditionally
underrepresented in construction and manufacturing, particularly women and people of color,
to start careers in the skilled trades through certified pre-apprenticeship programs. This training
is often the first step to securing a paid apprenticeship.
The Milwaukee office underwent a major renovation starting in February 2025 to modernize
the training center and lobby level of the historic building, located at 38th St. and Wisconsin
Ave. The new spaces include mobile training pods with tools and materials specific to each
skilled trade, a classroom equipped with the latest tools, a jobsite safety training area,
smartboards for classrooms, new meeting rooms, a kitchenette for participants, collaborative
workspaces, a lactation room for nursing parents, and a more accessible lobby. Welding bays
are also being added to meet employer demand for applicants with welding experience.
“We are the last no-cost training facility in Milwaukee city proper, and it’s important that our
youth and our adults have access to a state-of-the-art skills training facility so that we can build
the workforce of the future,” Blumer said.
Sponsorships and $1.5 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
funded the renovation project. Naming opportunities are still available for select spaces in the
Vince Toran Training Center, including the Wall of Support. Donors may purchase plaques to
add to the wall to show support for WRTP | BIG STEP. Plaques can be purchased via WRTP | BIG
STEP’s Square site. For more information about space sponsorships, contact Stephanie Gallion,
chief marketing officer at WRTP | BIG STEP.
Photos of the renovated facility and the BIG STEP 50th Anniversary Gala are available to
download here. More information about the renovated spaces at WRTP | BIG STEP’s
Milwaukee office is available here.
