Neighborly Announces the Fall 2014 Women in the Trades Scholarship Winners

Women in the Trades program continues to advance education and career opportunities for women in the service trades across the country

WACO, Texas (October 23, 2014) – Neighborly®, formerly Dwyer Group, a holding company of seven service-based franchise brands, has announced the recipients of the fall 2014 Women in the Trades Scholarships. These scholarships are awarded to women working towards a career in the trades, to students studying for a career in the trades, or to front-line female employees at franchise locations for any of The Neighborly service brands.

“We are very proud of this semester’s recipients, and we look forward to watching them achieve their career goals in the service industry,” said Dina Dwyer-Owens, Co-Chair of Neighborly. “This scholarship allows us to open doors to the service industry and offer women interested in a trade profession the opportunity to further their expertise and experience. The fall 2014 winners show great passion and promise towards achieving great things, and we are happy to be part of that journey.”

The Women in the Trades (WITT) initiative was established in 2012 by Dwyer-Owens to offer women the opportunity to break professional boundaries and pursue life-long goals across the service trades with the help of the WITT scholarship program. The WITT initiative is focused on educating and promoting the hiring of women for traditionally male-dominated roles in the trades industry. WITT scholarships are awarded two times a year, in the spring and fall.

The fall 2014 WITT recipients who each received a $1,500 scholarship are:

• Katelyn Bateman, of Valley Mills, TX, enrolled at Texas State Technical College to be an electrician.
• Molly Olesky, of Wilmington, NC, enrolled at Cape Fear Community College to be an electrician.
• Shellie Ellis, of Austin, TX, employee of Mr. Appliance® and taking courses to become a certified appliance technician.

The WITT scholarship is open to women 18 and older interested in pursuing a career in the trades and covers tuition, books, travel and/or fees. Funds can be applied to any accredited trade or technical school in the United States or Canada. For more information email [email protected].

About Neighborly®:

Neighborly, based in Waco, Texas, is a holding company of seven franchise businesses, each selling and supporting a different franchise under the following service marks: Aire Serv®, Glass Doctor®, The Grounds Guys™, Mr. Appliance®, Mr. Electric®, Mr. Rooter® (Drain Doctor in the UK and Portugal), and Rainbow International®. Collectively, these independent franchise concepts offer customers worldwide a broad base of residential and commercial services. In addition, Dwyer operates glass shops in New England under the Portland Glass brand name. Neighborly is a portfolio company of The Riverside Company, a global private equity firm. The firm’s international portfolio includes more than 75 companies. More information on The Neighborly, or its franchise concepts, is available at DwyerGroup.com.

Neighborly is also on Twitter at @DwyerGroup.