Building a new path toward employment
Program aims to provide skills for jobs in painting, construction
Shaquille Bridges is only 23 but saw the Pro Trade Job Development program as the “second chance” he needs to turn his life around.
Bridges was one of eight men seated in a classroom on a Monday in January, the first day of a 10-week program aimed at teaching participants painting and carpentry, as well as the life skills they need to keep them from being derailed by bad choices.
Through the program, participants learn soft skills such as being on time, grooming, speaking, accountability and how to interact with people in the workplace. They are also taught how to paint, put up drywall and install carpet. They leave with their own set of tools — actual tools, as well as tools for life. Bridges — one of the younger men in the class — admitted to the group that he had problems with authority figures when he was a child and that he was rebellious because he was angry.
“I was actually kicked out of every school since the seventh grade,” Bridges said. “At minimum, I was kicked out of 15 schools, but I ended up graduating from North Division (High School) in 2011.”
A few months later, Bridges was arrested for armed robbery and sent to prison for three years with three years of extended supervision. “I knew before I got out that I was going to make a change in my life,” he said.
More than half of the men in class have been incarcerated at some time in their lives. All were unemployed — the faces behind the city’s stubborn statistic, in which the unemployment rate for working-age black men in Milwaukee hovers at around 50%.
Many in the class felt that the minority-owned skills training program, which has a 70% success rate of finding jobs for participants, was the ticket to changing their lives.
“You are what you put into it,” program director Thomas McCreary, who led the opening session, told the men. “I believe in this program, but if you do not commit to this and be here every day, willing to learn and get something out of it, then it won’t work.
“Your success all falls on you.”
The classes are held in an old industrial building at 3227 N. 31st St. Chief Executive Officer Rashaad Washington, 33, designed the program in 2013 based on his experiences growing up on Milwaukee’s north side and trying to find work after he dropped out of high school.
Washington said he built the curriculum based on what took him from living the “street life” to running two small business enterprises by the time he was 22.
Without fatherly support to guide them along the way, too many black men don’t see all the hard work it takes to be successful because they don’t grow up with strong men in their lives, he said.
In Milwaukee, only one in three black families is headed by a married couple, according to Compel Milwaukee, a grassroots agency focused on building strong families.
*** Raised by a single mother, Washington said he was kicked out of Milwaukee Public Schools and sent to Learning Enterprise of Wisconsin, an alternative high school on the city’s north side. That only made matters worse, he said, because some of the students brought weapons and drugs to school. The school was shut down in 2006.
Washington’s mother worked third shift, so she wasn’t home late at night to keep him from making friends with the wrong crowd. By the time he was 18, at least five of his friends had lost their lives to gun violence and more than a dozen had been incarcerated.
Several events changed his life, he said.
When he was 17 and getting into constant trouble, his mother kicked him out of the house. Although he was upset, Washington said it gave him an opportunity to get away from the violence of Milwaukee by moving to Glendale with his girlfriend.
Later, his daughter was born with cerebral palsy.
“I knew I had to change for her, so I could be in her life because she needed me more than ever,” he said.
At one point, he got into a fight with his daughter’s mother, which put him in jail.
His own mother was at her limit with him. She refused to post his bail.
When he contacted friends, including some who were dealing drugs, all said they didn’t have the $1,000 that was needed. He knew then he had to make a change. He pleaded no contest to the misdemeanor charge and received probation.
Washington went to work at Lena’s Food Store and used that experience to get a job at Master Lock. He was making $11 an hour.
That wasn’t bad for a 20-year-old, but he wanted more so he could provide for his disabled daughter.
He heard that there was money in real estate so he bought a book on the trade. He learned he could save money if he knew how to keep up a property himself and got a job as a painter, working for a family friend who owned several properties.
“I didn’t know about painting, but I knew if I got in that, they could teach me,” he said.
He quickly went from painting to managing and instructing others.
When he asked his boss for a raise and was turned down, he quit and started his own painting operation, Pro Painter MKE.
“I used the knowledge I learned to work for me,” he said.
*** Many of the painters Washington hired would not consistently show up to work on time. Some talked back. Others didn’t know what to say during a job interview.
“The skill sets that their fathers or uncles should have taught them growing up were lacking,” Washington said. “Some of the men needed to start from the basics.”
Washington started Pro Trade Job Development to serve that need. So far, 187 people have gone through the program.
On the first day of class, they worked in groups and were asked to describe the barriers that prevent them from being successful.
Some of the men mentioned their violent environment, where they heard gunshots and sirens all the time. Others talked about how they were constantly surrounded by people who wanted to pull them into negative activity, such as drinking and smoking weed.
“People want to see you fail,” said one. “It’s like the crabs in the barrel mentality.”
In the second week, participants receive tools, a tool belt and hard hat. They learn how to paint, install drywall and carpet in a room at the facility.
“All that we ask is that they show up every day on time and give it their best,” Washington said. “We all have problems, but this is a place where you leave that at the door and not let the things outside of your control become a distraction.”
*** To create a positive environment, every floor of the Pro Trade building is lined with words of wisdom.
On the stairway, a sign reads “No Excuses.” On the door before the participants enter their first class, a handwritten sign says “Please know your why. Before entering it will almost guarantee your success. Now you just have to work hard!”
There are quotes from famous people, such as Vince Lombardi: “Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.”
Graduates of past classes have written their own messages on the office wall.
“I have the power of choice and free will. Today I commit to a positive change. I will give 100% of myself 100% of the time,” wrote Antwan McGregor.
Washington said the words of encouragement are a salve on a wound to all of the negative words that black men hear on a regular basis.
“Most of these men are told every day that they won’t ever amount to anything,” he said. “I know, because people said the same thing about me.”
*** Upon completing the program, students receive a pre-apprentice certificate approved by the Wisconsin Bureau of Apprenticeships. Graduation is held at Manpower Group headquarters in downtown Milwaukee.
The $4,500-per-student cost of the program is covered by donations from community partners and social service agencies.
There is never enough funding to meet demand. The program can serve up to 50 students in its carpentry and painting programs but typically gets about 15.
After a first week of personal development, participants spend four days a week on job skills training and return to the classroom setting on Fridays for feedback.
The final two weeks of the 10-week program are spent off-site doing job readiness skill training. Students must be able to read and do math at a sixth-grade level; be able to take constructive criticism; arrive 15 minutes before the start of class and make all of their commitments. No exceptions.
*** On the first day, when McCreary asked for a volunteer to read aloud the requirements, Bridges looked around and said “I’ll do it.”
He struggled with some words, but his classmates helped him out.
McCreary told them they will need to help each other throughout the courses. Bridges quickly asked who was good in math.
One man raised his hand.
“I’ll be by your house for some help when it comes to that part,” he said.
Bridges learned about the program from a flyer. He always had an interest in carpentry and helped build porches and stairs for people in his neighborhood but never had found training or certification.
He was sold on the program when he called and they asked him to leave a description of why he should be selected.
It was the first time anyone had asked him why he wanted to be a part of something positive before, he said.
“I told them that I wanted to change my life and do positive things and build a future, because what I had been doing wasn’t working, and I saw that it wasn’t working for most of the people I was around,” he said.
While McCreary was leading the men in a group assignment, Reginald Reed — who finds job placement sites for participants — called McCreary into the hallway.
Reed, who is CEO of Mindful Staffing Solutions LLC, a company that works with Pro Trade and offers continuing education and instruction to students, was not pleased.
McCreary stopped the class and showed them a joint.
“Who does this belong to?” McCreary asked. “It was found in the doorway of the building.”
When nobody fessed up, Reed raised his voice.
“I will not tolerate drugs or cigarettes in this building, and I will not have you ruin what I worked so hard to build,” he said. “I put my 14 years on the line for you, and I’m not going to have you take that away from me.”
He offered $20 to the class if the person came forward. No one took the bait. “One incident, no matter how minor, especially if you are black, can send you all the way to ground zero,” he said. The room was quiet. “I’m just going to say this, and I hope I don’t
have to say it again: You have a great opportunity here to learn something and become what you want to become. Don’t mess it up,” Reed said. “I will go to bat for you, but I will not do that if you will not try.”
That was the end of the first day.
*** Washington said the certificate doesn’t erase all the barriers students face. For instance, many don’t have driver’s licenses, because of overdue tickets and fines, but they need a car to get to work sites. Some first take other jobs to pay down the fines before they can join painting and construction crews.
Six of the eight who started the program had completed it 10 weeks later. Four were working. One had already started his own home-improvement business, and soon hoped to hire his own employees.
Bridges got off to a strong start, even showing up one day that first week after he was in a car accident.
“He was very committed,” McCreary said. “After the accident, he showed up to class with his mom and a bloody face.”
But he faced other challenges, including a baby at home and difficulty finding child care.
He was dropped from the program in week eight after he missed two days. The officials treat the classes like a work site and insist on attendance. Bridges, who recently lost a friend to gun violence, had put in enough time to earn a certificate in carpentry. He missed out on graduation and a higher accreditation.
“He felt that he failed and let everyone down,” McCreary said. “He’s a good kid. He’s only 23. He’s going to be a good carpenter.”
Rashaad Washington, chief executive officer of Pro Trade Job Development, said a pre-apprentice certificate doesn’t erase all the barriers students face. For instance, many don’t have driver’s licenses, because of overdue tickets and fines, but they need a car to get to work sites. Some first take other jobs to pay down the fines before they can join painting and construction crews.