Stepping up
Apprentice program offers income, experience for at-risk adults
Nearing 25 years of service, the Step-Up Apprenticeship Initiative fulfills its mission of providing job training to at-risk adults. Local residents learn maintenance, painting, light construction, cabinet making and other entrepreneurial skills.
Recently, the programwas recognized for its part in building and installing kitchen and bathroom cabinetry for theNorthwest Gardens SustainableNeighborhood residential buildings in Fort Lauderdale.
Step-Up offers men andwomen older than18 a paying job while they gain employable skills and build a resume. Many are high school dropouts and have run afoul of the law.
Those two factors will render a 20-year-old “virtually unemployable,” said Scott Strawbridge, director of development and facilities for theHousing Authority of the City of Fort Lauderdale.
Step-Up is a partnership with the city’s Housing Authority, the Florida Department of Education and the Broward County school system. — MarkWilliams, Step-Up supervisor
In the two-year program, enrollees start eachweek day in the classroom at 6:30 a.m. They studyGEDcoursework under the tutelage of a college-level educator.
From8 a.m. to 4 p.m., studentswork in the field rotating through various skilled trades’ segments. They’re paid for 32 hours aweek and receive raises as they progress.
“I tell them howlucky they are. They’re getting a second chance to learn and nobody can take their skills away,” said Step-up supervisorMarkWilliams.
At graduation, they will have earned a GED, a vocational certificate— and a resume that eases the transition to full-time work.
“They need to prove themselves. They need the opportunity towork, to save some money and to see themselves in the mirror as successful,” Strawbridge said. “It takes time and mentorship.”
JeffreyHenry is currently enrolled as an apprentice. At first, he thought the program might not hold his interest. But the 26-year-old beams with pride in a newfound confidence in his abilities.
“Anything inside a house and home improvement— tile, drywall, bath— I can do it,” Henry says.
About16 graduates have been hired by theHousing Authority where one if their tasks is the ongoing maintenance of the Northwest Gardens development.
“We think it’s an interesting model,” Strawbridge said.“We’re not looking at it as a program but looking at it as a passion, and embedding it into our institution as opposed to having it be some outside aberration. You don’t call maintenance. You call Step-Up.”
hwolt@sun-sentinel.com