Building the right path
Graduates of nonprofits’ vocational program in construction pursue new starts
No matter what time he was told to be on the work site, Joseph Love Jr. arrived early. His supervisors noted that the habit held during the coldest and snowiest days.
“I’ve been incarcerated, and I turned it around,” Love said. “When I got out, I told myself, ‘I’m going to do the right thing. No matter what.’”
He and 18 others were celebrated last week as graduates of a vocational program at IMPACT Community Action that prepares participants for jobs in the construction industry, which has long faced a shortage of qualified workers.
Love feels as if the opportunity nudged him onto a path that was there all along. As a boy, he’d loved it when his grandfather encouraged him to play around with wood and tools.
“But I never saw possibility,” the 26-year-old said. The pull of the streets in his Linden neighborhood soon won out.
Howard Williams, executive director of operations for the Columbus-based National Skilled Trades Network, said the organization is trying to get more job-hungry workers — especially those in struggling communities — to embrace the trades as a means to a good living. The network partners with IMPACT to operate the training program and helps participants gain certification from the National Center for Construction Education & Research.
“We want to start getting them out of high school,” Williams said. “Our kids don’t know how to use tape measures. They don’t know how to use basic power tools. And the entire industry has a lack of qualified young people.”
He and Michael Watkins, the network’s executive director, said it’s important for young people to understand that there are good alternatives to college. Many feel obligated to try that academic route, “only to drop out,” Watkins said. “And then they have debt.”
Most of the program’s graduates have struggled to attain stability, some for many years. But even older participants are finding that they can gain a foothold with construction skills. Their success helps strengthen the community, advocates say.
Robert “Bo” Chilton, CEO at IMPACT, told the audience at the graduation ceremony Thursday that he’s happy to answer when people ask whether the vocational program is publicly supported.
“This is a federally funded program,” Chilton said. “These are your tax dollars at work, building something positive. I’d rather be building these things than building a wall.”
Shaneka Summers said the training has helped her to believe, at age 40, “that I’m on the right path.” She launched a property-management and minor-repair business, Handy Jill, but needed to refine her basic skills.
“I’m more comfortable with myself,” Summers said, smiling as she picked up the set of tools that all participants received as a graduation gift.
Summers felt certain that her late mother was watching and is proud. “I think that’s why it’s raining today,” she said after the ceremony. “Those are tears of joy.”
Some vocational participants move on to IMPACT’S more-rigorous Building Futures program, a pre-apprenticeship program supported by Franklin County and the local Building Trades Council.
Love, who landed a job even before finishing the program, said he wants a long and successful career in home renovation. He also wants his girlfriend, Treyauna Gardner, to know that she and their 5-yearold twin sons can depend on him.
The family lives on the East Side, and the boys have both been “stars of the week” at their KIPP Columbus school. “I want them to do positive things,” Love said.
Gardner was beaming during Thursday’s graduation.
“He’s come far, and he’s focused,” she said. “I have a smile on my face right now because I am so, so proud.”
rprice@dispatch.com @Ritaprice