Victoria Miller had just lost her job and needed a new one.
Walking home from the Ashby MARTA station in March, she passed the building that houses Westside Works, a nonprofit organization that offers workforce training.
“I was like, ‘OK, let me go in there,’” said Miller, 24. “As soon as I came in … they greeted me with warm arms, and they told me about the program.”
The new program is an accelerated four-week training course in the construction trades. Through a partnership with Construction Ready, Westside Works offers students a chance to learn skills including basic safety training, blueprint reading, how to use hand and power tools and even CPR. They can earn up to eight industry credentials, a process that program director Anthony Welch said would normally take six to eight months.
“It’s tough,” Welch said. “We tell everybody that they have to clear their schedule. You can’t miss any days because it’s … accelerated.”
Construction Ready has partnered with Atlanta Public Schools to generate interest in skill-based trades. However, Welch said the program has attracted graduates of several local school districts, including Clayton, DeKalb and Fulton counties.
Welch said the program is designed to help fill gaps in the workforce.
“There’s so much construction going on and not enough people to employ, to get out here, to come work construction and help build our city,” he said.
Most students have job offers upon graduation, Welch said. A hiring fair toward the end of the four-week session offers students a chance to match with employers. Resume writing and interviewing skills are part of the training program. Miller was prepared. The interview process comes with a twist.
“We are the interviewer and (the employers) are the interviewee,” she said. “We have questions for you. We want to know about you and your company because we need to know, ‘Does your company make a good fit for us?’”
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Miller is currently a student at Middle Georgia State University, so she’ll balance a job with her coursework. The same is true for her classmate, JaQwon Fitzhugh, who recently graduated from Frederick Douglass High School in Atlanta and will be a freshman at Clark Atlanta University in the fall. He found out about the program during a field trip to Mercedes-Benz Stadium, where students met with people in the construction industry.
“I was like, ‘I want to get into this,’” he said. “I’m a real hands-on learner. If they teach me, it’ll stick.”
Fitzhugh thinks a background in construction will help with his future career goals.
“What I’m building up for is job experience as an engineer,” he said. “So then when I become an aerospace engineer, and I become a contractor and I have to go out and find people, I already have connections to contractors and general contractors from here.”
Applicants have to meet certain requirements, including a background check, a drug test and basic math and reading exams, Welch said. Once accepted, students receive a weekly stipend of $125. The work day is from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Applicants have to be at least 18 years old, but there’s no maximum age. Welch said the oldest student the program accepted was 74 years old. He received a job offer after graduation.
Although she’s just one of two women in her class of 19, Miller said she feels supported.
“(Program leaders) all want to see you succeed, and that’s something that you really don’t see in the community anymore,” she said. “People don’t really want to see that you succeed, but (the program leaders) … want to see you succeed, especially if you want it.”
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
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