Percy Redd, III was following in his father’s footsteps, but he wasn’t living his own dream.
He grew up around electrical work and watched his father retire from a successful career in the field. But, unlike the man whose work path he followed, Redd drifted from job to job as a non-union electrician with two children to support.
He recalls “basically, working for nothing,” until a friend told him about the Access for All construction career training program. Conceived in 2012, Access For All is the vision – in both name and mission – of the Detroit Regional Workforce Fund. Having completed its pilot launch, the half-million-dollar initiative will become an ongoing training this month.
“It’s good for people who don’t really know what the trades have in store for them,” says Redd, 40.
Since joining Access For All’s inaugural cohort in 2013 his personal and professional life have significantly improved. He advanced from a journeyman working at an apprentice’s wage to a full-time position at Detroit’s Edgewood Electric on Michigan Avenue. Along with steady pay, union membership, and full-coverage health insurance, Redd says he has a retirement plan and can save for his children’s needs.
“I’m more comfortable now, because I can see a future past my work years when they’re grown, and if they have issues I can help them out,” he adds.
Those who stick it out position themselves to potentially earn six-figure salaries.
By design, Access For All is a strategy to equip low-skilled or minimally skilled Detroit residents, 18 or older, with career qualifications to match them with the proliferation of major corporate and government construction jobs in the city. Industry growth in Detroit is projected until 2021.
“There wasn’t a pipeline in Detroit,” says Karen Tyler-Ruiz, executive director of the Detroit Regional Workforce Fund. “Part of what we wanted to do was create the pipeline.”
Major announcements about the planned con-struction of Gordie Howe International Bridge to Windsor and other projects helped guide Access For All’s schedule for training.
“We wanted to create a program so Detroiters could have access to the construction industry,” says Tyler-Ruiz. “Not just any job, but a job that would give them the opportunity to increase wages and live the American Dream.”
After holding four full training sessions Access For All boasts an 81 percent completion rate with 91 percent of its graduates employed, Tyler-Ruiz says. Of the program’s graduates, 81 percent were hired into the fields for which they were trained.
Many opportunities begin with union apprenticeships in such positions as bricklayer, carpenter, electrician, operating engineer, laborer, and cement mason. The great advantage of Access For All, Tyler-Ruiz says, is it provides unemployed and underemployed trainees with math comprehension, ability to interpret blueprints, and related skills on par with college level knowledge, in fewer than 300 hours.
The program is already recruiting for the upcoming February and April cohorts. Along with a minimum of seventh- to eighth-grade math competency, eligible participants must live in Detroit. Other criteria are listed at the web site detroitregionalworkforcefund.org, but potential trainees are encouraged to apply for acceptance, even if they lack some qualifications.
“We don’t want it to be off-putting,” says Laura Rodwan, Access For All publicist. “We’re saying, ‘You might not be there yet, but we can get you there.”
Redd attests to the “hands-on” and “book knowledge” he gained.
“There was a lot of math and I hadn’t been to school in 20 years, so I needed to get up on my math skills again,” he says.
Redd’s commitment to the unpaid, nine-week training required considerable sacrifice, including days that started in the classroom at 6 a.m. Participants are permitted only one day’s absence.
“It’s a dedication question,” Redd says. “Do I want to better myself, or do I want to go down the same road, job to job?”
The curriculum and schedule are designed to simulate the construction industry environment, Tyler-Ruiz says, helping trainees decide whether they’re “comfortable hanging 100 feet from the rafters.”
While the curriculum is demanding and intense, those who stick it out position themselves to potentially earn six-figure salaries, including trainees who lack the traditional education or vocational backgrounds, she adds.
“You remember when the kid in high school, who didn’t get good grades, would be sent to voc tech to do woodworking? It’s not like that anymore,” says Tyler-Ruiz.
Another population targeted for recruitment is returning citizens, who face multiple employment barriers following imprisonment. A Detroit Regional Workforce Fund collaboration with Chance for Life, a non-profit organization that serves ex-offenders, looks to provide a safety net for some of the 3,000 to 5,000 men and women annually released from prisons to their neighborhoods in Detroit. A $30,000 grant will help launch the Chance for Life employment initiative.
Access For All’s goal is to fill 100 skilled trade jobs in 2017. The initiative has earned national union endorsement and praise from local companies, including Edgewood Electric. The business has hired four apprentices who graduated from Access For All, with Redd remaining on the team.
“Percy has been just a phenomenal individual,” says Brian Kiley, Edgewood’s co-owner.
“This program has contractors waiting for these graduates. It’s been a big success, in my mind,” adds Kiley.
Redd measures Access For All’s success by his sense of achievement since completing the cohort.
“The biggest difference, I would say, is pride in myself,” he says. “Doing something is always fulfilling when you can look back at where you were and see where you are now.”
Editor’s Note: To learn more visit accessforalldetroit.com
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