Tuesday, April 15, 2008
A working chance
Photos by KYLE GREEN The Roanoke Times
Alonzo Gears (left) watches his mentor, Danny Hodges of Cundiff Heating & Air Conditioning, work on insulation at the Terrace Apartments renovation project in Roanoke on Monday. The project is part of YouthBuild USA, a program that helps high school dropouts learn skills.
Alonzo Gears holds copper tubing being run through the floor and ceiling for a heating, ventilating and air conditioning system at the Terrace Apartments renovation project in Roanoke. Alonzo is part of Total Action Against Poverty's YouthBuild USA program.
KYLE GREEN The Roanoke Times
Shea Alexander, 21, walks across the Terrace Apartments project Monday in Roanoke. Participants in the YouthBuild program earn $6 per hour for as many as 25 hours a week, including class time.
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Shanna Flowers is The Roanoke Times' metro columnist.
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At 17, Alonzo Gears decided high school wasn't for him.
So he dropped out.
But five years of digging graves and other menial jobs made Gears realize the dead-end future he was headed toward.
"Going from job to job, it gets the bills paid -- and it doesn't get the bills paid," the 22-year-old Roanoke man said.
Monday, Gears was among 18 young people who spent their first day at Terrace Apartments, learning a construction trade that could enable them to set their lives on the right course.
The teens and young adults are enrolled in YouthBuild USA, a federally funded program through Total Action Against Poverty. Most of the participants are high school dropouts working on a GED.
They spend every other week in the classroom working toward their diploma and the alternate week at a construction project learning an employable skill.
"I'm getting my GED, and hopefully a trade," said Shea Alexander, 21, who dropped out of school when he was a junior. He tested out of the classwork and will take his GED test later this month.
Now the young man who did everything from shoveling concrete to repossessing furniture as a high school dropout is exploring a career as a plumber. He is assigned to veteran plumber Dan Ryan of R.L. Price Construction.
There's something heartwarming about seeing young people get and take advantage of a second chance.
As dropouts or educationally at-risk students, the YouthBuild participants easily could have become statistics -- unemployed, underemployed or worse.
Of the 18 YouthBuild participants, 16 are black men. Their efforts are worthy because the portrait of young black men in recent years has been disturbing.
Studies conducted by Harvard, Princeton and Columbia universities two years ago found that by the time they reach their mid-30s, 60 percent of black men who have dropped out of school have logged time in prison.
The studies also found that more than half of young, inner-city black males do not finish high school.
YouthBuild helps young people reclaim their lives. Companies such as R.L. Price Construction, Cundiff Heating & Air Conditioning, Ratliff Electric and P&G Interiors should be admired for helping them.
"Personally, I'm excited that somebody's trying to put somebody in the construction industry," said Nelson King, a project manager for R.L. Price. "Young people are not coming into it. There's a world to learn, if you want to learn."
"Everybody wants to sit at a keyboard," chimed in David Ratliff of Ratliff Electric.
On the other hand, employers often turn down youngsters because they don't have experience.
"Young people need a chance," Ratliff added. "Where are they going to get it if no one will give them a chance?"
Jo Nelson, the YouthBuild program director, went to general contractor R.L. Price and asked if the young people could work with the various trades renovating the apartments. The company and subcontractors agreed.
Participants earn $6 per hour for as many as 25 hours per week, including their class time.
Not only are they helping youngsters find direction, but the companies also could be grooming their next generation of employees. King said youngsters with good attitudes and the desire to learn could end up on his company's payroll.
In his first few hours on the job Monday, 17-year-old Teddy Giles looked like a veteran, wearing a tool belt and performing finishing work on a first-floor apartment.
"It's a lot of things to learn," said Giles, who left Noel C. Taylor Learning Academy to join YouthBuild. "I used to walk past people like this. Now it feels good."
Some of the older youths had spent a few years in the real world and experienced life in the workplace without direction.
"I got tired of always starting from square one," said Mark Cabbler, a 2004 graduate of William Fleming High School. Until he joined YouthBuild two years later, he drifted from temporary job to temporary job. He said he was a good worker, but being the last hired usually meant being the first to be laid off.
"I always wanted to be in construction," Cabbler said. Monday, he was at the YouthBuild site as an intern. He helps the new guys and he's assigned to Ratliff Electric. King and Ratliff spoke highly of Cabbler, noting his strong acumen for electrical work.
Gears, who has been in YouthBuild for three weeks, said he was motivated to go back to school because his younger brother, Isaiah, has completed a successful stint in the National Guard.
"I'm trying to catch up," he said. "I want me and my family to have a better future. I needed something."
"Something" for Gears turned out to be an assignment working with employees from Cundiff. When I asked about his choice, he looked incredulous and said with a laugh, "Well, everybody needs air conditioning."
Gears said he likes his opportunity with YouthBuild, because all it requires is a desire to learn.
"Only thing you got to do is show up ... and bring your own food," he said, excusing himself to take his lunch break.
