BALTIMORE — About 80 volunteers are inside a building in downtown Baltimore working to set up the Triple Crown Academy with everything they need to train young women to be our next generation of skilled trade labor.
I went inside to find these volunteers assembling classroom furniture. It's an IKEA challenge kind of situation.
Watch as volunteers describe why they joined the skilled labor force
I overhear one volunteer trying to track down a missing piece.
“We’re missing like half this bookcase.”
Natasha Guynes founded the Triple Crown Academy partly because of the need for skilled trade labor. It's a natural next step in her work with women who come from a tough start in life.
Guynes: "The Triple Crown Academy is an 18-month workforce development program that helps women enter the construction trades through union apprenticeship programs."
The three jewels of the Triple Crown are
- hard skills to get a job
- soft skills to keep that job and
- housing and support so their clients are set up to succeed.
Paid apprenticeships are set up with local unions. George Creighton from Home Depot agrees this is filling a big need.
"In conjunction with the Home Depot Foundation our Path to Pro network, we're proud to be here today."
Home Depot and Milwaukee Tools volunteers are building out the training space where clients will receive an OSHA 10 certification for a variety of trades.
They even provided tool kits for the first graduates so they can go to work ASAP. Creighton said, "And it's just the beginning…. We're going to be here with the Triple Crown Academy when they need us."
Graduates like Tanayja Mackall can learn plumbing, electrical, and even carpentry.
She decided on carpentry for her certification.
"I came across a flyer that said, 'Are you homeless? Are you 18-25? Are you look for a new experience or job or something?' and I was like, 'Yup, yup, yup, that's me!'" So I gave them a call," Mackall said.
Mackall is a resilient Baltimorean. She worked any job she could get, but none that would provide the solid independent life she wanted. Until now. She didn't see herself as a builder at first, "like I never saw myself using tools. Being like, I leave that for the men. But I love it so much," she said.
Among her first skills, Mackall learned how to use a circular saw. "It was exciting. It was kind of scary because, like, it's a sharp tool. Uh, I don't want to hurt myself or anyone else."
But with that safety consciousness and the guidance of her instructor, she mastered that skill.
“Once I did it, and it was just a small little piece of wood, so I did, and they were like, 'No, you gotta apply pressure!' and I was like, 'I’m puttin' all the pressure I got!' I was a little skinnier then, but I was like, 'I’m puttin' everything I got!' sigh finally did it, and I was like, "Yayyyyy!"
Mackall tells me it fits right in with her plans for the future, staging events for her community. Living, working, and staying happy thanks to the solid start found here.
“I personally encourage all my ladies just to try it, because nine times out of ten you're going to build it better than a man ever could," she said.
If you’d like to help out, you can find out how here.
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