Employers need workers. What Micron, CWI and a homeless shelter have teamed up to do
Ronald Alexander was brought up by his family on welfare and experienced homelessness as a child. He eventually earned a bachelor’s degree and worked in the construction industry for 30 years, owning a company for nine.
“I had to build everything,” he told the Idaho Statesman.
Alexander has been teaching at the College of Western Idaho for nine years. Since June, he has worked as the instructor at a new construction program at a homeless shelter in Boise.
His classes are part of a new effort to raise some people out of homelessness while feeding the Treasure Valley construction industry’s hunger for workers. The goal is to teach participants foundational construction skills that can help them get hired by local contractors and gain the financial independence they need to move out of the shelter.
Micron introduced Interfaith Sanctuary to the training program, said Jodi Peterson-Stigers, executive director at Interfaith. The semiconductor manufacturer hopes to hire some of the students as workers in its Boise memory-chip fabrication plant now under construction. “That’s how the idea was born,” Peterson-Stigers said.
Micron is building its $15 billion fab on its headquarters campus in Southeast Boise, the Idaho Statesman previously reported.
The College of Western Idaho, in partnership with the Idaho Workforce Development Council, launched the Construction Career Launcher Certification at Interfaith Sanctuary on May 14. The second round of classes started on July 23, and the students will learn by building Adirondack chairs.
The workforce development grant, which comes from the state of Idaho, covers two years of the program and funds 80 students’ scholarships. The grant covers the $800 cost per student, which includes all the materials such as wood and tools. The grant also covers a few other expenses like a new pair of work boots and other work gear for the graduates, Peterson-Stigers said.
Interfaith Sanctuary shelters people who want to go back to work but struggle to get transportation and money to go back to school. “They’ve lost their stability,” Peterson-Stigers said.
One goal: Earn enough to find permanent housing
The training program gives them a starting point to learn foundational skills that would serve them in a construction job. The participants need to be connected to employment opportunities with a livable wage, Peterson-Stigers said.
The goal of the program — and of Interfaith in general — is to create the financial and professional security necessary for someone to move into permanent housing of their own, Peterson-Stigers said.
“We’re hoping to overcome the barriers that define their homelessness,” she said.
Not all of Interfaith’s residents can work, but some who have lost their housing are employable, Peterson-Stigers said.
After being homeless for three years, Justin Tominson, 61, completed the construction training in June. He and another student built six picnic tables over six weeks of classes. Tominson was promptly hired as teaching assistant for the construction classes. He can now afford a one-bedroom apartment in Boise on his own.
The program is also open to unhoused people who are not staying at the shelter, Peterson-Stigers said. Anyone looking to join the program must be clean and sober, because participants will be operating electric tools. “Anyone who’s actively in their addiction would be screened out until they are able to maintain their sobriety,” she said.
The College of Western Idaho held this class for a long time but decided it didn’t have space to host it anymore, said Mark Swinney, CWI’s director of business, manufacturing and information-technology programs. Interfaith Sanctuary did.
Classes are more accessible for Interfaith residents now than when they were held at CWI, because bus schedules, the cost of bus tickets and the long commute can prevent those staying at Interfaith from attending.
Construction employers seek help
The construction industry needs more workers, Swinney said.
Peterson-Stigers said there have been more construction jobs than labor available in the last three years. “There’s so much work to be done, and there are not enough bodies,” she said.
Eagle-based contractor Guho Corp is looking to hire the new program’s graduates to build Interfaith Sanctuary’s new shelter on State Street in the Collister neighborhood, Peterson-Stigers said.
“We have this unique opportunity for our guests who are participating in this program to actually be part of building the new shelter, which matters a lot to them,” she said.
Just 2 people complete first round of classes
In the first round of classes, just two out of six participants graduated. Peterson-Stigers said that’s a good result, considering the challenges that their guests have. “If you get one success, that’s a success,” she said.
Peterson-Stigers said one of the two graduates started working for a local contractor but didn’t have a way to get to work anymore after his bike was stolen. He was also struggling with diabetes, which made working in construction difficult, she said.
The first group of participants didn’t completely understand what the program looked like, and most of them dropped out once they realized it required a three-hour commitment twice a week for six weeks, Peterson-Stigers said. Other people quit because they are scared of power tools and realized that only after starting the class.
Interfaith Sanctuary held two information sessions the week before the second round of classes began. Twelve people attended. Six showed up at the first class. This round of classes was moved to earlier in the morning to avoid higher temperatures, and was shortened to four weeks with three classes per week instead of two.
Teacher tries to teach life skills too
Teaching classes at Interfaith Sanctuary is quite different from the college, Alexander said. He has to try to keep the class interesting and coach the participants on personal life skills too.
“It causes me to tweak the class,” Alexander said. He explains to students how learning these skills could affect their personal lives and teaches them the accountability of having a regular job again.
Alexander said he wants to use his construction skills and knowledge to help the students make better decisions in life. He encourages the students to stick with the classes, “to be able to reap the benefits of what it’s going to provide for them when they’re done.”
“I have something to help other people get out of that funk if they want to participate and listen,” he said.
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