Page 4
December 12, 2018
photo by D aviD g reeniDge
Local construction job training participants hold their certifications of completion after graduating
from a cost-free construction training program offered by Portland’s National Urban Housing and
Economic Community Development Corporation. The program uniquely reaches out to help people of
color, those with prior incarceration and veterans.
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ically.
“The answer was we have a
record and no one will hire us.
So what we said is we wanted to
find them a living wage job that
can help sustain them so that they
could really secure the future,”
Greenidge said.
Skilled trades and construction
jobs are some of the most in-de-
mand in the country right now due
to a retiring baby-boomer work-
force and a lack of emphasis in
vocational training in public ed-
ucation over the last decade, ac-
cording to Forbes magazine. Yet
even as conventional college tu-
ition continues to sky-rocket and
place students in insurmountable
debt, often with few employment
options, the skilled trades offer
livable wages right away.
The affordable housing compo-
nent is important, too, Greenidge
said, to ensure that disenfran-
chised community members can
have a shot at not just staying
alive, but thriving.
“It really cements their posi-
tion in our current boom that’s
happening in the greater Portland
area where people are thriving,
people are growing, and business-
es are coming in. And we wanted
everybody in our community to
survive and thrive,” he said.
Thanks to the NUHECDC ef-
forts, 20 townhomes, collectively
called Brunswick Commons, will
open at the end of the month with
prices ranging from $299,000 to
$315,000 for three bedroom units.
Ten of the lower-priced homes are
located at 28 N.E. 109th Ave. and
the other 10, at a slightly higher
price and for more square footage,
are located at 10859 E. Burnside St.
For first time buyers, “The units
are not only affordable, they’re
well-built, located right on the
MAX line, and are eligible for a
10-year property tax abatement,”
Greenidge said.
The organization’s free job
training and life skills programs
are open to all while still aiming to
help people of color, at-risk youth,
distressed veterans, and prior of-
fenders.
“We have a real diverse group
of people come in. We have
whites, blacks, Latinos, Indians,”
Greenidge said.
A lot of the referrals for jobs
training come through probation
and parole officers because they
have made contact with people
coming out of incarceration wish-
ing to turn their lives around.
Greenidge said most of those
who graduate from the program,
on average about 35 per year for
the past three years, start making
a livable wage income within a
couple years. Over 100 people
have graduated the courses, most
of who were placed in jobs right
afterwards, he said.
“They start out at about $14-
$15 an hour but their wages seem
to go up very quickly…they’ve
come back and told us they’re
making well into the $20 and up
range, $20-$25,” he said.
Greenidge partners with five
other community non-profits to
spread the word of the program,
including Central City Concern,
the Native American Youth and
Family Center, Southeast Works,
Portland Community College, and
Volunteers of America.
In addition to basic construc-
tion skills, mostly carpentry, in
what Greenidge describes as a
“pre-apprenticeship” model, the
instruction incorporates the learn-
ing of basic life skills throughout
the lessons.
“Life skills is critical because
we teach them team building, we
teach them how to resolve con-
flicts, money matters, anger man-
agement, how to project your fu-
ture job situation and how to work
through any obstacles that come
up on the job,” Greenidge said.
Though only about 50 percent
of the initially enrolled students
normally make it to graduation,
due mostly to low attendance or
a poor attitude, the door is left
open to them should they decide
to come back.
“My goal is to really just help
people who just need a second
chance, second, third, and fourth
chance,” Greenidge said.
In order to connect the students
with jobs at the end of the course,
Greenidge brings in union rep-
resentatives and non-union con-
tractors to facilitate information
on how to apply to a full appren-
ticeship program or arrange inter-
views, respectively.
The next NUHECDC construc-
tion course begins Jan. 7 and lasts
60 days, Mondays through Fridays
from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. each day. Not
only is the class no-cost, but each
student will receive a $100 week-
ly stipend for completion of each
weekly session. Those interested
in joining the class should contact
Sandra Jackson at 971-302-6615.