DETROIT – A collaborative of community enhancement groups have joined together to create jobs for people who need a helping hand in life.
The program, called the Detroit Conservation Corp., seeks to provide careers in green industries for individuals who are struggling to find work due to prior incarcerations, homelessness, lack of education or job kills, and those dealing with substance abuse.
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The goal is to help these individuals get back on track while bettering the community at the same time.
The DCC is looking to train and employ around 2,500 people from Detroit, Highland Park, and Hamtramck. They expect to reach their goal in the next four years.
Participants must go through an eight week long training session which involves technical training, work-readiness and skills and support services.
Those who are enrolled with the program will be placed directly into jobs related to bettering the city of Detroit and surrounding neighborhoods.
“Our partners at Focus:Hope, NSO, and the McGregor Fund are all committed to giving unemployed Detroiters the dignity of a living wage job, a pathway to a better future, and the opportunity to help transform their lives – and their communities.” Said Rebecca Salminen Witt, President of The Greening of Detroit.
Many of the trainees come into the program facing a variety of life challenges, and the focus of the collaborative is to ensure those individuals receive job training, placement, and a variety of other services to ensure successful employment after graduation.
“This program changed my life. I have been in and out of jail since I was 15 years old. I have 12 siblings and my mother lost custody of all of us due to addiction. I never knew my father. This training gives me hope for a better tomorrow. Said DCC graduate, David Bryant
“The Greening is more concerned with our futures than our pasts. I learned a lot of things, and I am ready to work.”
Graduates of the program will be placed into transformative projects in Detroit geared towards making their neighborhoods into healthier, greener spaces by doing jobs that include clearing vacant lots, planting wildflowers and trees and creating green spaces for neighborhoods in the city.
The first 300 DCC graduates are currently cleaning up nearly 300 vacant lots in Detroit’s Fitzgerals neighborhood.
“The city of Detroit cannot come back if the people here are not part of the change they want to see here.” Said Kate Levin Markel, President of the McGregor Fund and founder of DC"
Click here to view more information on the program.