DETROIT – FOCUS: Hope students are already busy this summer, gaining hands-on experience to jump-start careers in skilled trades. The nonprofit provides resources for anyone with willpower and a strong work ethic looking to trade up to a new future.
“It’s an opportunity to make a great living, to support your family, to contribute to the community,” said workforce development specialist Tasha Lord.
At a time when skilled trades are the backbone of communities and the economy, FOCUS: Hope is lighting the path for students to build successful futures.
“I didn’t have any aspirations to do a trade, just seeing how corporations and things changed over the years and some things happening in my personal life I did think it was time to make a change and go to a trade and possibly become an entrepreneur in that trade,” said student Geordan Hall-Amerson.
Geordan is in the home stretch of becoming IT certified as part of the IT program at FOCUS: Hope.
“Being in the trade, we break down how things are made, no matter what trade you’re in,” Geordan said. “In IT, for instance, we learn how computers are built with actual networking stemming from.”
FOCUS: Hope offers several programs as part of its workforce development, training students in a variety of trades before their boots hit the ground.
Decondi Kennedy, an instructor who has taught machine operation in manufacturing for 15 years, said, “And not only do they run it they also use critical thinking and problem-solving skills as well as working with the industry equipment that we have here.”
Other training courses include construction pre-apprenticeships, truck driving, tree trimming, and medical assistant programs.
Applying is simple. Students must live in Michigan, take reading and math tests, and have documents like a high school diploma or GED, a driver’s license, and birth certificate.
Training programs like these could cost thousands of dollars, but here’s the best part — students don’t have to pay out of pocket.
FOCUS: Hope says students are funded through grant dollars from a variety of organizations. Each program has a different set of funding with different requirements for who qualifies.