Excerpted from The Daily Gazette, October 30, 2016
Rockie Mann owns his own construction company, and he’s always looking for good, skilled workers.
Trouble is, such workers are hard to find.
It’s a common lament, one I’ve heard from others who work in the trades.
Mann told me that he’s hired people who seemed promising, only to discover they lack the most basic of skills — that they’re unfamiliar with common tools of the trade, or don’t know how to use a tape measure. Now he’s involved in a new program that will teach those skills to unemployed high school dropouts over the age of 21. Those who complete the program will be rewarded with a job.