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Project CRAFT Grad Earns Scholarship, Turns Life Around
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Jonathan Holmes | At the age of 18, former Project CRAFT – Avon Park student Jonathan Holmes is among the first Home Builders Institute (HBI) graduates to receive the Youth Investment Award from the Eckerd Family Foundation.
Similar to HBI’s Herman and Patsy Smith Fund for Excellence in the Trades, the Eckerd Foundation provides scholarships to juvenile ex-offenders to help them make the transition from the justice system back into society.
From a young age, Holmes was in the Tampa, Fla.-area foster care system and bounced around from family to family. By the age of 14, he was entrenched in the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) system and he faced a bleak future.
In January 2008, Holmes enrolled in Project CRAFT while at the Avon Park Youth Academy and began to see gradual changes in his attitude, work ethic and outlook on life. He excelled in HBI instructor Rick Miller’s plumbing class, earning his industry-sponsored Pre Apprenticeship Certificate Training (PACT) and his GED, making him a viable candidate for the Eckerd award.
Demonstrating his commitment to turning his life around, Holmes also completed all DJJ restitution requirements — including paying fines and writing letters of apology to those he harmed. Many students do not complete this step, waiting instead until they turn 18 and DJJ’s statute of limitations expires.
Holmes used the award money to secure an apartment with enough space for his two children to come visit.
He has been employed by Hillsborough Citrus in Tampa for the past five months and works as a freelance plumber on the weekends to help support his family.
“Jonathan’s story is heartening,” said HBI trustee and Florida builder Bill Paul. “Here’s a young man who made a conscious decision to change and did not waver from that path. Project CRAFT gave him the skills to succeed in the workplace, but more importantly Jonathan gained the confidence to persevere when things were tough. Jonathan is a courageous young man with a bright future. Everyone at HBI is proud of him.”
Funding for Avon Park and Florida’s four other Project CRAFT sites at Tampa, Red Road, Dozier and Orlando was recently renewed by the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice.
Project CRAFT trains more than 500 youths annually in Florida; more than 90% of its graduates are placed in industry jobs, the military or school. As part of their PACT training, each year CRAFT students spend approximately 30,000 hours working on community service projects.
For more information on Project CRAFT, e-mail Dennis Torbett at HBI, or call him at 800-795-7955 x8908.
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