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Project CRAFT Grads Advance in the Granite Business
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Attending the Workforce Innovations Conference, from left, employer Jeremy Werthan of Werthan Concrete, Project CRAFT graduate Steven McClerkin and Dennis Torbett of HBI.
| Participating in a panel discussion last month in Philadelphia examining “Emerging Youth Solutions for the Construction Industry,” Jeremy Werthan, owner and founder of Werthan Granite in Nashville, Tenn., cited the benefits of hiring graduates of the Home Builders Institute's (HBI) Project CRAFT (Community, Restitution, Apprenticeship-Focused Training) and brought along one of those workers to help prove his point.
The presentations were part of the national Workforce Innovations Conference, which was hosted by the U.S. Department of Labor. HBI, the workforce development arm of NAHB, was a conference sponsor.
Reassuring employers who may not trust the reliability of hiring youths with criminal records, Werthan said that his two employees from Project CRAFT — Steven McClerkin, who accompanied him on the panel, and Corey Johnson — had been with his company for nearly a year and more than a year, respectively, and “both came with a work ethic and the basic skills we could build on.” There is a more than 90% annual turnover rate among workers in the granite business, he noted.
Project Return, Inc., which provides re-entry services under the U.S. Department of Justice’s Serious and Violent Re-Entry Initiative for the Tennessee Bridges program, referred McClerkin to Project CRAFT last year.
Convicted of a felony drug charge and sentenced to eight years in prison, McClerkin’s only previous work experience in construction had been limited to two days at a lumberyard. Responding favorably to Project CRAFT’s unique community-based construction training, he completed HBI’s PreApprenticeship Certificate Training (PACT) last July and then started with Werthan Granite in a maintenance job earning $10 an hour.
McClerkin called Werthan “the best boss I ever had.” He is now a member of the installation team and looking to move up to cutter.
The award-winning program provides adjudicated youths with valuable trade skills and teaches them the importance of community involvement and good citizenship. To ensure that graduates make a smooth transition into the workplace, HBI staff members closely follow their progress in starting jobs for a full year.
Werthan described his two HBI graduates as “among the most trustworthy in my company,” and he said that one of them had even chided and turned in another employee who was caught stealing.
McLerkin and Johnson occasionally return to Project CRAFT to tell students about their lives and careers since graduating, how they have successfully turned the corner and never looked back.
Funded by the Department of Labor’s Reintegration of Youthful Offenders Program, Project CRAFT/Nashville provides training and job placement to local youths at the Davidson County Drug Court, the country’s only residential drug court, as well as through a community-based effort.
In budget reports for FY 2006, Project CRAFT was recognized by the appropriation committees of the House and Senate, which commended the program for its role in preparing young people for careers in the residential construction industry.
For more information on Project CRAFT/Nashville, e-mail Dennis Torbett at HBI, or call him at 800-795-7955 x8908.
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