A new pre-apprenticeship program to help formerly unhoused people gain skills in the construction trades successfully graduated its first cohort on March 1 in Tukwila.
The four-week, intensive boot camp trained participants in foundational skills for a variety of construction jobs, as well as in math proficiency, workplace safety and preparation for job interviews. In total, eight people participated, and seven graduated from the inaugural class.
The 160-hour program includes certification for flagging and forklift driving and a 10-hour occupational health and safety course. It also features networking opportunities with professionals across the construction industry who can help graduates find open jobs. Additionally, participants receive stipends for perfect attendance and for completion.
The program is a result of a collaboration between the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT), the consultant agency i2-Strategies and ANEW, a nonprofit organization that works to integrate women and other people from nontraditional backgrounds into the construction industry.
Participants were selected from the encampment resolution initiative, another program under WSDOT. The initiative started in the spring of 2022 to address encampments on state-owned rights of way near highways, completing more than 30 sweeps by the end of 2023. Unlike the city of Seattle’s sweeps, WSDOT contracts with Purpose Dignity Action’s CoLEAD program to conduct prolonged outreach to residents before an encampment is closed. The program also provides case management and helps individuals find supportive housing or shelter.
Zane Spencer, one of the graduates of the boot camp, said he was living unsheltered when he was first approached by CoLEAD staffer Nichole Alexander in November 2023.
“I was actually part of one of the sweeps at Snoqualmie Street and Airport Way,” Spencer said. “For two months before that, they were there every day talking to people. Specifically Nichole was there, and she was like, ‘We can get you into some supportive housing and stuff like that.’ And I was like, ‘Cool, yeah,’ because I’d been living in bushes for nine years.”
Spencer said he was motivated to join the boot camp in order to secure a good union job. He plans to apply to Laborers Local 242.
For some participants, the graduation ceremony was the first they ever attended. Some shared touching stories about what the program meant to them.
“It has truly been phenomenal to have this opportunity to do this training here and to graduate,” said Sara Esque, one of the participants. “I can actually say that I’m proud of myself for accomplishing my goals to better my career [and] myself.”
WSDOT staff said the program was a way to develop the construction workforce while also uplifting and providing economic opportunities to people experiencing homelessness. WSDOT Director Roger Millar, who spoke at the graduation, said fellow transportation leaders from across the country were looking at the program with interest.
The ANEW boot camp follows in the footsteps of a similar pre-apprenticeship program in Spokane involving 11 former residents of Camp Hope. The high-profile encampment was home to 600 people at one point and became the subject of a lawsuit by the city of Spokane against the state of Washington.
This approach — trying to provide more services, housing and employment opportunities for homeless people — stands in stark contrast to a recent local trend of greater criminalization and displacement. On March 4, the city of Burien expanded its anti-homeless camping ban to include nighttime camping in large swathes of the city.
Stephanie Martinez, a senior consultant with i2-Strategies, said more employment training for unhoused people was desperately needed.
“There is such limited funding and opportunities for this type of employment training,” Martinez said. “This is one of the first of its kind, I would say, that also has enough funding to say, ‘Hey, we’re gonna help pay for things like IDs, GEDs, transcripts and workwear assistance’ — everything that our folks need to actually obtain and maintain employment.”
Martinez helped coordinate wraparound services for cohort participants and arranged for basic needs like lunch and transportation to ensure they were successful. She said that getting homeless community members into high-quality employment was crucial to getting more people off the streets.
“As a system, a lot of the time we don’t have those pathways; we’re not able to move people into their own permanent housing from shelters, emergency housing, transitional housing,” Martinez said. “So as part of our system, creating these pathways actually helps folks move out of those bed spaces and create more opportunities for more people in need in our community.”
Participants will continue to receive case management from CoLEAD, as well as support with auxiliary requirements such as obtaining a driver’s license.
Martinez said she hopes the boot camp will run on a quarterly basis. The next cohort is planned to be selected and begin training by the first week of May.
Guy Oron is the staff reporter for Real Change. He handles coverage of our weekly news stories. Find them on Twitter, @GuyOron.
Read more of the March 13–19, 2024 issue.