They are beginning with their first official cohort —they have already piloted some of their programming —of 30 sixth graders with a plan to add on each year until they are serving about 200 youth from grades 6-12 grades. Starting with them when they are young is important.

“We’re going to have career coaches and youth coordinators to work with these kids starting in the fifth grade,” Branch said. “We’ve got a big sand box out there to get them started. Kids like playing with their trucks. They just don’t understand that is something that could be a career for them. And we’re going to start that early. As they go through our program, which is called Career Force Build-Up, from 5-7^th grades and we get to know these kids, it’s not for everyone. It’s hard work. But we get to understand and know these kids. I don’t want to say ‘target,’ but identify the right kid who can be successful in this and we cultivate that all the way through high school.”

The McKenzie Regional Workforce Center will give the students the basics that they will need to succeed at the next level depending on the route that they want to take. The middle school youth will be learning the soft skills they will need to succeed on the job in an after school program at the center.

“It will be formal classes,” Branch said. “They will generally come here from 3-6 p.m. Sometimes we do field trips in the morning. They will go out to one of the training facilities or go to Drexel. But they will come here typically from 3-6 p.m. They get a full meal. And they will do all kinds of activities. They learn about teamwork. They are learning about the importance of being punctual and the why behind it. We do some basic, relative construction math, learning how to measure. You would be surprised with how many kids don’t know how to measure, just little things like that. We do interviewing: how to shake someone’s hand and look them in the eye. It’s all of those things that we take for granted when we don’t notice kids who just don’t look at you. I think it is more confidence and trust why they don’t look people in the eye. And they just aren’t being taught that. I’m not going to look someone in the eye whom I don’t trust. I’m not going to give you that intention. I can trust a guy who can look me I the eye and letting people know you can be trusted is very important.”

And then in high school, the students will acquire more specific job-related skills using tools donated by their partners and equipment like truck-driving simulators.

“We are acquiring two simulators,” Branch said. “That’s going to be a big part of our curriculum here. We have a CAT heavy equipment simulator. That one is already here. And we have a CDL simulator that is coming. The installer is coming on July 5^th. Those two pieces of equipment are going to be crucial, integral part of us exposing the kids to the industry as well. The Operating Engineers who go into their apprenticeships have never sat in a stimulator even today. These kids will be trained on state-of-the-art technology and it won’t cost them or their families a dime.”

And the hands-on training will be supplemented with work experience.

“We’ll do work experience with the older kids as they go through the program because that’s what all of this is building up to,” Branch said. “Now we have kids who did work with Holiday Homes and the MABA this summer. But the work experience is not a sprint. That is something that is coming through the program as it develops and the kids go through it. They’ll get their work permits through us. The beauty of it is the companies that are participating with Career Force Build-Up are getting to know these kids as well. ‘We need to pay attention to Little Johnny. This is the guy.’ Dave Jones Plumbing has a new facility and are partners in the program. Our kids will not only be here, but will also be there. That’s the whole point as it relates to the Direct to Work pathway with MABA. They get first crack because they are going to get to know these kids as they participate with the program.”

The youth will have several pathways to choose from.

“There are four distinct pathways that we see these kids going down,” Branch said. “The first one is Direct to Work. The MABA has 400 members in this market in the construction industry. They aren’t union. They are going to train kids on what it takes to be successful at Davy Jones Plumbing. They know what it takes. And MABA is going to provide us with that Direct to Work pathway. We’re working with these companies already, companies like Drexel Building Supply. All of these companies are members of the MABA and they are partnering with us in this program. And they will be willing to take kids right out of high school who have gone through Career Force Build-Up. They will learn the actual skills like plumbing on the job. What we want to do is give them the basis so that they have the best opportunity to succeed.”