LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Louisville Urban League has been selected to continue Kentuckiana Builds, a construction trade pipeline program.
Five years after the program was started, its focus is to place minorities and women in the construction field.
“This may be the dawn of a national renewal such as has not been seen since The New Deal as Congress addresses the infrastructure crisis,” Sadiqa Reynolds, President and CEO of the Louisville Urban League, said. “The Louisville Urban League is part of the solution as we build careers and empower people to be part of this renewal.”
Reynolds, along with state officials, made the announcement at the new Norton Healthcare Sports and Learning Center on Tuesday. Some of those involved in the construction of the facility were Kentuckiana Builds graduates.
“We are literally taking revitalization into our own hands. We are literally building our own future,” she said.
The Urban League had to re-apply for federal funding to continue the program and it was recently granted.
Since its inception, 381 graduates have completed the six-week program and of those graduates, 354 were Black, 90 were women and 286 were placed in construction jobs.
“When you look at how things worked in America, we don’t have a representative number of Black people working in construction,” Michael Gritton, executive director of KentuckianaWorks, said.
Courtney Robinson is one of those graduates and now works as a labor apprentice after completing the program. He said it gave him a chance.
“It was a life-changer for me because no one wants to be working job to job,” he said. "Dead-end jobs are just the worst."
Prior to the program, Robinson said he couldn’t keep a job, but now things are different for him. He’s attending classes at Jefferson Community and Technical College, another opportunity given to participants.
He said he is looking to grow within his company but has bigger dreams of entrepreneurship, something he never thought was possible.
“This is an opportunity for you to get into a lane that you can stay in. As long as you can do a trade, you will always have a job,” he said.
Graduates can earn three national credentials – the Core Construction credential of the National Center for Construction Education and Research, Occupational Safety and Health Administration and First Aid/CPR.
The program is now looking to fill its next cohorts, and participation is free of charge for eligible candidates.
Contact reporter Elle Smith at esmith@whas11.com or on her social media outlets: Facebook or Twitter.
Make it easy to keep up-to-date with more stories like this. Download the WHAS11 News app now. For Apple or Android users.
Have a news tip? Email assign@whas11.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter feed.
RELATED VIDEO