Sacramento nonprofit gives low-income residents a shot at construction careers
After 10 years in prison, Sidney Randle stepped into a world transformed by technology and the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021.
He wanted to get a job and turn his life around, but gone were the days when he could dress to impress, walk into a business, fill out a job application and try to make a personal connection. At 30, he had to learn to search for jobs online and apply through websites or apps.
He was confused by the process and wondered whether anyone was even looking at his applications, he said. Days turned into weeks, and he heard nothing.
Then came a text message from his mother. She shared a flier about a nine-week training program that would prepare novices to start an apprenticeship in any of nearly 30 building trades.
Randle saw it as a simple one-page invitation to put his life on a secure financial footing, he said, so he dialed the phone number provided, left his personal information and hoped that a career pathway would open for him.
That call connected Randle with Kevin Brown, a pro-baseball-player-turned-preacher who set out 11 years ago to ensure that residents of Sacramento’s poorest neighborhoods got a shot at construction jobs at Golden 1 Center and other multimillion-dollar developments planned in the region.
Brown and his wife Cynthia created a nonprofit, now called People Working Together, that has launched Randle and hundreds of other Sacramento residents into careers as registered apprentices, journeymen, foremen, superintendents, contractors and more. Roughly 150 alumni recently showed up for a Sacramento City Council meeting to show just how successful the Browns and PWT have been in their work.
“People have this idea that construction is just building buildings,” Brown said. “But really, it’s about building people, and that’s what we’ve done.”
People Working Together continues to spread the word about job opportunities in the building industry, periodically holding job fairs around the region. The next one will be 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday outside the Elk Grove Aquatics Center, 9701 Big Horn Blvd.
Brown also has served as the pre-apprenticeship readiness director for the Sacramento-Sierra’s Building & Construction Trades Council since 2017, allowing him to talk directly with union leaders about what it takes to be successful.
Nonprofit offers training needed for jobs
Back in 2014 when Brown began to consider how to address workforce development, he brought together pastors from 51 African American churches to ponder the direction to take. That group was called Pastors Working Together, but by 2015, Brown and his wife decided to focus on building educational opportunities for people of all races and cultures.
Those opportunities were the crucial missing piece for city residents living in the poorest neighborhoods and for individuals such as Randle re-entering life outside prisons.
“I saw a need,” Brown said. “These people needed something real, something that could give them a future. I didn’t have all the answers, but I knew what was needed — a way in, a way to rise.”
People Working Together gave Randle a chance, and he took it.
He had to learn how to work, how to show up every day and how to do the job right, he said. Instructors and alumni worked with him to help him master math and other skills he needed to succeed..
After Randle graduated, a week passed with no news of a job. Then two weeks. Then he got his shot with a subcontractor installing tile in a new building.
When he successfully completed that first job, others came fast after that. He worked on the 1021 O Street State Office Building, the Tani Cantil-Sakauye Sacramento County Courthouse, a courthouse in Redding, the North Natomas Community Center and Aquatics Complex, the California Firefighters Memorial on the state Capitol grounds.
Each project allowed him to gain proficiency in all the different skills of his trade — and one by one, he acquired the hours and passed the tests required to become a journeyman in the International Union of Bricklayers & Allied Craftworkers.
“I know how to do this,” Randle said. “I know how to build. I know how to work.”
The ultimate payoff: A business of his own
His starting pay as an apprentice had been $21 an hour, but now he earns almost $36 an hour. Previously, he relied on his girlfriend for rides to the PWT training class. When he graduated, he put aside cash for a used car but asked his girlfriend to buy it in her name because she had good credit.
Now married, Randle has purchased the two used vehicles they currently own by using his own credit record.
He’s had no contact with police officers since he left prison four years ago, he said. Brown and PWT provided him with the mentoring and direction he lacked as a young man, he said. Back then, he said, he didn’t know how to get on a career path that would increase his earning potential.
“I want to own my own business,” he said. “That’s what I’m working toward now.”
Brown and PWT are guiding Randle as he pursues his contractor’s license and his high school diploma.
The team at People Working Together have crafted a workforce solution for people who traditionally have been locked out of job opportunities, Brown said, and they work to ensure they’re not over-saturating the labor market with new workers.
“We wanted to make sure that people from every corner of the community had a chance,” Brown said. “Veterans, women, people coming out of prison, foster youth — these are people who’ve been overlooked. We wanted to open the door for them.”
Under Brown’s leadership, PWT has helped general contractors meet the city’s requirements to hire workers from low-income ZIP codes.
PWT has excelled at educating workers and connecting them to jobs, Brown said. On average, 68% of candidates leaving the nonprofit’s construction training program have gotten apprenticeships, but that rate has risen as high as 76%.
These numbers aren’t just statistics to Brown. Rather, he said, they prove that, with the right support, the right network and the right opportunities, lives can be transformed.
Career fair and block party
What’s happening: Explore careers in the building trade skills with hands-on demonstrations. Meet union trade professionals, and learn about career pathways. Enjoy food, entertainment and giveaways.
When: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday
Where: Parking lot of the Elk Grove Aquatics Center, 9701 Big Horn Blvd.
Cost: Free entry
Upcoming: People Working Together will have its largest career fair of the year from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sept. 26 at Sleep Train Arena, 1 Sports Parkway, in Sacramento.
