ATLANTA — Some things don't change. From last year to this year, Atlanta remains among the cities with the widest gap in income inequality.
But some things do change.
Last year we found a program designed to help bridge the gap. This week we caught up with one of its stories of success.
“I want to be a motivation and an extra push to people like me,” says Jose Vera of Cobb County.
Vera took an hour out of a mid-August morning to speak to the latest class of students in Construction Ready, a free program that turns low-income Atlantans into entry-level construction workers in 20 days – and connects nearly all with jobs.
“All you want to do is just work,” Vera tells the class, “and don’t have anybody look at you as a monster. Believe me. I know what that feeling is.”
Vera speaks from the front of the room. A year ago he sat in its seats.
In August 2018 we followed Vera’s Construction Ready class through a full program. Jose gave a self-portrait of a father, abandoned in Atlanta, in and out of jail, in need of change.
Graduation, in front of his family, presented a new picture.
“When you ain’t ever completed nothing,” Vera said at the ceremony, “you don’t think you’ll ever do it. And I thank my family. It’s all I got.”
One year later, he’s got plenty.
He’s stayed with C.W. Matthews, the company with whom he was matched through Construction Ready. He’s received multiple raises. He’s moved with his wife and children to a house in Cobb County. And he’s still first about family.
“For the first time in my life, I can breathe,” Vera said, “and still do so much for my kids. I can take my daughters to Chuck E. Cheese every Friday and not have to worry about, ‘Oh man, I gotta come up with this money.’”
Nearly all members of Vera’s class remain employed today. Construction Ready will soon graduate its 1000th Atlantan.
“Some days we’ll have four or five different graduates come through and talk to the students,” said Anthony Welch, lead site manager for CEFGA, which oversees Construction Ready. “They hear the stories and say, ‘Oh this is real? And I can get a career? And my life can change?’ Their whole attitude changes.”
The rise of Construction Ready – and of Jose Vera – attacks many needs of metro Atlanta: a demand for construction workers; a path out of poverty for low-income Atlantans; a way to close the region’s income gap.
On this day, Vera’s speech is a critical part of an empowering cycle.
“This is the last step before you start the journey,” he says to the students. “And believe me, when you’re on that journey … that journey’s nice.”
Watch our original documentary about Jose’s Construction Ready class, IN CONSTRUCTION, above.