Brothers' Keeper program helps those looking for fresh start with career in carpentry

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- With an unemployment rate of 3.5%, finding a job is not much of a challenge, but how do you learn the skills needed for a career if your environment limits your exposure to opportunities?

If you've never held a hammer, is there a union job available in carpentry? The answer is yes.

The Brothers' Keeper program, offered through the Southwest Carpenters Training Fund, wants to build a future for disadvantaged young men and women in Los Angeles County by introducing them to the carpentry trade.

Participant Ken Price is now building a future for himself and others in a field that was foreign to him growing up.

"I didn't see any construction men or women going to work in my neighborhoods, in my family ... in my household," Price explained.

Encouraging young people to try something they've likely never seen is the first step, but Boot Camp Orientation is where carpenter union members assess new recruits who are sent station to station, in a challenging five-hour evaluation.

The boot camp is all about effort and desire. It's not about finding the best person with a hammer.

"The things that will make or break them on the job site. We're looking for that and when we pick the group that we're going to keep for the four-week class, well they showed strength in those areas," said Wesley Crunk, the outreach coordinator for the SWMS Carpenters Training Fund.

Christopher Agnew, another participant, was at the boot camp, knowing this was a great chance at a new life.

"If I get through this, I'm going to stay in it," he said. "I'm going to stay with it, prosperity and longevity is what I'm looking for and my kids is my reason to survive and I'm going get through it, receive what I can out of it and I'm going to pay it forward to the next person."

Roughly, 30 recruits will move on from boot camp and attend a free four-week pre-apprenticeship program.

Crunk said that's where the recruits will learn the carpentry skills needed to become effective trade workers.

"In the class, for the four weeks, although we are showing them hard skills, how to read a tape, how to nail a nail, how to screw a screw, I think the meat and potatoes is still those soft skills - punctuality, hustle and having a great attitude," he said.

Founded originally with the hope of providing diversity to the field of carpentry, anyone willing to improve their life through hard work is welcome.

The BOOTS program helps women enter the pre-apprentice program and both programs are taught by people who understand how challenging life can be, but also what is possible when given a chance.

"The confidence to believe that I can do whatever it is, that's what I try to give the participants that come through our program," said Price. "No matter what the task is, you've got to have the confidence in yourself that, just let me know and show me what I need to get done and I'll be able to get it done. Knowledge is power, and without the knowledge of knowing that I can be on this job site and I qualify to be on this job site, then I never would have been on that job site unless someone comes and let me know that valuable information."