On a flight back from a conference in November 2016, Jen Schottke, vice president of workforce development for the Western Michigan Chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC), started chatting with the gentleman sitting next to her about the Literacy Center of West Michigan. The two organizations were embarking on a new training program for refugees after earning a $228,447 grant from the Michigan Office of New Americans (MONA), building on their existing program that offers ABC member companies English as second language (ESL) training and Spanish for construction classes.

The man on the flight told Schottke about a congregation of refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo who worship at his church, and passed along information about the training grant to the lead pastor. Soon enough, she was invited to speak about the program to the community of Congolese refugees, and 20 people enrolled.

Each had to demonstrate a basic level of conversational English before embarking on the program, which consisted of construction-specific ESL classes and the NCCER Construction Core curriculum. Trainees also received their OSHA 10 card.

The training lasted approximately five months, with the refugees attending class once a week for three hours.

“The course began in March 2017 with one month of ESL training and then had four months of combined NCCER Core and ESL training,” Schottke says.
“We would absolutely explore offering another training program like this. We learned a lot about the amount of time needed to do this well, and would likely frontload the construction-specific ESL training for another month or two before diving into the Core training.”

All 20 enrollees finished out the program late last summer.

Windemuller, Inc.—an electrical, communications and utilities contractor based in Grand Rapids, Mich.—hired Omary Hamisi to work in its fabrication shop, and he’s now enrolled in the company’s apprenticeship program.

“Omary has been a great addition to our workforce. He is a quick learner, works hard and has a very positive attitude,” says Windemuller Vice President of Construction Scot DeYoung. “We appreciated the knowledge and skills Omary was equipped with through the ESL/MONA program. It gave him a great jumpstart on his career.”

Kerkstra Precast, which employs about 330 people, also hired two graduates to fill positions at its production facility in Grandville, Mich.

“We have been far more blessed from this experience than those we hired through the program probably realize,” says Kersktra Operations Director Kurt DeKock. “We have found the participants to be very eager to learn and proud to be gainfully employed in the construction field.

“While there is no immediate fix to the shortage that is looming in the labor market, this program certainly is a way to generate additional candidates for the construction industry,” DeKock says. “Looking back on the program, we now see clearly that it has made us a little bit better of a business, and hopefully we have made a positive impact in the lives of those who came to work for us.”