COLUMBUS, Ga. ( WRBL )— Currently, 15 Columbus men and women are building their career for free. It’s happening in partnership with Goodwill of the Southern Rivers and an Atlanta based non-profit construction training company.
Construction Ready is a company that, ‘builds the builders,’ working to close the workforce skills gap in a 20-day program.
“The students receive credentials like an OSHA ten-hour card. They get a first-aid CPR training. They also get ATSA flagging certification, which is a nationally recognized traffic control certification,” Vice President and Training Development of Construction Ready, Johnny Hughes explains. “They get a certificate of completion through the curriculum that we use, which is in CCR. So, they get that along with various hand tools and forklift certifications.”
The program is completely free for students. Out of pocket costs for these certificates run between $500 to $800. Construction Ready partners with Goodwill of the Southern Rivers to teach this program in Columbus at their Training Academy. Goodwill also covers tuition costs of up to $4,000 per student. One student, Antionio Robertson, was working in fast food. Now he is pursuing his dream to be an architect.