Walking into the Cypress Mandela warehouse at the corner of 66th Avenue and San Leandro Street, you find something you wouldn’t expect: hope. Some 250 people from across the Bay Area have crowded into the cold concrete space on a Thursday morning for an orientation, to learn about — and apply for — one of Oakland’s most competitive pre-apprenticeship programs. Only 40 will receive an offer.
Founded in 1989 in the wake of the Loma Prieta Earthquake, the Cypress Mandela Training Center originally trained residents to help rebuild the collapsed Cypress Freeway. More than three decades later, the Oakland-based nonprofit has expanded its mission. Today, the organization prepares workers from historically marginalized communities for careers in the skilled trades, equipping them to become ironworkers, electricians, plumbers, operating engineers and other skilled tradespeople ready to meet the demands of California’s growing clean energy economy.
The training center’s core project is a tuition-free 16-week pre-apprenticeship program for men and women ages 18 and older. Combining hands-on training with classroom instruction, the program prepares students for careers in the skilled trades by teaching both practical and technical skills…