Job Training

United Community Development’s has trained low income under/un/employed African American men in the field of Home Repair/New Construction and Weatherization. After training, UCD has hired these people, which offer “ portals of opportunity” for placement and advancement. Job training programs which have been provided by non-profits like Green Opportunities have failed, since dependency for placement has been outsourced exclusively to mainstream employers whose culture and preferences are for better educated, more affluent and culturally “ inculcated” workers, which translates into mostly “ white people who emanate from the traditional social, and cultural mainstream. These people are usually without involvement in the criminal justice system. Most of the trainees in Asheville’s Green Opportunities construction program which ends June 2020, as well as the culinary program which is housed there, but operated by A-B Technical College, are relegated to casual construction labor and low wage service sector jobs like utility cooks, etc. The staff and the trainers, which are primarily social service workers, have no business or entrepreneurial background in hospitality, culinary, nor commercial construction.

Our Superintendent of Construction/Weatherization who trains and supervises these trainees has over 30 years of commercial and residential construction experience, as well as experience in business development. Our Project Manager is also trained Construction Estimator and Project Manager.