Skills Or Trades?

Let me begin with a bold statement: You don’t have to go to college to have a successful career.

In December 2020, I transitioned from working for a nonprofit organization to working for the City of Detroit. Before I began working for the City, my mindset was focused on advancing my career while gaining as much knowledge as possible in regards to the political influences of my City. I wanted to know the City in & out as my goal was to establish a thorough understanding of what that Purpose was truly about… the same Purpose that I mentioned in my blog post titled, “Embraced”.

Once I began my new job, I realized that part of my role was becoming an advocate for Detroit residents who worked in the Skills/Trades industry. Part of my role was in building relationships with different developers and contractors to encourage the employment of more Detroiters to acquire jobs within the City’s newly rising developments. What I didn’t realize was that there are an ample amount of individuals who are in the city that are acquiring these jobs, while there are also an enormous amount who aren’t.

There are times in life where we meet a challenge head on that we never expected to encounter. These were one of those moments for me. According to the 2020 US Census, there are 639,111 people in Detroit, MI. Almost 80% of those people are Black. This makes Detroit the third largest African American populated city in America. I write before you as an African American, educated male. What I can definitely articulate is that Black People also deserve to be prioritized in a City that looks mostly like them. The 20 plus percent should also be prioritized. The biggest question is how do we efficiently empower the integrity of education amongst People, to help amplify ways in establishing sustainable and formidable careers that include more than just college?

When I was younger, there was a show called “Bob The Builder”. Bob was a construction savant who sought to make his impact by assisting his community in the art of Construction. This show planted a seed in me that would soon be watered over the years. As I grew older, one of the things that my father was known for around the neighborhood was being a builder and home-improvement wizard. He could fix literally, anything. He’s also made a decent living from being so talented with his hands. However, he had to go through an excruciating process to discover the proper education of the trade he had the skills to pursue. This education unfortunately wasn’t easily accessible or popular.

Why was Skill/Trades placed in the backseat when it came to educating our youth about additional opportunities of success outside of going to college? This infuriates me because here I am seeing the opportunities within my everyday work, but realize we are playing catchup in regards to the education. Growing up in the city, we’ve all had the opportunity to know an electrician, plumber, carpenter, painter… but we called them the “Handy Man”. How essential can we be as a community if we pursued a journey of education that created a lane for the “Handy Man”, to become the Person with a successful and lucrative career within the Skill/Trades industry?

As I continue in my role working for the City of Detroit, my charge to you as a reader is to reflect on that talented person you know in the community. I hope you realize that he/she/they can be a pivotal piece of the next generation of Skills/Trades Leaders. Tomorrow begins with Today.