Damon Green stood over his rectangular block of wood, chisel and hammer in hand, and started carving.
The 26-year-old Green was sharpening his skills with six other students inside the workshop of Revitalize Milwaukee, a local nonprofit. Program leaders hoped, with each chip, Green was beginning to build a career removing lead hazards from local homes.
His class, which started in February, was the latest in a job program to boost the number of trained and certified workers remediating lead paint hazards. Nearly 90% of the city’s homes were built before 1978, the year the federal government banned the consumer use of lead-based paint.
In 2021, the Milwaukee Common Council set aside $3 million in federal pandemic aid for the job training effort.
With funding set to end this year, the program has so far failed to produce the expected number of certified workers. Only 138 graduates have found jobs so far, about 40% short of the goal of 230, according to the most recent data available in city records.
“Am I satisfied with that? Of course not,” said former alderman Michael Murphy, who co-sponsored the legislation funding the program.
His co-sponsor, Cavalier Johnson, now the city’s mayor, did not directly answer when asked if the $3 million was well spent.
“Some of these numbers, we were above the mark. Some of the numbers, we were below the mark,” Johnson said in an interview. “But I think all of it is working towards the goal to make the city a safer place.”
Classes are continuing throughout this year — they’re already paid for — but even if every person receives their certification and finds a construction job, the city will still fall below the 230 goal.
The program was funded solely through the pandemic aid and seems likely to end after this year. So far, the city has not allocated any other funds to support it and Revitalize Milwaukee, the nonprofit providing the training, has not identified any new source of funding for it.
Those who run the program say they have seen benefits, including getting unemployed or underemployed residents into job-training programs, especially those who have traditionally been underrepresented in the construction trades.
“We’re here to try and give people a chance,” said Jackie Weber, the class coordinator with Revitalize Milwaukee.
The lead workforce program has changed over time
The program has changed since 2021.
Milwaukee County’s workforce development board, Employ Milwaukee, first partnered with the Social Development Commission, an anti-poverty agency, to operate the classes.
More than a year in, it became clear that some graduates with the lead certificate still needed more experience replicating the construction work they’d do in the field on a real house.
“They really needed that extra time to really understand, how do you take a window in and out of a wall,” said Julie Cayo, Employ Milwaukee’s president and chief executive officer.
That’s where Revitalize Milwaukee came in, having students like Green complete the exterior of a house over 48 class days, including sheathing, siding, doors, windows, drywall, trim and more.
When the Social Development Commission shut down in 2024, Employ Milwaukee worked exclusively with Revitalize Milwaukee on the construction class.
The city’s goal was to have 300 people complete the training and to have at least 230 of those graduates employed as certified construction workers.
A city report compiling data through 2024 found that:
Participants have dropped out for various reasons, such as the need to make more money or losing transportation to and from class, organizers said.
The class — which initially provided a $15 per hour stipend — was designed to help “historically underserved, marginalized, or adversely affected groups,” according to the city’s 2022 pandemic aid report.
Undeveloped network means program graduates must ‘rely on themselves’ to find jobs
Students still have barriers to overcome once they receive their certificates.
As participants in the class, they receive packets of union and non-union contractors they can call to try and get hired. In the past, if there was extra class time, contractors and other guest speakers came in to look over resumes and provide financial advice.
But, graduates “have to rely on themselves” to find a job, said Weber.
Weber said her ideal trajectory out of the program would be: “You’re done, go work for this contractor.”
“It’s generally not that simple,” she said, adding that students faced transportation and other challenges when job-hunting.
For contractors, it can be a gamble to hire workers right out of a program like the one run by Revitalize Milwaukee, which does not include on-site building experience.
“When we put [new hires] into a dirty attic, or something like that, he’s like, ‘Oh, no, I’m not interested. This isn’t what I signed up for,’” said Devin Hawthorne, owner of Weatherization Services.
Still, there have been success stories.
Of the 36 graduates from Revitalize’s six training classes, about half have secured employment, though not all specifically for lead remediation work, Weber said. One graduate in December was hired immediately after receiving a certification, she said.
Tiana Davis, another program graduate looking for a job, praised Weber’s efforts.
“She is putting you in the right place,” Davis said.
Alison Dirr of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.
Story was republished to add a gallery.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee spent millions to train workers on lead removal. Did it work?
Reporting by Jack Albright, Special to the Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
