BY JULIANNE CUBA
High-school graduates enrolled
in a local do-good group’s
technical-education program
geared to land them construction
jobs cannot begin their
classes until President Trump
decides to reopen the government
and end its longest shutdown
in American history.
Many of the young job seekers
with traditional diplomas
or GEDs hail from low-income
communities and public-housing
complexes, and counted on
the free program to help them
secure quality jobs that will
allow them to provide for their
families, according to a leader
of the Gowanus-based organization
that receives funding
from the federal Department
of Housing and Urban Development
to run the seminar.
“The shutdown signifi -
cantly impacts them and their
plans,” said Sarah Desmond,
the interim executive director
of Rebuilding Together , which
rehabilitates dilapidated properties
on the brink of disrepair.
“These students go onto actual
real careers, earning money,
and bringing it back to their
communities and families.”
The students were supposed
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to start classes on Jan.
15, but the closure — which
reached its 33rd day as of press
time on Wednesday, with no
signs of ending — forced the
do-gooders to cancel the sixweek
program indefi nitely until
the federal housing agency
is fully back up and running.
The agency funds the technical
training through a grant
that normally allows Rebuilding
Together leaders to host
six of the programs a year,
according to Desmond, who
said that in 2018 the group
trained 125 students — about
80 percent of which came from
Brooklyn, with more than half
hailing from Coney Island.
And as long as the Commander
in-Chief refuses to
budge on erecting his beloved
wall at the United States–Mexico
border, funding for the current
class, and all subsequent
seminars, remains in limbo
— leaving the locals eager to
enter the construction workforce
without a way to get the
training they need to do so,
Desmond said.
“All approvals for any
classes have been put on hold
for this,” she said. “As of right
now we can’t go forward, because
our funding is on hold.”
But when the government
reopens, those students who
expected to start their training
this month will be prioritized
for the next session, according
to Desmond.
THE APPRENTICES: Students got
hands-on training at a construction
site during one of Rebuilding
Together’s past job-training programs.
Rebuilding Together
YOU’RE NOT HIRED: Program participants now must delay the classes
geared to help them secure quality jobs because President Trump refuses
to reopen the federal government. Rebuilding Together
Futures’ on hold
Fed shutdown forces Gowanus group to cancel
job-training program for low-income locals
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