Category: Latitudes

Originally posted on Hinds Community College Foundation.

One of the key partnerships goes back to 2012, when KLLM Transport Services was desperate for truck drivers. KLLM approached Hinds about a partnership that would benefit both parties. The KLLM Driving Academy in Richland opened in 2014.

KLLM constructed a building and supplies 11 trucks with trailers a year. The company provides students’ food and lodging for the three weeks it takes to complete the classroom component of the program and many other resources, including scholarships for students’ tuition.

“We would never be able to do a program of this magnitude without that industry leadership,” Creel said.

Kirk Blankenship, KLLM Vice President of Driver Resources, said the paperwork required to have their own driving school was enormous. He connected with the late Dr. Chad Stocks, who was Vice President of Workforce and Community Development. The two of them put together a plan that allowed the driving academy, including the courses and curriculum, to be accredited through Hinds. The college also provides a tutor to help students pass the written test to receive a permit that allows them to train in a truck.

“Our partnership is always striving to stay innovative. The Hinds workforce team has been partnering with the KLLM Driving Academy to implement Virtual Reality into the classroom for pre-trip inspection and offering a new Hazmat training course for their experienced drivers,” said Josh Bower, Dean of Agriculture and Transportation/Director of Talent, Workforce & Economic Development.

Last year, over 800 Hinds students earned a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) through the program and were hired to drive for KLLM, said Blankenship. The KLLM Driving Academy has produced over 6,000 truck drivers that received their CDL.

Due to the success of the original KLLM Driving Academy, the company has replicated this model in Burns Harbor, Ind., and Lancaster, Texas. The three KLLM Driving Academies have become one of the largest workforce training schools in their states and are making a positive impact on the United States economy and the local communities.

Originally posted on Hinds Community College Foundation.

Before Mark White became a certified and licensed truck driver for KLLM Transport Services in Richland, he was a firefighter in Vidalia, La.

“Firefighting was my dream job, the job I grew up wanting to do,” White said, “but I broke my ankle in a house fire in January 2015.”

That broken ankle eventually cost him his dream job. White explained that he has diabetes and because of complications due to an infection, in February 2016 he had to have his right leg amputated beneath the knee.

“I easily could have just gone on disability after my surgery. I was on workman’s comp for a while, but I didn’t want to go on disability, because that’s just not enough for a person to live on. I worked as a prison guard for a while, and that really wasn’t cutting it. I knew that what I really wanted to do was drive a truck, so I decided I would take the time and go through a program,” he said.

He learned about the KLLM Truck Driving Academy in Richland, a partnership between Hinds Community College and KLLM. KLLM offers scholarships, lodging and other resources while students are in the three-week training program and the six-week internship. Hinds manages the curriculum and has collaborated with the U.S. Department of Labor to sponsor a one-year Truck Driver Registered Apprenticeship program for KLLM.

White enrolled in the academy and completed truck driving training in December 2022. He is the first licensed and certified amputee to come through the program. He said he would have done it sooner but was initially intimidated by the amount of paperwork and bureaucracy involved because he is an amputee. He had to have a signed waiver through the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) before he could even begin the program.

“It took me three times as long to get through the program as it did other people because of my disability,” he said. “I had to go through a lot to get this license.”

White said he went through the program easily with everyone else, but when it came time to take the test for the commercial driver’s license, he first had to take two additional skills and performance evaluations at the federal and state levels with the FMCSA, and then finally a skills test evaluation to get the commercial driver’s license.

“The first test was just to get the process rolling. The second test, I don’t know, I guess to make sure the first one wasn’t a fluke?” White jokes. “Then I had to take it a third time, and of course, I passed.” He earned his CDL in December 2022.

Still based in Vidalia, White is in the apprenticeship program as a long-haul carrier for KLLM; also known as long-haul trucking, he drives loads from coast to coast with a Yorkshire Terrier he calls Usopp, named after one of White’s favorite anime characters.

White said his message to anyone out there in a similar situation – where the choices are working with a disability or collecting a disability check – is that “if you are able to work, don’t let anyone talk you out of it. Don’t stay home and feel sorry for yourself. That’s a very good way to go down into a deep depression. You may not be able to do the job you really wanted to do in life, and I used to be real angry about that, but I’m enjoying life these days and I feel real good about my future.”

Originally posted on Hinds Community College Foundation.

Few students leave high school with not only full funding for a two-year college degree but also with a guaranteed job waiting for them afterward.

But Quatarius Harris, 21, was able to turn his Clinton High School and Hinds Community College dual credit into an associate degree and a springboard into a promising technical career.

“I always wanted to do engineering,” Harris said, “that’s why I took the classes that I did, because I knew engineering principles would be part of the curriculum.”
Harris started his dual enrollment program at Clinton High School in the automotive track, earning certification in Automotive Service Excellence in the 11th grade. In 12th grade he took an honors class in Principles of Engineering.

His lead CTE instructor took notice of Harris’ electrical programming and mechanical skills. When Harris told him he wanted to be an electrical engineer “that’s when my instructor called human resources at Continental Tire and put my name in the hat for an apprenticeship,” he said. “They gave me an interview and things went well. They brought me on as a Production Technologist apprentice and paid for me to go to school.”

He started the one-year apprenticeship program the summer after graduating from Clinton High School and immediately enrolled in the Hinds Electro-Mechanical Technology program for the fall 2021 semester. Harris completed the Hinds sponsored Registered Apprenticeship program offered at Continental Tire in July 2022. He finished his associate degree at Hinds in December 2022. He said that working full time and going to school full time was a challenge.

He was the Robert Miley Endowed Scholarship recipient through the Hinds Community College Foundation.
“The coursework is very rigorous,” Harris said. “Luckily, my instructors were very reasonable. They knew that I was attending classes at night since I had a full-time job. This taught me a lot about self-discipline.

“I had to find a balance, though, and that was a challenge. It was just a mind game of self-discipline that I had to get through,” he said.

Harris is still at Hinds taking a few courses before transferring to Mississippi State University this fall for a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering.

“The thing about education is that no matter how much you learn, there’s always more that can be learned,” he said.
He feels very confident about this next step, he said, because of his educational foundation with Hinds and because of his hands-on experience at Continental Tire.

“One thing that’s different about being a technician versus being trained as an engineer is that no matter what they go over in the classroom, I’ve already been exposed to it as a technician – the technician’s work informs you why something is done, but the engineer can tell you how it works, and that’s what I want to do.”

Originally posted on Hinds Community College Foundation.

Keith Steen counts himself a lucky man. With an associate degree from Hinds and career and technical certificates from the Diesel Technology Academy, the 23-year-old Steen is on the road to early success in his new career as a diesel mechanic with Empire Truck Sales.

“I have heard it said that if you find work that you love doing, you’ll never work a day in your life,” Steen said.

He grew up around big trucks because his dad ran a small trucking company. Even as a kid, Steen knew he wanted to work on big engines.

“I knew a lot coming in, but that doesn’t matter because I will always be learning. It’s a difficult job. It’s frustrating some days because it is a harder machine to work on,” Steen said. “There are some days when I have to take a breath, step back and just think about it for a minute.

“You’re always learning here,” Steen said. He’s planning to take more classes in the future to increase his certifications and capabilities and said that’s what it takes to keep up with technology and stay on the cutting edge.

Steen participated in the Hinds sponsored Diesel Mechanic Registered Apprenticeship Program through the U.S. Department of Labor. He successfully completed his three-year apprenticeship program with Empire Truck Sales in December 2022.

The Empire Truck Sales team is dedicated to investing in their employees and continuously providing excellent training opportunities so apprentices can continue growing their careers at the company.

Service Manager David Arendale, who has over 40 years in the trucking industry, said the partnership with Hinds has brought them a lot of expertise.

“We’ve seen a lot of good guys come through here from Hinds,” Arendale said. “These guys in here are highly trained mechanics. We weed them out, but when they come in here, they find out if they’re really going to do this,” Arendale laughs. “Once they finish Hinds, we start really breaking it down for them, but Hinds turns out really good technicians.”

Steen said he has valued the partnership between Empire Truck Sales and Hinds.

“I got my foot in the door here, and the growth I’ve had has really helped me go a long way,” said Steen, adding, “there’s job security here – the trucking industry isn’t going anywhere and its only growing.”

Apprenticeship program success stories help us promote the tremendous value that these programs bring to employers, employees, and job seekers. Keep reading below for the answers from a recent success story: a Senior Training Specialist at Westlake.

---

William Watson had not needed to use Mississippi Department of Employment Security (MDES) employment services for a while.  After the company he worked for closed its local location, he was out of a job and visited the Meridian WIN Job Center to get assistance with his search.  The Veteran Client visited our center on July 19, 2022. 

After completing the military attestation form and being deemed eligible for Disabled Veterans Outreach Program services by frontline staff, the DVOP, Lakisha Davis and customer sat down to discuss our approach.

Although he was willing to take any job, we agreed he deserved a position which would benefit from his skills and experience identified during his initial assessment.  Our first priority was to edit his resume to capture his years of military and civilian experience.

Mr. Watson served in the U.S. Navy from December 1981 through December 1983. His last position was Manager at Save-A-Lot Grocery which ended July 18, 2022. We took his military background and management experience in account and we created an Individual Employment Plan (IEP) to fit his financial needs as well as his responsibilities as a caregiver. His current barrier to employment was ex-offender, and we worked around his schedule as a caregiver for his ill mother. 

After completing his IEP, we reviewed his resume for the following:

• Accuracy of information on resume which includes dates, locations, and job duties
• Verify proper format is being used
• Ensure targeted keywords were included for desired industries and specific job descriptions
• Maximize space to keep resume to 2-page minimum

With a completed resume, Mr. Watson began his job search.  The DVOP, Ms. Davis, sent him emails with possible job leads as well as he visited the center to search.  He informed me he was going to Cash Savers (a local grocery store) to apply as well.  Upon arrival to the grocery store, with resume in hand, he asked to speak with the store manager.  Mr. Watson was hired on the spot on July 25, 2022. 

He was happy to inform me of his new employment, and during the monthly check-ins with the DVOP, he expressed how much he enjoys his newfound job.

As we can see from Mr. Watson, your resume is your business card when seeking employment. It’s important to identify the industry you are targeting, the jobs you want to apply for, and the desired salary. By doing what it takes, you can craft a resume that speaks to your skills and benefits to a company even before the interview.

Apprenticeship program success stories help us promote the tremendous value that these programs bring to employers, employees, and job seekers. Keep reading below for the answers from a recent success story: a Teach Assistant Apprentice from our RA Partner School of Champion.

---

Apprenticeship program success stories help us promote the tremendous value that these programs bring to employers, employees, and job seekers. Keep reading below for the answers from a recent success story from the owner of AA Calibration, Mr. White.

---

Apprenticeship program success stories help us promote the tremendous value that these programs bring to employers, employees, and job seekers. Keep reading below for the answers from a recent success story: a new LPN apprentice from the new RA program at Singing River.

---

In 2006, as an apprentice construction craft laborer in Milwaukee, I helped build one of the I-43 underpasses on Fond Du Lac Avenue. The bridge is well known throughout Wisconsin for the murals that adorn it, including one that tells the story of a man named Joshua Glover. Glover, a Black man enslaved in Missouri, escaped from slavery in 1852 and made his way to Wisconsin, a free state. Two years later, he was caught and arrested under the Fugitive Slave Act, which meant a return to slavery, a return to the South for trial, or one of many worse fates. Glover was being held at the Milwaukee County Jailhouse when, as the mural depicts, abolitionists from all around southeastern Wisconsin, led by a man named Sherman Booth, stormed the jail and helped Glover escape to the Underground Railroad. He eventually found freedom in Canada.

This story of a Black man achieving freedom, displayed on the side of a bridge that this Black man constructed, makes me proud of Wisconsin and strengthens my passion for advancing the promise of Registered Apprenticeship. But as we celebrate Black History Month, this story serves as a lingering reminder of the challenges people of color still have today. Glover sought a pathway to freedom; today’s Black learners and workers seek, as I did, pathways to a family-sustaining career with livable wages. Today’s obstacles, however, are far more insidious and disguised, and can impact people’s access to opportunities to good jobs, good wages, and the economic mobility and dignity that accompany these opportunities. Apprenticeship has expanded in recent years to new industries and occupations, and now includes a broader, more diverse group of employers and apprentices. But the bias (or implicit bias) that pervades our greater culture plays out in the apprenticeship system, too.

We have a unique opportunity to focus on these challenges by implementing purposeful and intentional policies and practices to make a difference—and to track our progress. Many employers, labor unions, sponsors, and other stakeholders are already doing this, but we need to encourage many more to examine their practices and consider more intentional recruitment, hiring, and advancement practices to reflect the demographics of their communities and to increase access and opportunities for all Americans.

A year ago, while working as the state director of apprenticeship in Wisconsin, I joined a JFF webinar to talk about race and Registered Apprenticeship. At that time, many institutions were undergoing a racial reckoning after George Floyd’s murder, and we had a lively discussion about how important it is for employers to begin to be honest and open with themselves while looking in their organizations and asking how they can do diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) better. This conversation led to one realization: the nation’s top workforce program needed to change.

Today, I’m leading a new and important project at JFF as director of our National Innovation Hub for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility in Registered Apprenticeship, where we and a range of partners will be working hard to increase equitable opportunities and outcomes in apprenticeship for all.

As of this month, the overall Black workers’ unemployment rate is double the white unemployment rate. When we narrow the focus to apprenticeship, we see that Black apprentices remain statistically underrepresented, making up just 10.7 percent of new apprentices nationwide while accounting for 12.4 percent of the population.

While 10.7 percent meets and exceeds affirmative action standards for apprenticeship programs, a closer look reveals that completion rates for Black apprentices are significantly lower than for any other race or ethnicity, and this drives down overall participation.

When Black apprentices do complete the program, their average hourly wages at $26.02 are lower than the wages for members of any other racial or ethnic group. For women, the average hourly wages at completion are even lower at $22.99, with the average hourly wage at completion for Black women even less than $22.99.

This is not just a color-of-your-skin problem. These barriers to access, opportunity, and equity also impact women, people with disabilities, people with criminal records, and other groups who are underrepresented in success throughout our society. Wage disparities and occupational segregation cluster many people—including people of color, women of all backgrounds, and other unrepresented folks—in the lower-rung jobs of apprenticeships.

Employers must look at these disparities as they work to improve diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility within their companies and apprenticeship programs. When it comes to hiring, are they recruiting diverse workers deeply from the communities they serve? Are they reaching out to HBCUs to attract new and untapped talent? Are their hiring practices conducive to attracting or retaining Black people, women of all backgrounds, and others who are inadequately represented in apprenticeship?

Hiring alone isn’t enough, either. Employers need to look at their company culture, policies for advancement and promotion, and wage distribution to ensure they are not perpetuating the problems. Do they create a welcoming environment for people from other countries, or other zip codes? Are they providing upskilling and advancement opportunities to all workers in a fair and unbiased manner? A year ago, at that webinar, I heard many employers and partners promise to take action to build DEIA in apprenticeship. Today, as the director of JFF’s new National Innovation Hub for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility in Registered Apprenticeship, I’m asking them to follow through—with our help.

Employers who are interested in taking this step can apply for direct support from JFF or one of our Innovation Hub partners:

• The Apprentice School at Newport News Shipbuilding
• Apprenticeship Carolina
• The Center for Minority Serving Institutions at Rutgers University (CMSI)
• Chicago Women in the Trades (CWIT)
• Donna Lenhoff Associates, EEO law firm
• The Institute for Community Inclusion (ICI) at the University of Massachusetts, Boston
• Intelligent Partnerships (IP), inclusion design consultants
• OneTen
• UnidosUS

Employers can also make their commitments public by signing the Business Pledge to Advance Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility in Registered Apprenticeship.

My passion for advancing the promise of apprenticeship comes from my own personal experience as a craft laborer, and my belief in the need for diversity, equity, inclusion, and access comes from my appreciation for people like Joshua Glover, whose story inspires me and my colleagues at JFF to remember the challenges from the past as we look toward strengthening the future. The nation’s apprenticeship system can do for so many what it did for me: provide a terrific career with good wages. During this Black History Month, let’s commit ourselves again to giving all American workers the access and opportunities to learn and advance in the world of work through the promise of Registered Apprenticeship.