Returning to MacLaren for October’s career fair gave Enrique an opportunity to reflect on how his life had changed since he was a kid. Years ago, he was a youth there – making some of the same kinds of choices, facing the same kinds of consequences as the youth residing there today. He came back to share the lesson that enabled him to build a stable, enriching life for himself.
“I was more than a troublemaker,” he wrote after the event. “I could do something with my life if I wanted to – and that’s exactly what I did.”
Enrique was one of several presenters at MacLaren’s most recent career fair who brought lived experience, hard-earned perspective, and a shared belief that work can be a turning point. Ana Rigsby, with the Sprinkler Fitters Local 669, reflected that, when she was younger and “being a knucklehead,” “I never had anybody relatable” who could tell “just be real with me.” Justice-involved family members of Jani Turner, apprenticeship coordinator with the Oregon & Southern Idaho Laborers union, have gone through the same apprenticeship program she now helps others access, and they “went from living under a bridge 13 years ago to owning a home.”
Electricians, laborers, and sprinkler fitters stressed that building trades would welcome OYA youth. “The trades give everybody the same shot,” Ana said. “I don’t need you to know how to read a tape measure. I just need you to show up every day and give me 1000%. I can teach you the rest.” Jani stressed the accessibility offered by her union’s program: “If they get out and they’re hungry to go to work, they can start faster.”
Employment, all presenters agreed, can stabilize someone during a vulnerable transition. Enrique said his job helped him create a safe environment for his family. “It might not be the easy money I was used to in my youth,” he wrote, “but I know that what I’m doing now is changing others’ lives.” Karen Cain, director of operations at All Star Labor & Staffing, said that her agency’s clients often remark on the quality of formerly justice-involved employees. She ventured to guess that was partially because, “They want to keep their freedom, and they know that working is part of that.”
A teenager in MacLaren may have a different orientation than an adult to their future career, but presenters saw their potential. Jani was attending her first fair but noted how closely “[youth] were listening,” while Karen said this group was more engaged than in the past: “almost every one of them walked up to the table, introduced themselves, and shook our hand.” (Following a model lesson piloted at Tillamook this summer, Lord High School staff worked with youth beforehand on proper job fair etiquette.) After the fair, some presenters toured MacLaren’s trades facility, and Laborers representative Jani saw potential for apprenticeship programs to “use what [youth] have access to [now] to put them on a path to success.”
For youth leaving OYA facilities, a job can be one of the most effective buffers against further justice involvement. It offers income but also creates structure, accountability, and a reason to keep moving forward. That’s what Enrique found when he left MacLaren and started working, and seventeen years later he’s still with the same company. His story, and those shared by other presenters, conveyed to youth: take advantage of opportunities and support, and you will succeed.
Thanks to all our participating partners: UA Local 669 Fire Sprinkler Fitters JATC, All Star Labor & Staffing, Project POOCH, Oregon Laborers Apprenticeship, Green Acres Landscape Inc, Worksource Oregon, Transfr Inc., NECA-IBEW Electrical Training Center, Freres Engineered Wood, Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action Reentry Services, POIC (Portland Opportunities Industrialization Center), Goodwill Jobs Connections, Oregon Army National Guard, Opportunity Oregon, Chemeketa Community College, Epic Electric, New Pathway Enterprise Inc, and Portland Community College.