BALTIMORE — A Baltimore nonprofit is working to give potential trade employees in Baltimore City a chance.
Project Jumpstart - for a few months at a time - trains a few dozen people in construction. The program graduated its latest students Monday night in Baltimore.
Anthony Johnson, a Baltimore resident, told WMAR he is now employed, working with sprinkler systems.
"That’s the most important thing to me - you can make a career out of this," said Johnson.
Johnson thought serving time earlier in his life would set him back. At least, that's what some potential employers told him.
"If you know anything about going for a job," Johnson explained, "it can be very discouraging, and doors being closed in your face because of that."
"As one interviewer for a job explained it, it's a liability, you become a cipher. You may be a good person, but because you have a criminal background, some jobs are just not willing to take that chance," Johnson continued.
Jimmy Stewart, the program's Executive Director and a construction industry vet, says the program is not just for those who have been incarcerated, though about three quarters have encountered the justice system.
"We’ve all made mistakes," Stewart said. "We all want a second chance at times. And when you’ve been incarcerated, those second chances are pretty hard to come by. So project jumpstart does that, and I think we do it pretty well."
Project Jumpstart is a cause of choice for developers of the massive Baltimore Peninsula project - formerly Port Covington - as they continue to build in the area with the city's blessing.
SEE MORE: Port Covington is now "Baltimore Peninsula"
Our job is to get people in, get people trained, exposed to the industry and then get them jobs," said Stewart.
The program began in 2006, and says it places 80 percent of graduates in jobs.
