Three incarcerated women who graduated an apprenticeship program while serving time found jobs once released, according to an article in The Seattle Times.
Brittany Wright, 30, successfully completed Trades Related Apprenticeship Coaching (TRAC), a vocational training program that helped her develop job-searching skills, including networking. The 16-week state program teaches incarcerated people to overcome obstacles they may face when they return to society. The goal is to help people with a prison background to secure jobs with decent wages.
Eventually she landed a job, earning $31 an hour, at a light rail expansion project with a firm named Kiewit. She became a cement mason apprentice, a job which put her on a sound financial footing. She told The Times that the TRAC training made her much better than she was the first time she left prison 10 years ago.
“The last time I got out everything was so much harder. Finding a job was harder, getting my life together was harder, finding a place to live was harder. All of these things that you would do to re-enter society just took a long time,” said Wright, who said she feels more confident now facing the future.
In the past 10 years, 250 women have graduated from TRAC. Approximately 80 of the women entered the apprenticeship program while serving time. They picked up skills and knowledge about a variety of vocational trades.
Heather Kurtenback also served a prison term, but now she’s the business agent at the Ironworkers Union Local 86 in Tukwila, Washington, the article said. She was released in 2005 and struggled to find employment that would give her a stable life. Research shows that a stable job is an essential factor in the success of returning citizens and reduces likelihood of recidivism.
“It’s important that we get the women working right away when they get out. Nobody would freaking hire me, not even to flip burgers,” Kurtenback told The Times, adding: “Once you check that box ‘yes I am a felon’ that pretty much closes the door.”
Aubrey Russell an apprentice iron worker, was released in 2019, when she was 34 years old. It was hard for her to get to work even with a free bus pass.
“So I’d take an $80 Lyft ride there in the morning and an $80 Lyft home at nights,” she said.
Nevertheless, she persevered. It paid off. Over a span of four years she worked on various projects, such as the light rail and Interstate 90. She succeeded with hard work last April, working her way up to a journeyman level, now she is able to work unsupervised.
