Putting people on road to success

One lost his job in 2008 after 21 years at a big bank. Another lost his construction job last fall and a third will be receiving a bachelor's degree in business administration this spring.

They are among the first 10 men in a St. Paul program that covers the cost and accompanies men through classes and testing to get Class B driver's licenses. The goal: to make them more marketable for jobs driving heavy trucks and to create a pipeline of qualified minority candidates for city jobs, especially in the Public Works Department.

Brian Troutman, 52, of St. Paul, has worked temporary jobs with the U.S. Census Bureau and as a home health care aide since losing his bank job. "What appealed to me was just getting your foot in the door, having that license," the soft-spoken Troutman said. "You do whatever you can do."

About 50 men in classes of 10 starting roughly every other week are expected to go through the course and testing this spring. The program's total cost is approximately $20,000. The city covers $12,000 of that, with the Greater Twin Cities United Way and the YWCA of St. Paul paying the rest.

Those taking the class on their own could expect to pay at least $1,100. The city negotiated a rate of about $400 per student for the program, according to Luz Maria Frias, director of the city's Human Rights and Equal Economic Opportunity Department.

Candidates are selected primarily from the Promise Neighborhood, where the city aims to flood a 250-square-block area with educational, social, medical and municipal services. The area encompasses much of the Frogtown and Summit-University neighborhoods, the city's poorest areas.

City Council Member Melvin Carter III said the idea is to find people who are "willing to work, trying to work and the economy's not allowing it."

Troutman is a longtime resident who would love to find steady work, especially in the driving jobs that pay in the range of $40,000 to $50,000 a year, plus benefits. He's not particular about what he would like to do. "I don't really know yet," he said of his post-certification hopes. "Just working."

Frias said her idea for the program came after she heard frequent complaints from residents about the lack of minorities in city street crews. The current program is a pilot. Frias said the aim will be to continue if the program succeeds. Both she and Mayor Chris Coleman believe it will, pointing to similar city training for Emergency Medical Services certification -- a longer program.

In 2009, only one minority graduated from the EMS program statewide, Frias said. Within 18 months, St. Paul certified 30 minorities, many of whom now work as emergency medical technicians or went on to further training to become nurses and paramedics, she said.

For Coleman, the program fits the goal of expanding economic opportunities. "It will work," he said.

"These are jobs that pay really well. The barrier is getting that license."

He and Frias noted that one contractor on the four-year Central Corridor light-rail project will need 150 drivers a day.

On the city payroll, 38 job titles require a Class B license and 213 current employees hold them, Frias said. Class B licenses allow drivers to operate heavy trucks and buses, including snowplows.

Students come to the class through connections in the neighborhoods and City Hall. Some showed up an hour early for the first day of class on March 7.

LaRohn Latimer, coordinator of a YWCA learning program, teaches the initial stages before the men head to the Interstate Truck Driving School.

"We've got some high-character, high-caliber folks," he said.

Rochelle Olson • 612-673-1747