Mentorship Program Sims to Boost Number of Black Youth in GTA Construction

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A new mentorship program is being launched in Toronto on Wednesday with the aim of increasing the number of young black people working in the construction industry.

NextGen Builders, a pilot project, will connect youth with mentors who are professional tradespeople.

Organizers of the program say the idea is to diversify the construction industry in the Greater Toronto Area and to provide young people with the skills needed to secure employment and build careers in the trades.

The program is an initiative of Toronto Community Benefits Network, a community-labour coalition, in partnership with LiUNA’s African American Canadian Caucus.

According to the 2018 Ontario’s Apprenticeship Strategy, less than two per cent of people in apprenticeships in the province are visible minorities. The program hopes to change those numbers and get them to work — including on multi-billion dollar transit expansion projects already underway in Toronto.

In an interview with CBC Radio’s Metro Morning, Toronto residents Chris Campbell, a carpenter and mentor, and Ahmed Abdi, a apprentice carpenter on the Eglinton Crosstown LRT project and a mentee, said NextGen Builders is a good idea.

The two, both members of Carpenters Union Local 27, were the inspiration for NextGen Builders. Campbell is a mentor to Abdi, who was born in Somalia but came to Canada when he was 13 and grew up in Rexdale.

The two met at a recruitment event in the Jane Street Hub, a community centre that brings together organizations to offer services and health care to area residents. Abdi told Campbell he wanted to be a carpenter and asked him for help. In tun, Campbell invited Abdi to meet union members.

Read the full article on the CBC’s website.