Malcolm Wallace

Staff Photo by Gillian Bolsover -- Baron Holmes asks a question at the kickoff event for a highway construction training course Friday at Olivet Baptist Church. The program, which is a partnership between the Tennessee Department of Transportation and Lemoyne-Owen College Community Development Foundation, is intended to train participants to qualify to work for the Department of Transportation.

The Tennessee Department of Transportation has teamed up with the Urban League of Greater Chattanooga to provide training that could lead participants to highway construction jobs.

TDOT officials said they developed a 12-week training course that will prepare participants for jobs with contractors TDOT uses to build roads across the Volunteer State.

John Archaletta, a TDOT official, told participants the program will offer hands-on training to teach flagging and road safety as well as skills such as how to use a shovel and a jack hammer.

Jerry Hanner, owner of Hanner Construction, was on hand at a kick-off event last week to hear how the program would be structured.

He said he doesn’t feel the training program, which prepares participants to be a general laborer, goes far enough to teach the skills necessary to succeed in the construction industry. He said the market is flooded with general laborers.

“The problem is we don’t have enough skilled labor,” he said. “This is a good program, but there has got to be some skilled training for it to really work. We need to try to get people to spin off into other apprentice programs.”

Staff Photo by Gillian Bolsover -- Baron Holmes asks a question at the kickoff event for a highway construction training course Friday at Olivet Baptist Church. The program, which is a partnership between the Tennessee Department of Transportation and Lemoyne-Owen College Community Development Foundation, is intended to train participants to qualify to work for the Department of Transportation.

Mr. Hanner said he would like to see specialized training for carpenters and brick masons, which are in short supply.

Malcolm Wallace with Lemoyne-Owen College Community Development Corp. in Memphis, another program organizer, said the initiative has been successful in Memphis, Nashville and Knoxville where 60 participants completed the program and more than 50 found jobs afterward.

Charles Williams, 33, is a custodian at Memorial and Parkway hospitals, and he hopes the training will lead to a better job.

“I’m looking for more gainful employment,” he said. “The country is in a recession now, and I need another job.”

Stephanie Sanders, 38, hopes she can boost her resume and be more confident in job interviews.

“I hope to learn how to sell myself to different companies,” she said.

B.J. Doughty, a spokeswoman for TDOT, said the training program is funded through a $38,809 federal supportive services grant.

“Taking this class does not ensure employment with the Department of Transportation or any other company,” she said. “It is simply for training.”