QUOTE
Creating a brotherhood
11/29/2007, 11:11 am
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Scot Squires, 1-866-362-2167 Ext. 13869, ssquires@heraldargus.com
Ryan Fly has a mission: to help others help themselves
MICHIGAN CITY -- Mike Wade says he’s just fortunate to have a job when so many others can’t find work.
The Michigan City resident turned to a nonprofit organization for help after retiring from Chrysler and moving to the area.
The Corner to Cornerstone Mentoring & Technical Training Program, started by Ryan Fly, provided funds to pay for training for Wade to get his commercial driver’s license.
“If it weren’t for him (Fly), I wouldn’t have been able to take the classes,” said Wade, who now drives semi trucks across the country.
Wade isn’t alone. So far, nearly 500 people – mostly minorities – have completed Wades’ program, which he founded in 2004.
Michigan City resident Travis Yarber, 20, recently graduated from Corner to Cornerstone with a welding certificate.
The welding program is a partnership between the A.K. Smith Career Center, WorkOne and Corner to Cornerstone.
“Ryan shows us job opportunities that other people didn’t show us,” Yarber said.
The goal of the program, Fly said, is to teach life skills, provide an education and teach ongoing training to sustain jobs.
After Fly, who is black, had trouble joining a union, he decided he was going to start the organization to help other minorities get into good-paying jobs and trade unions.
“I could do carpentry work, I just couldn’t get in the union,” Fly explained. “The union is a brotherhood it is hard just to get in. So I said ‘I’m going to start my own company.’ I started landscaping and general contracting work. And then I said, ‘I’m going to help others.’”
Now that he is in the union, his goal is to get more minorities involved in union construction jobs, including the 22-story hotel that is being built at the Blue Chip Casino.
“I have a lot of people depending on me,” Fly said. “I believe what I’m doing is what I’m supposed to do. It is my way of giving back.”
The organization partners with Jim Stemmler, president of the La Porte-Stark-Pulaski County Building Trades Union.
Many of the graduates in the program become union carpenters, laborers and ironworkers. Others go into welding or receive commercial driver’s licenses.
Before being trained in a union, participants must first complete Fly’s program, which takes two to three months and includes six phases.
Those in the program are first taught life skills and resume building and given math and reading help.
From there, they learn about computers and entrance exams for skilled trades. Finally, they are introduced to carpentry, electrical work, plumbing, roofing, steel work and, finally, equipment operation.
Program participants are also required to perform community service work and are prohibited from using tobacco, alcohol or drugs.
The rules, Fly said, allow him to send only the best people to job sites.
“I want to give young men and women opportunities with good-paying jobs to support a family,” he said.
“This is what I was put on this Earth to do. I’m a difference-maker. If I can’t make a difference, I won’t do it.”
11/29/2007, 11:11 am
Comment on this story
Scot Squires, 1-866-362-2167 Ext. 13869, ssquires@heraldargus.com
Ryan Fly has a mission: to help others help themselves
MICHIGAN CITY -- Mike Wade says he’s just fortunate to have a job when so many others can’t find work.
The Michigan City resident turned to a nonprofit organization for help after retiring from Chrysler and moving to the area.
The Corner to Cornerstone Mentoring & Technical Training Program, started by Ryan Fly, provided funds to pay for training for Wade to get his commercial driver’s license.
“If it weren’t for him (Fly), I wouldn’t have been able to take the classes,” said Wade, who now drives semi trucks across the country.
Wade isn’t alone. So far, nearly 500 people – mostly minorities – have completed Wades’ program, which he founded in 2004.
Michigan City resident Travis Yarber, 20, recently graduated from Corner to Cornerstone with a welding certificate.
The welding program is a partnership between the A.K. Smith Career Center, WorkOne and Corner to Cornerstone.
“Ryan shows us job opportunities that other people didn’t show us,” Yarber said.
The goal of the program, Fly said, is to teach life skills, provide an education and teach ongoing training to sustain jobs.
After Fly, who is black, had trouble joining a union, he decided he was going to start the organization to help other minorities get into good-paying jobs and trade unions.
“I could do carpentry work, I just couldn’t get in the union,” Fly explained. “The union is a brotherhood it is hard just to get in. So I said ‘I’m going to start my own company.’ I started landscaping and general contracting work. And then I said, ‘I’m going to help others.’”
Now that he is in the union, his goal is to get more minorities involved in union construction jobs, including the 22-story hotel that is being built at the Blue Chip Casino.
“I have a lot of people depending on me,” Fly said. “I believe what I’m doing is what I’m supposed to do. It is my way of giving back.”
The organization partners with Jim Stemmler, president of the La Porte-Stark-Pulaski County Building Trades Union.
Many of the graduates in the program become union carpenters, laborers and ironworkers. Others go into welding or receive commercial driver’s licenses.
Before being trained in a union, participants must first complete Fly’s program, which takes two to three months and includes six phases.
Those in the program are first taught life skills and resume building and given math and reading help.
From there, they learn about computers and entrance exams for skilled trades. Finally, they are introduced to carpentry, electrical work, plumbing, roofing, steel work and, finally, equipment operation.
Program participants are also required to perform community service work and are prohibited from using tobacco, alcohol or drugs.
The rules, Fly said, allow him to send only the best people to job sites.
“I want to give young men and women opportunities with good-paying jobs to support a family,” he said.
“This is what I was put on this Earth to do. I’m a difference-maker. If I can’t make a difference, I won’t do it.”