Building Classes Lay Foundations for New Lives

On a corner of Artesia Boulevard and Delta Avenue sits one of the sorriest apartment buildings you’ll ever see. But beneath it lies what can only be described as a truly fine concrete slab.

And that is a source of pride to several dozen Compton Community College students, who painstakingly poured the foot-thick foundation while enrolled in a novel series of classes intended to offer them something more than a grade.

It all began early this year, when developers of Compton’s first major hotel, the proposed $30-million Alameda Plaza, promised to give local residents first crack at about 250 construction jobs.

“We wanted to ensure that we had quality people ready to go,” said Fred Lamm, the college’s associate dean of occupational education, business and math.

15% Unemployment Rate

So, provided with a perfect opportunity and confronted by a clear community problem--Compton’s unemployment rate is about 15%, roughly twice the average for Los Angeles County--college officials quickly assembled a curriculum in the construction trades.

When the developers responded by informally designating the college as their primary screening and training site for applicants, Lamm said, the program “took off like you can’t believe.”

In a matter of weeks, nearly 300 students had signed up for instruction in carpentry, plumbing, blueprint reading and other essential, if not necessarily academic, arts of big-time building. The college’s enrollment, which for years has been suffering steady declines, suddenly rose by about 8%, in part because of the new classes, officials said.

Instructor Ed McCullough, a general contractor since 1972, began guiding students through the assembly of a 600-square-foot garden shack that eventually became part of the Compton campus.

When that work ended, the vacant, two-story stucco apartment building--moved from the path of a freeway, purchased by the college and positioned a block from its main gates--became the next guinea pig. After the foundation was poured to replace what had been wooden stilts, the students began installing everything from new electrical wiring to shiny copper water pipes.

Work to Resume

The remodeling still isn’t complete, although summer classes ended Aug. 1. But the work is scheduled to resume when fall classes begin Sept. 4. Officials said they hope to use or sell the structure in its finished form.

Each student who successfully completes a class receives a certificate showing that he has some basic construction knowledge if not actual on-the-job experience. Officials said they hope to set up an additional two-year program starting in the fall so students can eventually receive an associate’s degree in construction technology.

Spokesman Charles Cropsey acknowledges that the school has offered vocational courses in the past, but said, “They didn’t have the immediacy that this had. People (drawn by the prospect of winning a hotel job) just came swarming in.”

That has been great for Compton College and the students who enrolled in the construction classes merely for the academic credit.

But after 15 spring and summer weeks of class, only a handful of students have managed to translate their training into full-time jobs, none of which have been with the hotel. City officials explained that the much-ballyhooed construction, initially set to begin around June, has been delayed until September because of snags in the design of roads leading to the site, off Alameda Street and the Artesia Freeway.

Some Have Dropped Out

As a result, some of the students who enrolled in April have since dropped out, convinced that the job opportunities will never materialize. One course that began with 35 students ended the summer term with only six, said class member Don Ellison.

College officials said they lack any specific dropout figures, but estimate that the rate has actually been less than the overall Compton College average of about 50%.

The fact that some students have become disenchanted has not been lost on college or Compton city officials.

“I can understand that if you’re a young person and you’ve never had a job and somebody comes through promoting this job program, if things don’t happen right away, that can be depressing,” said Compton City Atty. Wesley Fenderson Jr. “There’s always some concern that people will feel that way.

“I happen to be very optimistic,” Fenderson continued. In the construction business, he said, “a two-month delay is no big deal. The (hotel) project is a go and the jobs are going to materialize.”

$30 Million in Bonds

When the 10-story hotel and convention center was financed late last year with $30 million worth of city-approved industrial revenue bonds, Compton officials made the developers promise to try to draw employees from the area. “The city wanted to get more than just a hotel structure out there,” Fenderson said. “Fifteen percent (unemployment), that’s Depression-era levels.”

Doug Snider, project manager for hotel builders Tucon Development and Lazben Financial Co., said that some jobs--both skilled and unskilled--will be made available to qualified students.

Snider said it is possible that the college program could save his company some training expenses if it delivers the right kind of workers. “My understanding,” he said, is that the courses are “mainly oriented toward a younger group of people, but (that) there will be some semi-experienced people also brushing up their skills.”

Andre Butler Jr., a 25-year-old student who had never before enrolled in a college class, said he hopes the developers really intend to give him and the others a chance. He said city officials recently told the students that they might be able to earn from $8 to $13 an hour.

“I’d like to land that job,” said Butler. “Thirteen dollars an hour--I’ve never made that much money.” Still, Butler said he realizes that an inexperienced laborer, which he is, would probably start out drawing considerably less.

Other students said they are not really counting on a hotel job. They said there are plenty of other places to look for work.

“With the knowledge I have, I can take my skills anywhere,” said a smiling Ronald Bryant, 29. “I can build until I retire.”

James Leigh said he doesn’t much care where he has to go to get work, as long as he can get it. After 18 years with a floor tile company, the 45-year-old family man lost his job as a supervisor last year when the firm shut down. Ever since, he said, it’s been tough to make his $600-a-month house payment.

Building Inspector

And students like Murray Duffey, 33, one of several women in the summer class, said she’s more interested in becoming qualified to be a building inspector.

Instructor McCullough, a burly, no-nonsense taskmaster, said leading the students has been “like raising another family.” He takes particular pride in helping those “who came up from generations ‘on the county.’ ”

“I don’t teach them to look towards the hotel,” McCullough explained. “I teach them to look towards the future.”

One special student, McCullough said, is Manny White, who tells of spending 12 years being shuttled in and out of Folsom and San Quentin prisons on convictions for auto theft and robbery. White said winning a hotel job isn’t as important as regaining his son’s respect.

“I’m 40 and he’s 16, and he’s just now realizing he’s got a father,” said White. “I want him to look at me and say, ‘Hey, if my old man can go to school, why can’t I?’ ”