When Jeffrey Johnson left jail in 2015 after several brushes with the legal system, he was looking for purpose as he charted a new path in his life.

He found it while living in a halfway house in Braddock when he visited a local career center and a case worker suggested he take an introductory class that was educating people about union trades.

“It actually just fell in my lap,” Johnson said.

Johnson took the course with the thought of studying to one day work as a union carpenter, but instead followed a path to becoming an electrician with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

“I was looking at becoming a carpenter and build houses for a living. Taking the course in Pittsburgh, it kind of opened my eyes that there could be other trades that I could fit into,” Johnson said. “It was something I could be excellent at. That’s what helped me and showed me what I could do.”

Johnson and his wife, Shakira – both Bentworth graduates – now want to help others find similar success through their Johnson-Shaw Foundation nonprofit they launched in 2022 to help people in Fayette, Greene, Washington and Westmoreland counties. Since April 2023, they’ve helped about 200 people re-entering society after serving prison terms by offering direct services and assistance to get them back on their feet.

“I must say, I think it’s been going very well for a new, small organization,” Shakira Johnson said. “I’m going to measure that on the amount of people we’ve provided with services and the connections we’ve made in the different programs with different counties.”

The newest initiative the foundation is now pursuing is the “Bridge to Success” apprenticeship readiness program designed to help people – whether they have a criminal history or not – through an introductory six-week course to help them get a foot in the door for a union job. Jeffrey Johnson thinks those classes he attended nearly a decade ago changed his life, and he believes it can help others, too.

The daily classes in Charleroi will last about five or six hours through the “Trades Futures” curriculum, which includes two or three trips into the field to learn more about 17 different trades available for apprenticeship. Some of the union trade options include steamfitters, operating engineers, electricians, carpenters, laborers, painters and others.

The program tours facilities, teaches different tools used in the trades and gives classroom time to study for an eventual pass-fail exam that allows students to move onto an interview stage. The program pays students $40 per day to give them some money while they’re taking the six-week course.

“It helps them navigate the test and help be prepared for the test and then move onto the interview,” Jeffrey Johnson said. “It tells the unions they participated in the program and are well recommended.”

The Johnson-Shaw Foundation is hoping to begin classes in August, so it’s asking for interested candidates to reach out to them to see if they’re eligible for the program, which is paid using state and federal funds that come through CareerLink and Workforce Development. They need at least 10 students to begin the classes and have enough space for a maximum of 15 people.

“I was always trying to figure out how to make a better living, thinking about union trades, but just seeing they weren’t available to me back then,” Johnson said. “And we’re not offering that opportunity to people in Washington, Greene, Fayette and Westmoreland counties.”

People interested in signing up can call the Johnson-Shaw Foundation at 724-350-0214 or send an email to [email protected]. People can also go to their local PA CareerLink office for more information, or go online to www.thejohnsonshawfoundation.com to learn about the “Bridge to Success” program.

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