Operation Fresh Start Sets Students on Career Path

About a quarter of participants in Operation Fresh Start end up with a career in the trades after learning construction skills in a program that also leads to a high school diploma.

The rest use the experience to take other career directions.

Operation Fresh Start serves disconnected, low-income young people ages 16 to 24 in Dane County and guides them toward self-sufficiency through mentoring, education and employment training. Operation Fresh Start graduates earn their high school diploma and driver’s license and go on to continue their education or find self-sustaining employment.

About 75 percent of Operation Fresh Start students are people of color.

David Wright, 17, said he is one of the program participants who plans to continue in construction.

“I was never big on sitting in a classroom all day and looking at a board,” he said. “This job fits perfectly into what I want to go into.”

Wright is considering the graduate program at Operation Fresh Start geared toward those who want to go into the trades. Those in the Graduate Crew work at residential and commercial job sites. One week a quarter they job shadow employees of J.H. Findorff and Son through a partnership with the company.

Currently, the Graduate Crew program is involved in construction of SSM Health’s new clinic on Fish Hatchery Road. The initiative is a new partnership between Operation Fresh Start, the Urban League of Greater Madison (Madison, WI) and Findorff called Foundation for the Trades. SSM Health wanted to prioritize diversity in the construction process and provide construction mentorship opportunities for young people.

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