东普雷斯顿授权学院改变了careers of Black tradespeople

Howard Benjamin was born in Jamaica and has lived in Canada since 1977. Now 51, he was a second-year apprentice working as an industrial electrician for the Department of National Defence when a co-worker first told him about the East Preston Empowerment Academy (EPEA).

Though he wanted to gain his Red Seal, he said reading and comprehension challenges with the exam held him back.

他说：“我认为某些社区的某些人交流和说话的方式与可能（甚至在同一城镇）的人不同。”“如果您要去一个社区，并且测试是在某种程度上写的，例如，社区通常会说话，那么您可能会发现那些人会理解这一词。”

In the EPEA’s second year, in 2015, Benjamin signed up for the pathways program to earn his Red Seal and attended classes on Monday and Friday nights. He said a lot of the people who attend the meetings are very proficient in the industries in which they work, but they struggle to get certified.

“We know that there’s a lot of people of colour who’ve been traditionally doing the concrete work in this province,” Benjamin said. “But there’s been very little-to-none that are actually Red Seal designated. Meaning they can never bid for that job, meaning they will always be subjugated to some other company, giving them second rate … subcontractor money.”

“现在，新斯科舍省在建筑方面的蓬勃发展，该社区并没有像其他社区那样利用它。”

“很高兴看到40多岁和50多岁的男人在星期五晚上在那里……坐在桌子旁，看着黑板，在星期五晚上越过三角学！”他说。“这告诉我，整周工作后，这让我知道有很多想要获得这些认证的人。”

“It’s one of the few times that I got to be in a room, outside of a funeral or a wedding, with a bunch of my peers, talking about business. Literally, talking about business, and the industry, and our companies … throwing ideas at each other. For me, it was huge.”

Benjamin was one of many EPEA graduates who were interviewed as part of a study into the work of the EPEA.这项研究由加拿大德勤（Deloitte）进行found not only did EPEA graduates contribute more than a million dollars to the province’s gross domestic product (GDP) over a four-year period, but that more than 70% of EPEA graduates reported an increase in income after graduating the program.

“For a small organization like this, without secure funding, without permanent staff … to generate that kind of money is significant,” said Senator Wanda Thomas Bernard, who is the president of the EPEA.

The academy offers adult learning programs, university and high school tutoring programs, a high school equivalency/GED program, as well as an apprenticeship program to help tradespeople acquire Red Seals in their trade.

Though the program is based out of the Prestons, the largest Black community in Atlantic Canada, its registration is open to everyone.

Thomas Bernard said the idea for the academy started with Reverend Dr. LeQuita Porter, the former pastor of the East Preston United Baptist Church, who was interested in lifelong learning and ongoing education.

托马斯·伯纳德（Thomas Bernard）在与审查员讲话时说，她和波特（Porter）受到男子兄弟会的邀请，参加了2014年的年度会议。她说，参与的水平是演讲是如此非同寻常，兄弟会邀请他们回到下个月的会议。在下个月的会议上，她说该学院的想法刚开始形成。

“And one man, one brave soul, said, ‘Well, I don’t feel I have enough education, so I hold myself back.’ And then the next thing I know other men are saying that,” Thomas Bernard said.

She said the youngest man amongst the group would have been in his 50s, with the average age of the group about 60 to 65.

“We have many people in our communities who have been tradespeople, their fathers before them — it’s mostly men but we’re trying to break that gender barrier as well — and many of them own their own businesses,” she said. “But because they’re not Red Seal certified, they’re not able to bid on the big contracts … they don’t get the higher salary.”

“And I remember saying, ‘So if we could do something here in the church, if we could bring you a program, would you participate?’ … And then I remember thinking, ‘OK, how are we going to do this?’”

To get the ball rolling, Thomas Bernard contacted Calvin Gough, who was the educator with the African Canadian Services division in the Department of Education.

She said “the stars were truly aligned” because Gough was already doing surveys in all of the African Nova Scotian communities and learning about needs around adult education.

Thomas Bernard and Dr. Porter offered to do the surveys in East Preston and about 25 members of the Men’s Brotherhood participated.

“And at least … more than half of the men in that group talked about the need for further education.”

从那里开始，教会成为黑人教育者协会（BEA）成人学习计划之一的官方网站。然后，他们添加了GED/12级等效计划。

Then, in what Thomas Bernard describes as “a chance meeting,” Dr. Porter’s husband, Bill Porter, who was one of the program’s instructors, met Don Adams from the Nova Scotia Apprenticeship Agency.

她说，德勤（Deloitte）的研究是在全球黑人生活问题运动后发生的。

她说一位参议员新斯科舍省,科林Deacon, who is white, was one of “many allies” who reached out to ask how he could help.

托马斯·伯纳德（Thomas Bernard）说：“我们之所以取得成功，是因为我们能够吸引赠款。”“但是仅在赠款中运营并不能为正在为您服务的人提供太多的安全性。我们需要核心资金。核心资助是指经营该组织的年度赠款……不仅是年度资金，而且在三到五年内进行资金。”

她说，运行该计划的费用每年增加。

托马斯·伯纳德（Thomas Bernard）说，她告诉迪肯（Deacon），埃佩亚（Epea）是“加拿大最佳秘密的秘密”，但没有数据可以突出显示和概述他们的工作。

Deacon is part of a subcommittee of the Black North Initiative. He convened a meeting with other members looking at economic development. In the meeting, he learned that another member of the subcommittee had a connection with Deloitte.

Thomas Bernard said Deacon came back to her “And basically said ‘What you need is a study. And if we could get Deloitte to do this pro-bono, we think that could make a difference. And so that’s what we did.”

根据德勤的报告，EPEA从2016年到2020年的累积经济贡献包括超过783,000美元的劳动收入。

“这很重要，”托马斯·伯纳德说。“这是新斯科舍省经济的金钱。这些是主要贡献。因此，正在制定经济政策，围绕该省成人教育的政策的人，这些数字应该对他们意味着什么。”

现在，本杰明拥有并经营自己的业务Howeebee Electric，这是一名经过认证的电工，他说比工业票更重要，比工业票更重要。

Through his company, Benjamin was able to bring on an apprentice who is also a graduate of the EPEA. Vincent Kennedy, who was also born in Jamaica, moved from Alberta to Nova Scotia, where he lives with a wife and children.

Benjamin said Kennedy was originally a power engineer but that there aren’t many opportunities in North America for people in that field.

“And so, he wanted to make a change, from my understanding,” Benjamin said.

Benjamin said that Don Adams from the apprenticeship agency put Kennedy in touch with him, confident that Benjamin was able to help him make a transition.

“What I’m able to do is take him on … When I’m speaking to him, I can speak to him in a way that’s more comfortable than I can speak to other folks, because of our shared culture,” he said.

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