- I started out as a laborer.

So I started a residential construction company.

As I was growing that, it was like, you know, it was really really hard to find the help.

You know, it's always been a big issue to find good help but to find help that looked like me was almost impossible.

(gentle upbeat music) Here at MAPP, after you graduate, our students go directly into their first year of apprenticeship of the union of their choice.

So long as, you know, it's space allots them and things of that nature.

You actually get paid to learn here opposed to having to pay someone to learn.

Huge.

(gentle upbeat music) - Our main objective with this whole statewide pre-apprentice program is to make sure that we have representative of workforce.

You know, it comes to women and people of color, and so again, being in the South End of Albany, where it's predominantly people of color, that helps us to be able to focus on that group, those folks there and helping them make them aware of this program.

We are breaking down that barrier of it being who you knew, you know, to get into the unions.

- So, during high school, I wasn't a big fan of going to college 'cause I didn't know what I wanted to major in or have a degree in.

I want to be an electrician, so going into the electrical union is my passion right now.

- I want to be a mason.

My jobs wasn't paying enough, and I didn't really care for the jobs that I was doing anymore, and I wanted to change.

- There's multiple reasons why it's important in this outfit.

One being the Port of Albany project, a very huge project coming into Albany.

It can essentially stimulate the economy of the South End so long as we have the people in the workforce from the South End on the project.

we can really renovate our own communities and, you know, a little bit of a reverse gentrification.

I've already have approximately 30 applications for the next cohort, and the more people that we can get on the career path to change the social and economic status of their families, just the better off the South End will be in general.

(gentle upbeat music)