Chatham Apprentice Program

Program Overview

The Chatham Apprentice Program helps unemployed and under-employed Chatham County residents find or create career paths that offer decent wages and opportunities for advancement.

The most recent CAP classes are part of a newly designed program called "E3" for Educate, Empower, Employ. E3 is a collaboration among many community organizations and area employers that focuses on enhancing job skills training and job placement.

E3 assists participants to: (i) achieve their personal education goals to increase reading and math skills; (ii) learn personal financial management skills through sessions with professional financial instructors; (iii) gain self-confidence and self-awareness through behavioral counseling with licensed therapists; (iv) work with an attorney to address criminal records issues through criminal restitution counseling; (v) understand their public benefit eligibility, and received application assistance (v) receive clothing vouchers for interviewing.

Student and Volunteer Success Stories

n 2016, Blair Singleton was released from prison after serving 16 years. At 34 years old, he had no work experience and limited options. During his first 30 days at the transitional center, he tried to get employment at several different locations but the pay and hours were minimal.

When the superintendent of the center suggested the Chatham Apprentice Program (CAP), Blair reluctantly agreed to give it a try.

When Blair arrived for the first day of CAP, he had very low
expectations. But when he left that first day, he could not wait to go back. The instructors blew him away with their passion to help the participants grasp the skills they need to find and
keep employment.

Through CAP, Blair was able to receive a forklift safety
certification through Savannah Technical College. He also learned how build credit, budget, and talk to potential employers about his criminal background.

But what he appreciated most about CAP was the network he
was able to build. Originally from New Jersey, Blair had spent very little time in Georgia prior to being incarcerated. But CAP helped him get ahead by introducing him to a community of CAP participants and staff as well as multiple community resources and leaders.

At CAP, he met a banker who talked to him about starting his
own trucking company, a staff member from Coastal Workforce Solutions who helped him get his CDL license, and a community leader who directed him to the Creative Coast. And when Metro Industrial Employment Agency came to talk to the class about temp placement with higher paying companies in the Savannah area, he jumped at the chance to apply.

Metro Industrial placed him at a company in Port Wentworth
making $12.50 an hour. His supervisors are impressed with his work ethic and have encouraged him to apply after his temp contract ends at 90 days for full-time employment making $16.20 an hour.

In September, Blair will leave the Transitional Center with
a great job, a driver's license, a car, forklift safety certification training, and a CDL license. But perhaps more valuable than anything else, he will leave with confidence and the desire to dream big for his life. In fact, Blair is already saving for his own truck to start a small trucking company.

Blair sums it up like this, "CAP really does what it says it will… Educate, Empower, and Employ. That's exactly what it did for me."