Vocation program puts people on track to productive careers

NCIA

Lafayette Graham, a graduate of NCIA Vocational Training Center’s automotive program, is now a technician at Woodie’s Automotive in Charlotte. “I needed it to happen,” he said of enrolling in the five-year-old program, where 86% of participants are Black.

Vocational training changed Lafayette Graham’s life for the better.

When Graham enrolled in the NCIA Vocational Training Center in 2021, he wanted to earn a trucking license. He quit after breaking his hand but re-enrolled last spring and finished the automotive program. Graham, 34, is now an automotive technician at Woodie’s Automotive in Ballantyne, where he earns $20 per hour.

“I called my wife, and I said, ‘Hey, what do you think about me going back to NCIA to get my (commercial driver’s license),’” he said. “She was like, ‘You should do automotive. You can work on cars.’ I’m like, OK, so I called… and it happened. I knew it was going to happen because I needed it to happen. I was reintroduced to everyone, my new instructor as well … and I tell you, from the first day, it was so informative. I felt the urge that it was a passion to use my hands to do something other than drum, and it could be a career.”

NCIA, a nonprofit founded in 1977,  connects people with limited access to opportunities to skills that help them build financial stability.

More than 900 people have completed the Charlotte program, which launched in 2020. The nonprofit reports 86% of its participants are Black.

VTC helps veterans, formerly incarcerated, underserved people and the formerly homelessness earn certification in automotive maintenance, HVAC/R installation and commercial driver’s license.

“When we started out, our mission was basically just to serve the community,” NCIA director Christine Poltawsky said. “Anybody who is facing either justice involvement is identifying as low income and having trouble gaining upward economic mobility and even the most untraditional high school student that maybe didn't finish or isn't on the college bound track.

“All our training is free … so, when people come through, they call our recruiter and we do a quick screening interview to qualify them.”

VTC has three 17-week programs for automotive and HVAC, with CDL on a slightly different schedule. Graham said that after finishing the program, he felt equipped to begin his career.

“I came into the automotive field after applying to a job at Woody’s,” he said, “but everything I needed to start that job, everything I needed – from a cart to tools – that’s earned. My boss was like, ‘Oh yeah, you got a great start.’ I said, ‘thanks to NCIA and my director.’ To me, it’s a win for everyone, because they not only do it because they love what they do, they actually do it because they think and know the person that's committing to the program is going to love what they do.”

The five-year milestone means a lot to Poltawsky, but there’s more to be done.

“What I would like to see for the vocational training center is, of course, to secure more funding and to have and be diverse,” she said. “The more funding we have, the more people we can serve, obviously. And the other thing that we’ve really talked about is expanding our offerings.

“Currently, we have HVAC, auto and commercial driving. We’ve thought about what else can we of pair in with that? We’ve discussed potentially welding or medical coding. We’ve kind of tossed those things around, but really, any vocation that we’re going to take on for training, it’s going to be based on what the employment looks like for that, because we don't want to bring people through and then not have a good job market to put them in.”

Graham said the program helped him provide a better life for his family but doesn’t want to stop there.

“I want to give back by being a volunteer,” he said. “Whatever I can do for this program, I want to give back through perhaps mentoring, conversations, lectures, speeches. If a student has a need for anything, as far as their own vehicles, I'm off every Thursday. I can come here and help … fix a student’s vehicle. I believe in what [NCIA] is doing and feel it is important.”

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