[00:00:00] Eric Goranson: It's around the house in today's episode of around the house with Eric G and Caroline B, we have constructing hope on the air now. Here's, what's cool about these guys. They take people that have been formally incarcerated and homeless or homeless, and they've actually put them to work. Into the construction trades with a lot of help from their organization.

[00:00:26] Eric Goranson: Now we've got Dave doll on here as well. You might have seen him with Dave's killer bread. His face has been on that bread as the founder and, uh, former owner of that company. Now he is a little bit under the weather in this episode with his voice. So he will be a little harder to hear, but we wanted to get this out in a timely manner, cuz we're in the middle of their fundraising season and these people are doing so much to help people.

[00:00:48] Eric Goranson: We just wanted to get him on because he's part of the story now let's. Get back to the show here. This is one you don't wanna miss. When it

[00:00:56] Eric Goranson: comes to remodeling and renovating your home. There is a lot to [00:01:00] know,

[00:01:00] Eric Goranson: but we've got you covered.

[00:01:02] Eric Goranson: This is

[00:01:03] Eric Goranson: around the house. Welcome to around the house with Eric G and Caroline B, where we talk everything about your home every single week.

[00:01:11] Eric Goranson: Thanks for joining us. Hey Caroline, how are you today? Hey, Eric, how are you? Excellent. I am so excited to. Two of my favorite people back on the show again, the first time with you, Caroline. Yeah. I'm excited to meet them. Yeah, this is gonna be great. We've got my buddy Dave doll. You've seen him across the country, his picture on a loaf of bread called Dave's killer bread.

[00:01:34] Eric Goranson: The founder of Dave's killer bread and pat Daniels. From constructing hope. Welcome guys.

[00:01:42] Pat Daniels: Thank you, Eric . Thanks for having us, Eric.

[00:01:46] Dave Dahl: Sorry about my voice. Uhoh

[00:01:48] Eric Goranson: that's okay. You've been rocking and haven't your brother. Yes. Yeah. Aw,

[00:01:54] Caroline Blazovsky: poor guy, but he's on my, yeah. You know how I know him, Eric? I was so excited when you said that he was coming on the [00:02:00] show because he is in my freezer, right?

[00:02:03] Dave Dahl: I feel cold

[00:02:07] Eric Goranson: oh, right now. See, there's the problem right there. We've got that solved.

[00:02:12] Caroline Blazovsky: Explain why he's in my freezer cuz people don't know why he is in my freezer.

[00:02:17] Eric Goranson: Well, Dave, you know, Dave has been widely known for founding Dave's killer bread out there. And of course you're not the owner anymore. Mm-hmm uh, but man, you have such a great story that ties in with constructing hope just because it's a continuation of your efforts.

[00:02:36] Eric Goranson: It seems. Or the same effort from Dave's killer bread when you founded that company?

[00:02:41] Dave Dahl: Yeah, it's, it's, it's really a continuation of, of, uh, what happened in prison for me. I was able to go into a, uh, drafting program and it's, it was a trade and I understood the value after that, of, of learning his trade. And I, I took it with [00:03:00] me to Dave's killer bread.

[00:03:01] Dave Dahl: And then, uh, I met pat and, uh, I was so excited to see what she was doing. So I've been involved ever since.

[00:03:08] Dave Dahl: Yeah. And pat, you started constructing hope and what is this your 15th anniversary this

[00:03:14] Pat Daniels: year? Yes, Eric. We were celebrating 15 years this year and I was excited to meet Dave because he didn't know that in 2010, I didn't meet him until 2017, but in 2010, he was on my bucket list of people to meet.

[00:03:30] Pat Daniels: I had just heard about Dave's killer Brad. And actually when constructing, before we became constructing hope and we were Irvington covenant, we were putting people to work at Dave's killer bread. Because again, it was finding that first place where people, where we could place people before we actually got into that deep relationship with the trades, we started with manufacturing and Dave's killer bread was one of the places

[00:03:54] Dave Dahl: you see.

[00:03:55] Dave Dahl: There are good things happening in the world. Yes,

[00:03:59] Eric Goranson: there [00:04:00] are, there are pat, so let's, let's, let's do the way back machine here. Let's talk about constructing help so we can get all of our listeners up to speed here on what you're doing here in the Portland area.

[00:04:12] Pat Daniels: Okay. Constructing hope is a free apprenticeship training program.

[00:04:16] Pat Daniels: And we target formally incarcerated, which we have changed that now to returning citizens. I just looked at my paperwork and I was thinking, there we go, we have a new name now. so, um, we target returning citizens. We're 100% low income, but what we do is we actually go into the prisons. We go into the jails and we go into high schools and just community, um, other community organizations.

[00:04:38] Pat Daniels: And we talk to people about what a career in construction can provide for you. We chose construction because for our returning citizens, Construction is the one area that did not ask about your background. Didn't care about your background and wanted to know, are you strong, able, and willing to do this work?

[00:04:55] Pat Daniels: And if you are, we will pay you a living wage. That [00:05:00] was the thing that interests us. A lot of times when people get out of incarceration, the only thing they could get is that low income job at the gas station, the gas station can't pay your rent. It doesn't move you forward. And it creates that revolving door for going back into incarceration.

[00:05:14] Pat Daniels: So, um, once we built this relationship, it was all about just adding life skills to that because the average person has spent eight years when we did that three strikes you're out, people got an average of eight years in prison. I don't care if you stole a candy bar. So with that being said, we wanted to just do something to stop the revolving door.

[00:05:37] Pat Daniels: So as we built this relationship, um, with the unions and non-union. We offer a 12 week program at the end of the 12 weeks, we have direct entry into most construction trades, whether it's union or non-union not only do we walk you to the door and hand you off after you complete the training, we have support services.

[00:05:59] Pat Daniels: Because [00:06:00] we looked at, um, the need. It's one thing to put someone in a job, but a lot of times, you know, when you're coming, when you're returning citizen, you don't have transportation yet. You're trying to get yourself back together. So we provide support services. So we have some assistance with housing.

[00:06:15] Pat Daniels: We have some assistance with paying your bills. This has happened since COVID. So I can't say how far this is gonna go, but our relationship with other organizations. When we're in prison, we help you come out into organizations like bridges to change, um, volunteer of America, Oregon, central city concern.

[00:06:33] Pat Daniels: We help you come out into those programs and then you can still come through constructing hope and receive the support to go into a construction trade. So wonderful. That's

[00:06:43] Eric Goranson: crazy guy.

[00:06:47] Dave Dahl: Makes huge difference.

[00:06:50] Eric Goranson: We love it. And you know, something that's interesting too, Dave, and, and, you know, you started out, you know, You getting out of your time being incarcerated and starting Dave's killer [00:07:00] breaded. And you did so much for this community here that I live in, in giving back to getting people that first job coming out and putting a lot of great hardworking people back to work.

[00:07:12] Eric Goranson: And I think that's the thing. I don't think I know that's the thing that we're really missing out there is stopping that cycle to get people, to, to have some confidence that they can handle it themselves, that they can control their own lives and go out and, and live well.

[00:07:31] Dave Dahl: That's what it's about to me.

[00:07:33] Dave Dahl: That's what's about to me. Yeah. Back when I had a voice, I used to do a lot of speaking. And this was my message. My number one message, um, was, uh, now you can transform your life and, and the tools, the tools like, uh, construct

[00:07:48] Eric Goranson: hope and pat, this is something that, you know, I, I see this growing every year.

[00:07:54] Eric Goranson: Where do you see this going?

[00:07:57] Pat Daniels: Well, I hope it's gonna go nationwide down the road. [00:08:00] Mm-hmm but for right now, mm-hmm, here in Portland. We're looking to expand our numbers. So over the last years we've been having classes of 25. We're hoping to move to classes of 45 within the next year. It was our goal prior to, uh COVID.

[00:08:15] Pat Daniels: So the last three years with COVID, our numbers have gone down, but we're looking forward. Our not numbers went from like classes of 25 to about 15 and team. And, uh, we're looking to get this year just to finish the year with classes of 25 and hoping to increase those numbers next year. And hopefully by the end of the year, get to classes of 45.

[00:08:35] Caroline Blazovsky: So I have a question. I have a question for both of you. How does someone qualify for this program and how do you determine if somebody is going to benefit from them? Are there, are there any parameters that you guys look at when you're looking at people that are coming into the program and then also I'd love to hear like a, a success story from either one of you about just an amazing story.

[00:08:54] Caroline Blazovsky: That somebody, how they really turned. You know this program into an amazing opportunity for themselves, cuz they [00:09:00] think that's so fascinating.

[00:09:01] Dave Dahl: That's that's fast question. That's good.

[00:09:05] Pat Daniels: great question. OK. So the first part is how do people qualify? We actually go into the prisons. So as we're talking to people in the prison, they get to transition right out prison, right into constructing hope, same thing in jail.

[00:09:16] Pat Daniels: But what we do is, um, for everybody coming into the program, we work with the state employment office and we have them take what is a national career readiness? That also confirms that they're low income. So we don't have to do the proof of incomes. Cuz everyone that comes into this program is, is low income.

[00:09:35] Pat Daniels: Those two things are knocked out. Mm-hmm it tells us exactly where you are as far as your math is concerned, reading, writing, and finding information. Those are the most important things for you to get into the construction trades. So with that, you're ready to start our curriculum and our curriculum really is a lot of math.

[00:09:52] Pat Daniels: So we started adding and subtracting fractions and we moved them all the way up to algebra in a little bit of geometry, depending on the trays that they're gonna go into. [00:10:00] So all of it really is based on their desire to get into construction. And then we are basically tutoring you from there. Um, and it's about being hundred percent low income.

[00:10:12] Pat Daniels: And then the interview is your desire. And if you can be a class at six 30 in the morning, that stops a lot of people.

[00:10:21] Eric Goranson: First test

[00:10:25] Eric Goranson: at six 30 in the morning, it

[00:10:26] Dave Dahl: takes good attitude for

[00:10:28] Pat Daniels: free, but it's not really free because at the end of your training, you have. Certifications and first aid CPR, you have your safety certs. What constructing hope does like our other partner pre-apprenticeship training programs. We put you so far in advance of the general public applying for that position because we have.

[00:10:49] Pat Daniels: Gone back and structured our program for you to exceed. So we make sure that you have all the credentials that you need to get in driver's license. Sometimes they have a vehicle, but if you don't have a vehicle, we have a [00:11:00] plan to get a vehicle. Because if you can get to class at six 30 every day on the bus, we know that you can get to work until you get that car or that transportation.

[00:11:08] Caroline Blazovsky: That's such a, it's such a godsend. I mean, you're, you're all like angels, really? Yeah. And I think someone who's sitting in that position. If they've, you know, and there's reasons, I guess a lot of people that are incarcerated, right. Various reasons. But if they've had time to reflect and someone like you comes across their path, I would think that, you know, I mean, I'm looking at it from my perspective, this would be like an angelical moment.

[00:11:30] Caroline Blazovsky: I would be sitting there going, wow, this is amazing. I can completely turn around and these people are gonna help me do this. I mean, it doesn't get much better than that. Honestly. It's fantastic.

[00:11:40] Dave Dahl: Yeah. And they, uh, you know, pat has always operated on a very limited budget, kind of on a true string. And, uh, you know, I think it's gotten a little bit better through, uh, some fundraising efforts and such, um, but that brings us

[00:11:54] Eric Goranson: through something else.

[00:11:55] Eric Goranson: Exactly. And we'll touch on that in a few minutes. Yeah. [00:12:00] Yeah, absolutely. Pat, I want to hear some of. You have some great success stories that I want hear before we talk into, uh, you know, your guys' big fundraiser. You guys have just some great stories that I've heard. I've met these people, and it's absolutely stunning what you guys have been doing and hearing it from, you know, their point of view.

[00:12:22] Pat Daniels: Well, you know, I'm gonna share the first one and I, and I, and so I'm gonna share a couple, one Kon Kayvon. We have a summer youth program. So this is not just about formally incarcerated. This is also about sharing, um, what the construction trades have to offer for youth. So we have a summer youth program, um, 29, 2009, when we first moved into this building, we didn't, we, our, we weren't ready for our adult program.

[00:12:47] Pat Daniels: We started with our youth program. I will never forget Kayvon Bailey hall came through this program, a young African American man just out of high school, came to the youth program, decided he wanted to be an electrician. This young [00:13:00] man was low income, but when he moved out of his parents program, because when you come through the youth program, you have an automatic entry into our adult program.

[00:13:08] Pat Daniels: If that's what you choose that young man was 18 today, he is a journeyman electrician. Yeah. He did not have a formal background. When he moved out of his home, he was making more than his. And so that's the story that I always love to tell, cause this is not about formally incarcerated, but now when you look at my formerly incarcerated people, they're coming through it with absolutely no income and they're starting work.

[00:13:36] Pat Daniels: I'm gonna tell you Jan Turner's story. Jan came through constructing hope in 2015. We didn't have all the support services that we have now, but I didn't realize when she came through that she was. And living in her car, but she was so dedicated to getting through this program, knowing what she was gonna have on the other side, when she graduated the program and went into the laborers.

[00:13:59] Pat Daniels: I wanna [00:14:00] tell you today, Jenny was formally incarcerated. She was homeless when she came through the program and stuck to it and was here every day at six o'clock, rather than six 30. Jan is now the, um, joint apprenticeship training coordinator for the laborers in fifth, in that short period of time from 2015.

[00:14:20] Pat Daniels: And she became got in that position a year ago. I just want people to see how life changing working in the construction trades can be. So Danny is in a management position now love it. Just in that short

[00:14:34] Dave Dahl: period of time. I get warm and fuzzy. Yeah.

[00:14:38] Pat Daniels: Yeah. Makes me happy. Yeah. Homeless to homeowner. Yeah,

[00:14:42] Caroline Blazovsky: that's amazing.

[00:14:43] Caroline Blazovsky: But she saw, I mean, it was in her too. That's what I'm saying. She had that inner. She had the drive. Yes. And she saw this opportunity that you were presenting to her and she took full advantage. Like you said, showing up at six o'clock when she needed to be there at six 30. And I, and I [00:15:00] go back to thinking, like, how do you find these individuals?

[00:15:03] Caroline Blazovsky: Like, and knowing that someone's going to really benefit. I mean, do they kind of gravitate towards you when you go in to present? Or how do you. Kind of, um, maybe someone's shy and they don't wanna come forward or say they, maybe they think they can do it, but they're not sure. And our self confidence is always our, our worst enemy.

[00:15:19] Caroline Blazovsky: Right. So we always think, oh, I can't do it. Somebody's gonna judge me for my past. And why would I be able to be successful in this situation? And we all do that in all walks of life. It doesn't matter. You know, I think about a podcast and I get on and say, well, why is anyone gonna wanna listen to me talk?

[00:15:34] Caroline Blazovsky: So it's interesting. How do you bring them out of their shell and get them to sort of adapt and say, Hey, I can do. My

[00:15:40] Pat Daniels: best advertising is the people who have been through. We have what we call three minutes of fame. Yeah. So in every class, every graduate gets three minutes of fame whenever they're in the area.

[00:15:50] Pat Daniels: And that three minutes of fame is what gives the person in the seat. Confidence. When I'm looking at folks who have spent some time. Their confidence is, is not there. [00:16:00] And that's the one thing that we have to build up. We can teach them all the skills in the world, but when I first started this, people were still afraid to walk through the door because now you're leaving home and you gotta go outside the home.

[00:16:10] Pat Daniels: So we do several site visits where they're actually interacting with every trade they go to. So you're talking to that person. That's gonna hire you. You built that relationship. So that relieves a lot. And then having the graduates who have been in your seat before you. Come and tell you that I was sitting right there and I was afraid, but last class I was sitting there, but I wanna tell you today, I'm making $25 an hour down the street and they come

[00:16:38] Pat Daniels: that cheer them to, to having the confidence, to walk through the door to the next step. And then they mentor, we ask everybody to mentor and then Dave comes in.

[00:16:49] Dave Dahl: I wonder, um, you know, I, I, I've never asked you this before, but I mean, I've heard you talk about it a little bit. How do you, how do you kinda weed [00:17:00] out

[00:17:03] Dave Dahl: the, at the beginning, you kinda in the

[00:17:06] Pat Daniels: beginning. They do have to pass a drug test. So that's one of the things that we people out knowing that you have to be here at six 30 in the morning, we have a strong, um, we have a very stringent at attendance policy. So people know that if you miss one day, if you miss two days, if you miss three days, we will ask you to start over.

[00:17:23] Pat Daniels: So just knowing how, how, um, stringent it is. But, uh, the other part of that is the job developers also. Uh, do a one on one assessments of each person's skills. So there is a plan for you to be successful prior to you coming in. So we've sat down with you. We've talked about your driver's license. We've talked about barriers, we've talked about childcare.

[00:17:45] Pat Daniels: So over the course of this program, we provide childcare. Now. Um, when we started, we just. Kept asking, what were the barriers? What were the barriers? And we write grants to, um, remove those barriers. So at this point, this is how we got to having all of the [00:18:00] support services to make sure that they can be successful.

[00:18:02] Pat Daniels: And those support services follow them for two years. So I would say the assessment from the case manager prior to coming in, we select people. If you're not ready, and this is gonna take you a while. We'll work with you to come into the next class. So we always have people ready for the next group. If you're not ready right now, we're gonna help you get prepared for the next class.

[00:18:24] Pat Daniels: Is there, is there

[00:18:25] Dave Dahl: a waiting list for this right now? Is it, is it really hard? Always. It's hard to get into.

[00:18:31] Pat Daniels: Um, so it's not hard to get into, but there's always a waiting list. So like I said, if you don't get into this class, we'll get you set up for the next. As you

[00:18:40] Dave Dahl: grow as you grow. And when you get to the point of five, five, uh, people in class, that's gonna be very exciting, isn't it?

[00:18:49] Dave Dahl: You know, that's

[00:18:54] Dave Dahl: and that's. Aw,

[00:18:58] Caroline Blazovsky: what pat, what, like, [00:19:00] how far does this reach? Is this just, uh, the Portland area, the Oregon area? I mean, are there programs like this throughout the United States?

[00:19:07] Pat Daniels: Not that I know of right now. That is the goal for me. I'd like to see as have more programs like this throughout the United States.

[00:19:15] Pat Daniels: So as we're looking to a expand right now, um, we do just Portland only. So there's, you know, the Washington county, we have students from Washington county CLMA county. We haven't gone beyond that. We have had students actually come here from Eugene, um, and from other places. So we're working on how do we expand that?

[00:19:37] Pat Daniels: But right now we haven't gotten there. Right? There's there's dollars coming down to do other areas. But I think we're gonna be looking at how do we start training behind the walls and how do we partner with unions and other organizations to do more training behind the walls. So that folks who are formally incarcerated can still have the benefit of, uh, coming through constructing hope, even though you [00:20:00] may be released to another state.

[00:20:02] Pat Daniels: That's cool. Because once you get construction, that's a really cool one. Basically go anywhere.

[00:20:09] Dave Dahl: You know, there is, there is one person, um, that I know is really about this sort of thing. And, uh, he's a nationally known worldwide known his name's, uh, Mike row. And, uh, he's done stuff like similar to this, like in Pittsburgh, but not quite.

[00:20:26] Dave Dahl: Not quite mm-hmm , but the idea is similar. And so, um, there's a lot of people who are behind this, but, um, I mean, everybody loves hearing about this and it's just, it's just about figuring out ways to continue to make it more affect more people. Pat,

[00:20:45] Eric Goranson: how do you grow this? So if you've got in, in, just in a, the Portland area, so if you start hitting.

[00:20:51] Eric Goranson: 45 people per class. You're gonna need some buildings and stuff here. If you're gonna start CR cruising. Along with that, I love this.

[00:20:58] Pat Daniels: Yes, that means [00:21:00] that we're gonna have to have a little bit more fundraising. We'll have a little bit more grant writing. Mm-hmm and you know, I'm hoping that where this is gonna take us is we just got our first Portland clean energy fund grant.

[00:21:10] Pat Daniels: And as we were talking about green training, green training is one of the things that we're looking at for expanding the program. Um, we know that there's a lot coming down with solar installation and how we're moving to a green economy. And with that, one of the things that constructing hope is looking at right now is do we create a green pre-apprenticeship training program?

[00:21:28] Pat Daniels: And if we do that too, it'll give us a little bit more bandwidth to reach into other areas. Cool. And I think that's a big one.

[00:21:35] Caroline Blazovsky: And Eric and I were talking, uh, prior to the show with pat about, you know, the issue of HVAC and how COVID 19 in the pandemic has really affected the HVAC industry. So every time we turn around and we talk to someone who's in, you know, that particular sector it's, we don't have enough apprentice.

[00:21:52] Caroline Blazovsky: We don't have enough workers. We don't have enough people to cater to all the ventilation and filtration needs that we have. And, you know, there's billions of dollars [00:22:00] being given by the national government to be able to fund these things, but we have to have workers to do it. So I think that leads you in an awesome opportunity, pat, to be able to step in and say, look, we'll train some of these people we know they're needed.

[00:22:11] Caroline Blazovsky: And we've got, you know, the manpower to do it, or woman power to achieve like some of these goals, which to me looks like a big opening.

[00:22:19] Pat Daniels: Yes. And you know, the, and, and the fun part about this is giving the youth an opportunity. I'm so excited that now that COVID is over, we're having our first youth camp since 2019.

[00:22:30] Pat Daniels: Now we didn't have it in 2019. So since 2018, this is gonna be our first summer youth camp. So we're expecting 25 kids to come in and get introduced to training at Northwest with. Um, starting the end of this month, June 30th.

[00:22:43] Eric Goranson: Oh, that's great.

[00:22:45] Dave Dahl: That's a new one. I didn't know about that. That's great.

[00:22:47] Pat Daniels: Yeah.

[00:22:47] Pat Daniels: That's yeah, it doesn't start until July 11th. Okay.

[00:22:51] Eric Goranson: Got some time. Is that already filled up? Is that already jammed up already? Big waiting list for that as well?

[00:22:57] Pat Daniels: Um, not a big waiting list. We're still taking [00:23:00] applications. We're only gonna be bringing in 25 students, 25 youth. All right.

[00:23:05] Eric Goranson: Mm-hmm all right, everybody let's fill that up.

[00:23:07] Eric Goranson: If you're listening here in the Portland area. So that's for sure. Now, pat, let's talk a little bit about, and, and Dave as well, let's talk about level in the playing field a little bit here and, and your guys' fundraiser right now that you're doing this is this annual event. And I think the last time we talked was on the radio and then I think it was right about the time that I was at, uh, Dave's place up there.

[00:23:29] Eric Goranson: We were taking a look at, uh, and talking on TV, but, uh, I remember at that point you were just moving into the new building. If I remember

[00:23:36] Pat Daniels: right. You? Yes, mom. Okay. I'm

[00:23:39] Eric Goranson: sorry. See that been three years ago, or you you're, you were moving something with the classrooms. There was something that was moving around if I remember, right?

[00:23:45] Pat Daniels: Yeah. So three years ago we had just gotten our, our, um, classroom. Here in the building that we're in and now we've expanded that classroom. We only had one classroom and now we've expanded that [00:24:00] classroom so that we can double the, the capacity. Nice. So 2019 I think. Um, and, uh, so also I think at that time was that 2019.

[00:24:12] Pat Daniels: And COVID just, yeah, COVID just started right after that.

[00:24:16] Eric Goranson: So I was, yeah, was COVID just started cuz they were getting mad at me on the masks. Yep. That's right. Yes

[00:24:23] Pat Daniels: so everything came to a halt, but now we were just starting the remodel. That was where we were. And then our remodel take that's taken four years and we are just getting into that, to this space now.

[00:24:36] Eric Goranson: That's wonderful. Well, let's talk about your fundraiser because that's one of the big reasons. One I wanted to expose our national listening audience to this, as well as the local one here, but I really wanted to make sure that we talk about, you know, your fundraiser that's going on right now. Cuz this is your big, the big show for you guys this year.

[00:24:54] Pat Daniels: Yes. Yeah. Um, so this year leveling the playing field leveling the playing field for [00:25:00] a constructing hope is about, um, making sure that historically excluded job seekers, find constructing hope. It is about providing skills for low income people in workforce and making sure that they're workforce ready.

[00:25:14] Pat Daniels: It's about putting them in construction jobs, as well as manufacturing. If construction doesn't fit for you. Um, we provide case management with wraparound services and support for the 12 weeks that the. Students are in the program. And two years beyond that, the program also provides ongoing mentorship because we already know that, um, sometimes it could be difficult for women and people of color in the construction industry.

[00:25:40] Pat Daniels: So we con we provide an ongoing mentoring so that they can work through issues that may be challenging. And then it's also about education and advocacy, um, to meet hiring goals. Right now, we know that in the construction industry, Just like most places are around the world today. [00:26:00] Our, um, our workforce is aging and there's a huge demand for people in the construction industry and especially with all of the infrastructure dollars or infrastructure projects that we have coming down.

[00:26:14] Pat Daniels: So our goal this year is to raise $150,000. You heard me talk about, um, the services that we provide for the average person going through this program? It costs about $12,500 per person. And again, the, the relationship on this per person, it's not about the 12 weeks training. It's about the time that we spend with them.

[00:26:37] Pat Daniels: After that 12 week training, we're not just throwing you into a job and leaving. We're staying with you for those first two years. When we talk about having a safety net of that, if you think about someone low income, my car can break down today and I've missed work for three days because I need to get it repaired that can end your job in construction.

[00:26:56] Pat Daniels: So we are here to provide that safety net to make sure that they don't [00:27:00] lose that job, that we help them until they're at a place where they no longer need those services. So we're just asking people to help us. Change lives of people who deserve this opportunity to make a living wage. It's not a handout.

[00:27:15] Pat Daniels: It is a hand up. And so that's really what constructing hope is about.

[00:27:21] Dave Dahl: That's why I love it so much. It's beautiful. Yeah.

[00:27:23] Caroline Blazovsky: It's like a family, you know, it's a lot of these people don't have stable families or upbringing. I mean, just because you're born into something doesn't mean that's your destiny. Right.

[00:27:32] Caroline Blazovsky: And I think we all expect. When we come out that we're gonna have this perfect mom and dad. And that's just not the way reality is. I mean, it's not the way reality is in my family. I don't know about everybody else is on this call, but you know, you don't have that perfection where no matter how good your life looks or doesn't look.

[00:27:45] Caroline Blazovsky: So I think we all need this support. I mean, no matter what, and I think, I think it would be just, it's a blessing to have it, no matter what, they're, they're kind of lucky cuz we don't get that right. We're they're they have a little extra something that allowed them to get this opportunity where we didn't.[00:28:00]

[00:28:00] Caroline Blazovsky: How you get it is, you know, God's grace, so fantastic.

[00:28:03] Pat Daniels: You hit it right on the head, cuz that's what we call ourselves in the office. We're the family that you didn't have. We're your new family. And we like to be your family for life. So this is not just a relationship while you're here in the class, just to, um, a student stopped in yesterday that was a 2016 graduate and he now lives in Arizona and he was saying how wonderful it was, that the day that he got outta prison, he came here.

[00:28:28] Pat Daniels: And he wanted to come back and think it's because he lives in Arizona. Now he's a journeyman roofer, but he said, when he got to Arizona, roofing's not a good choice. So he's moved to heavy equipment but this is how he had the opportunity to make that change in his life. So that's, what's so gratifying and see

[00:28:46] Eric Goranson: that's the, that's the great part of that.

[00:28:47] Eric Goranson: And you've got them, you've helped them get those life skills that they needed to get that job knocked out and to get in there. And that. Just that faith of themselves, that they [00:29:00] know that they need to go do something for them and that they, they have control of that, which I absolutely love that you can sit there and knock that out.

[00:29:09] Eric Goranson: And it's such a huge thing. And what I, what I like too about this program is it's not. A replacement for any of the big training programs. You're not competing with the unions. No, you're not competing with the trade schools out there. You are giving them great candidates to work with, to take to the next step.

[00:29:29] Eric Goranson: Yes.

[00:29:30] Pat Daniels: And that's union. And that's, what's

[00:29:32] Eric Goranson: exciting about it. You know, it's funny. If you look at union electricians, you know, you look at union plumbers out there, even non-union ones, either way, those can be six figure jobs. If you get out in the, in the workplace and you apply yourself and you get yourself in the right spot, that's absolutely amazing that you can go from trying to figure out where I'm gonna stay tonight to.

[00:29:59] Eric Goranson: Wow. I can [00:30:00] provide for my family and live well,

[00:30:04] Dave Dahl: I think a couple of kids. Yes. I think a couple of graduates are, are making six figures. Am I right? Yes.

[00:30:09] Pat Daniels: Yeah. Yes. I think we got more than a couple that are making six figures because I have people who are foremans. And, and I mentioned Jenny in this, uh, trainer position.

[00:30:21] Pat Daniels: So, you know, these guys, I'll never forget. One of my project managers, a board member was comparing the project manager to same as doctors and lawyers. That income level is the same without a college degree.

[00:30:33] Eric Goranson: And you're not working as many long hours. yeah. That's the great part. That's the great part. Well, Dave, can you imagine, and I've never asked you this question before, and it might be a long one.

[00:30:45] Eric Goranson: So bear with me, but. Can you imagine if this program was in place, when you were coming out of the, you know, your first or second time being incarcerated, how that would've been completely a different path for [00:31:00] you?

[00:31:00] Dave Dahl: Well, um, you know, being who I am, I probably wouldn't be top, top of the list on candidates, but, um, I was fortunate to go to work with my family, but I probably would've chose this because.

[00:31:16] Dave Dahl: I didn't really wanna go back to work with my family and I would've, if I had had this opportunity, I would've chosen it. And I'll tell you what, because I had a good attitude. I would've knocked it out of the park. And that that's, that's what I know.

[00:31:31] Eric Goranson: Well, attitude is everything. And Dave, you are the poster child of that because on paper, you didn't have a chance out there with our current system.

[00:31:41] Eric Goranson: No, you didn't have a chance. And you took that and were a rock star. That's where you're carrying a guitar and a loaf of bread.

[00:31:49] Dave Dahl: He's important to, to point out that, uh, the things that I learned in, in drafting and, and I drafted for constructive construction people. Um, the, the [00:32:00] things that I learned in there, I was able to apply to just about everything that I did with Dave, Brad.

[00:32:05] Dave Dahl: So all this stuff is, is just so important to understand that, um, this is exponential, the power of it,

[00:32:14] Caroline Blazovsky: Dave, I don't know your history. So like Eric does, but, um, What I mean, I guess the, the bigger question is how, or how did you end up where you were, that you were incarcerated and was it a family? I mean, was it something, was it family oriented?

[00:32:29] Caroline Blazovsky: Was it the fact that you were born into a situation where it, you know, this happened? I mean, what was your situation in a, in a little, if you could just give a little backstory.

[00:32:39] Dave Dahl: I grew up, um, with very low self esteem. And, uh, my, I didn't get along. I didn't, I didn't like, I didn't wanna be in the family. I was in, I didn't like, uh, what they did.

[00:32:49] Dave Dahl: I didn't like their, their values and stuff. A lot was values were great values, but IED the whole thing. And, uh, so I went out and I did a lot of drugs [00:33:00] and, uh, you know, settled on methamphetamine. From that point on, I started going to prison, went to prison four times for, uh, for crimes related to, uh, dope.

[00:33:14] Dave Dahl: And they were all like anything from burglary to arm robbery to salt, um, things like that. Yeah, fascinating. So though there, there, there needs to be a really big change in my life. And, uh, the drafting was a huge

[00:33:31] Eric Goranson: part. And again, that's where this, this marriage of you two working together. I just absolutely love because it was a construction drafting program that got you thinking on heading the right way.

[00:33:45] Eric Goranson: It got you your mindset into a positive thing of I'm gonna do something different out there. And yeah, I think you're one of the best success stories that I've seen in the world out [00:34:00] there of. You had every darn excuse that you could have used while you were going to fail. Yeah. And you quite frankly, gave it the finger and said, Hey, I'm gonna do it my way.

[00:34:12] Eric Goranson: I'm gonna do it. Well. And you did that

[00:34:14] Dave Dahl: brother.

[00:34:19] Dave Dahl: Yeah. That's why I, I hate excuses. I, I hate, I hate how they destroy lives. You know, if you, if you get best making excuses and you start realizing that you have the. To change,

[00:34:33] Dave Dahl: uh, and grow and learn. Um, once you learn that it's a very uplifting and powerful thing.

[00:34:34] Eric Goranson: Amen. Amen. So in our last, you know, four minutes or so here, pat, what, what is the best way for people to track down constructing hope? And of course, The big help out there is to donate, to constructing help, to help this program, to get it going.

[00:34:54] Eric Goranson: I mean, you've got some big industry partners out there that I see that are helping spread the word, which I like seeing [00:35:00] on your front page, but it's people like our listening audience out there that can really make that difference and help people, um, and fill the need for trades because I tell you what with.

[00:35:11] Eric Goranson: People are making in the trades. It's making things really expensive out there. And the delays in construction now are huge. If you want to go do a kitchen remodel right now and there, you might be waiting a year to get a contractor in there cuz they don't have any help. So true. Mm-hmm . And so this is one of those things that your program is helping fill that need with people that have the right mindset, the hard work and that ethic to be out there doing it.

[00:35:37] Eric Goranson: So what's the best way for people to track

[00:35:39] Pat Daniels: that. Um, our website is www dot, constructing hope.org. So we did a little play on words. Um, and so if you go to our website and a couple things, I would just wanna share, you know, again, our goal is 150,000 this year. We have a 200, a [00:36:00] $20,000 match from Dave and his brother Glenn.

[00:36:02] Pat Daniels: So just know that if you do donate, we have matching funds. Mm-hmm and Dave, I can't tell you how much we appreciate that, because again, your support does so much, um, for our guys. And again, we said that just the average cost of sending them through is about $12,000 per person. And think about times 20. So our goal is to just, um, train a hundred people per year.

[00:36:24] Pat Daniels: And next year we'd like to increase that number. But again, I wanna remind people that we're taking folks who, um, the cost of being in prison. I forget exactly how much it is a month, but it's way more than the cost of sending people to become paying tax, paying citizens.

[00:36:43] Dave Dahl: Yeah, you can't and it, it can't, uh, you simply can't, um, uh, You, you can't really fault or come up with anything that works better for making a difference in lives and the community than this program.

[00:36:58] Dave Dahl: Yeah. There's

[00:36:58] Eric Goranson: just no doubt. There's [00:37:00] just no doubt. I, I agree with it because you know, This is one of those things that I see this going nationwide. And of course people can reach out to pat that are wanting to do that as well. I'm sure you'd love to get a bunch of phone calls on, on something like that, but this is really something, I think that is a great case study to show how a program works.

[00:37:22] Eric Goranson: And works well with limited funds. I mean, you guys, you're not driving up in the Bentley here, you're pulling in and getting the job done and you guys are on a shoe screening budget, which I really appreciate with that.

[00:37:36] Pat Daniels: Yes. And you know, the last thing I wanna share is a lot of times people is like, okay, so how many people come through the program and how many people are really successful?

[00:37:44] Pat Daniels: You know, last year in the midst of COVID, we had 120% placement and it's like, how can that be? And it's because when we have four classes, the last class graduates in the middle of the winter, nobody goes to work in the winter, it's snowing. But the following [00:38:00] year, last year in 2021, All of the people that graduated in 21, plus the folks that graduated the year before went to work.

[00:38:08] Pat Daniels: So I just can't tell you the need. Is there the demand for the folks as well as the, as, as folks going to work? It's not that they're just graduating and waiting. So I'd like to just share that. And I was so happy that it was our first year of a hundred percent placement, and I can say we've been averaging 80.

[00:38:27] Pat Daniels: So 80% placement is not bad because the folks that didn't get placed in the same year, they're getting their driver's license. We won't port send you to the next level until you have everything that you need, but we will put you in temporary work until you get there.

[00:38:42] Eric Goranson: There you go. . There you go. And Dave, man, I just, I wanna say thank you from, you know, speaking for our whole community here and including the construction community and what you're doing and helping these guys.

[00:38:55] Eric Goranson: You have, you have put your checkbook on the table and really helped [00:39:00] out pat Daniels in constructing hope. And for the whole time at Dave killer bred, you put. Action behind those words and helping people get out of situations and putting them to work. And this isn't, you just doing it all of a sudden you started from day one, helping out people and getting 'em on the right path and, uh, hats off to you brother for thank you for doing it right, man.

[00:39:24] Dave Dahl: I'm passionate about it because of my own experience.

[00:39:28] Eric Goranson: Absolutely. And the, the, the hundreds and thousands of lives. Yeah. Go ahead,

[00:39:33] Pat Daniels: pat. Jump in here. No, I wanna say, you know, giving Dave kudos, it's not just his dollars. Look on our website. You're gonna see him actually working

[00:39:45] Dave Dahl: actually. Yeah, we went to it. They built the building tiny houses. Uh, yes. And I, I also went out, um, and, uh, joined a class for day two. So yeah,

[00:39:57] Eric Goranson: Dave's never afraid of hard work, [00:40:00] no hard work. exactly. ,

[00:40:04] Dave Dahl: I'm taking a break right now.

[00:40:06] Eric Goranson: Well, you should, you need to, we need to get you to rest that voice, cuz you still got another interview today, but pat, thanks for coming on the show today, Dave.

[00:40:14] Eric Goranson: Thanks for coming on the show today. Thank you. Let's make sure everybody gets over to constructing. Dot org over there and, uh, click that donate button, help these guys out. Let's get this thing going. Let's get them over that goal. Thanks for coming on the show today, guys.

[00:40:28] Dave Dahl: Thank

[00:40:29] Pat Daniels: you, man.

[00:40:29] Dave Dahl: Thank you for having us, Eric.

[00:40:34] Eric Goranson: No problem, guys. Thank you so much. I'm Eric G and I'm Caroline B and you've been listening to around the house