Being a construction worker was not some long-held dream for Brian Moreno. He worked in an auto body shop. It was the birth of his daughter eight months ago that led the 33-year-old to start evaluating a different career path. 

He just wasn’t making enough money. 

“是的，就我现在的生活而言，”莫雷诺说，“我只需要找到一份工作和一些东西 quick, you know? Start supporting my family.”

所以，他开始在世界杯滚球学习焊接课程 Colorado. The certification takes a year, though, and that was too long to wait for Moreno to wait for work. Then, next to where his welding classes were being held, he saw another program underway and quickly transferred. It was a new effort from 这所大学提供的帮助是，让渴望的工人找到建筑工作 weeks of training. 

这门课程将包括大约一半的实践工作，修复许多破旧的， run-down homes found in the city. 

特立尼达的COPERR项目是南科罗拉多州类似举措的模板

莫雷诺转入的是第一个实验资助项目 Colorado Attorney General’s Office. Taking $5 million the state received more than a decade ago in a nationwide settlement stemming from the 2008 mortgage crisis, the office wanted to help address a long-standing challenge facing southeastern Colorado in particular.

这个挑战是:该地区的社区通常有充足的住房供应 从理论上讲，这可能有助于缓解普遍存在的经济适用房问题 the state. The problem is the properties in that supply are so dilapidated that they’re unlivable.

The Colorado Partnership for Education and Rural Revitalization — or COPERR 在世界杯滚球拉马尔社区开设了短期课程 College and, most recently, Pueblo Community College. Blighted homes in the areas become the laboratory for those students to learn the homebuilding trade. Trinidad’s program started in March 2021.

“我们致力于一个理论，我们正在市场上进行测试，”科罗拉多说 Attorney General Phil Weiser. “If you train people to redevelop these properties, you do redevelop them. You'll sell them, improving the community, and the money will go back into the program and it will keep sustaining itself.” 

Neighborhood renewal

最近，在特立尼达的西端，有两座原本几乎一模一样的房子. 莫雷诺和他的同学史蒂文·威尔逊正在学习切割薄板岩 homes. 

很难判断里面的混乱与拆迁有关 而装修工作的类，又是什么自然产物的一种属性 long vacant.    

杰瑞·贝格利(Jerry Begley)在该学院负责建筑培训项目，他指出 the inside of the walls of the home were nothing more than earthen bricks made of dried mud and straw from the 1900s.

“土坯墙，它的绝缘性非常好，可以使用100多年 old,” Begley said. “When you go next door, you’ll see that it can, we can, turn things around.”

隔壁，另一栋房子是COPERR项目中第一个被收回的房产 on sale. The outsides of the homes are totally dissimilar. And the inside of the second 房子，尽管有一些残余的原始内部，包括部分 硬木地板和食品室的门，已经被贝格利公司完全翻新了 学生们搬进了一间现代化的两床两浴入门房，拥有全新的管道， electrical and HVAC systems. The college expects to sell it for about $220,000. 

把房子准备好上市花了大约一年半的时间，还有新生 cycling through the program each month. Begley said he expects the turnaround time to drop as the initiative matures. 

“我认为每个社区都可以使用这样的东西来帮助人们 处理破败的房屋，改善邻里关系，提升房产价值 up,” Begley said. 

Building a workforce

Weiser承认，COPERR项目完成的属性不会直接产生影响 substantial dent in providing affordable housing stock for the region.

“但是，通过培训人们在南科罗拉多州从事建筑工作，我们相信 我们正在创造一个经济机会引擎，因为我们正在创造劳动力 发展住房所需要的资金远远超出了项目本身。 said.  

贝格利说，相对较短的COPERR培训——学生通常只花4个小时 几周的学习可以帮助吸引服务不足的社区或低收入者 people motivated to try something new. In addition to the hands-on training, students also get paid $12 an hour as well as a tool belt and the books they need to learn for no cost.

Students who complete the course come away with a certification from the National Center for Construction Education and Research.

“我们有机会让一些可能穷困潦倒的人，他们想要一个 有第二次、第三次、第四次、第五次机会进来，他们说，‘我们需要一份工作。’”贝格利说 said. “Trinidad stays right there on the cutting edge [helping people] in four weeks just maybe get a turnaround.”

贝格利说，他没有预料到报名参加这个项目的人数如此之多 寻找的不是换工作，而是一套技能来帮助他们改善自己的家 goals. 由于找不到当地的专业人士，他最近让几名女性参加了这门课程 for specific projects on their own properties. 

在与莫雷诺一起安装薄板岩的间隙，威尔逊解释道 上这门课更多的是作为一个学习的机会，而不是通往新职业的直接途径吗 job. The 51-year-old has family in construction and after retiring from the military 2016年，他认为他会利用他的《世界杯滚球》开始管理建筑的道路 company. 他说，他最终选择的商业管理课程感觉有些不完整.

“[It was] strictly book knowledge, you know? Behind the desk, no hands on, no getting your hands dirty,” Wilson said. “I feel like what I'm learning here … it's almost like a crash course, but it's a good crash course.”

他说，在跟贝格利学习的三个星期里，他学会了一切 从驾驶防滑方向盘到装门框再到安全打碎500磅的铸铁 bathtub.

Acquiring supply a challenge

也许具有讽刺意味的是，特立尼达州立学院面临的最大挑战一直是收购 blighted homes for the students to renovate. 

“很难以合理的价格买到房子，”他说 LiAnn Richardson, director of the COPERR grant funds at the college. 

她说，这座城市有很多破旧的房屋，可以满足居民的需求 program. However, either the owners have been asking more than the program can pay or they have not been able to find the owners at all.

在特立尼达，寻找老旧和腐朽房产的所有者一直是个问题 outside of the COPERR program. The city is in the midst of a cultural renaissance following a pandemic-fueled exodus of a number of artists and entrepreneurs from Denver. City Manager Steve Ruger said the challenge finding owners has created obstacles to facilitating some new investment in the city’s historic district and areas surrounding the new Fishers Peak State Park.

“他们可能能找到的最新记录来自100年前，这是 不是很正式的，也不是很确切的 property boundaries,” Ruger said. 

特立尼达州立学院阿拉莫萨校区的COPERR项目经理也表示 difficulty in acquiring properties.  

Weiser说，设立这个资助项目的部分目的是为了发现 国家的税收留置权，谴责和财产所有权是多么复杂啊 政策需要调整，以使修缮破旧的房产更加可行.

“We're reflecting on ‘What's the way forward?’ because that clearly is part of the 这里的机会是让财产……进入流通，走出深坑 that some of these properties are in,” Weiser said. “We don't have yet an answer on this, but it's something we're thinking about.”

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Article courtesy of CPR News