As printed in the Q3 2023 ACCS Alabama Minute Newsletter.
A partnership between a Birmingham-based community organization and the Alabama Community College System was a gateway to workforce training and homeownership for one Birmingham man.
Torrey Washington, 21, is the first homeowner of BuildUP Community School, a program that helps disadvantaged teens revitalize struggling neighborhoods. BuildUP Executive Director James Sutton said the program is the nation’s first and only early-college workforce development high school. Washington praised BuildUP and Lawson State Community College for helping him get hands-on with flipping his first property in Birmingham.
Washington used his advanced manufacturing training to learn more about rehabbing homes, including the one he now owns. During the training, another mission crossed his mind: Washington became an HVAC specialist helping to build innovative modular structures for BLOX.
“That’s when I met Jeffrey Rayford and Brian Moore,” said Washington. “They were my instructors at Lawson State. I’m just very grateful I met them. They’ve both been huge inspirations to me.”
“My end goal,” said Washington, “is to get to the point where I’m financially stable and able to truly stand on my own two feet and help others the same way my teachers, instructors, and co-workers have helped me.”
“Having Torrey as the first is a great impact on the school,” said BuildUP Executive Director James Sutton. “It gives young high schoolers in Birmingham a vision of success and a picture of finishing what you start, carrying something all the way through from beginning to end.”
Hear more about this fascinating story on the Access Granted Podcast.
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