Article published by Chris Helms - CHelms@enterprisenews.com - August 7, 2024

Photos by Mark Jarret Chavous/The Enterprise 

BROCKTON — Brockton High wasn't a good place for Jaiden Smith. Too many distractions.

The 17-year-old, on advice from his mom, joined YouthBuild, an Old Colony YMCA program that pairs job experience with GED diploma classes. Recently, he and other YouthBuild trainees got an up-close view of Brockton's biggest construction project.

They spent the morning touring the Brockton Public Safety Building site. Smith aims to go into game design, not construction, but he said the program has been a positive. "I like it," he said. "We all work together. If one of us has an opinion, we all listen to each other, we act as one group."

The $146 million Public Safety Building will provide a new home for Brockton's fire and police. It will also house the city's emergency management agency and information technology department. The city originally borrowed $98 million for the project. After cost overruns for unexpected bedrock blasting and removal and construction cost increases, the city plans to borrow another $48 million. That's almost 50% more than planned.

A leg up for good union jobs
During the tour, many of the 90 workers on site were doing ironwork. Among the tradespeople who spoke to the group was Tom Pecoraro, a business agent with Ironworkers Local 7 and unabashed fan of 1990s hip-hop with a Wu-Tang sticker on his hard hat. He told trainees it's a great line of work that anyone can try to break into. "You don't have to know a guy," Pecoraro said.

Maybe you don't need to know a guy, but programs like YouthBuild help would-be apprentices connect with unions. Case-in-point: Jordan Morales, 23, who plans to join the laborer's union as soon as August. "It's a good program," Morales said during a tour break. While most program participants are working on their high school diplomas, Morales already has his. He graduated from Brockton High in 2019. He describes himself as half student, half staff for YouthBuild.

Joe Barakat runs the YouthBuild programs in Brockton and Fall River. After the site tour, he said he hopes to bring the group back when finishers and electricians are at work. "These kids have never seen anything like this, where they see multiple trades at work, you can't beat that," said Barakat, 45. "I'm amazed at how everything is going together."

'People build buildings'
Trainees spent time with several top Suffolk Construction managers. They included Assistant Superintendent Kendy Power-Koch, a Brockton native who went to the Arnone School when it was on what is now the worksite. At home on her mantel she already has a brick from the old building, which housed several Brockton schools over the decades, as well as a ceremonial shovel from the ground-breaking.

The main speaker during the tour was Superintendent David Mollicone. You know his work, which includes the lighthouse at Gillette Stadium. He hammered the themes of safety and keeping workers happy. "People build buildings," he said, reciting one of his catch-phrases, "and happy people build better buildings."

The average Brocktonian hasn't seen much of the construction site, hidden as it is by fencing. Mollicone said he and his crews walk the fence every day to keep it clean.

"It's always important for my fence line to be nice and neat and tight," said Mollicone, adding that "the cleaner the job is, the safer the job is."

Mollicone likes to remind workers on his projects how important the building will be for that community. For the public safety building, that includes a sticker he had made with a boxing theme that says, "Work like a champion today."

Mayor: Building will open in summer 2025
Mayor Robert F. Sullivan joined the tour, speaking to trainees on a dirt slope that will be part of the parking garage.

"This is going to be a historic legacy project for the city of Brockton," he told the group. "It's going to turn around the whole Legion Parkway area."

Sullivan said the building should be in move-in condition in summer 2025.

'If school isn't for you, reach out'
YouthBuild is a well-established program. It has resulted not just in new opportunities for participants, but also 13 single-family homes in Brockton and Fall River over the last 12 years, among other community service projects. One graduate, Patrick Breton of Brockton, applied his communications skills to introducing Gen. Colin Powell at a 2010 event for America's Promise Alliance (the speaker after that was President Barack Obama).

"If you're a kid out there and you don't know what you're doing with your life, and school isn't for you, reach out," said Barakat. "If we're not for you, I can steer you in another direction. But we might be for you."

You can get more information about YouthBuild on the Old Colony YMCA website, including a button to apply to either the Brockton or Fall River programs.

Smith, the 17-year-old, said his advice is to give it a try. "It has helped me, honestly, be a better person and learn how to use teamwork more," he said. "Every day I strive to be a better person. Without this group, I wouldn't be the person I am now."