Yolanda Pressley knows a little bit of everything about working for the Great Lakes Water Authority.
“I transitioned from being an apprentice to a journeywoman, and from there, I grew to a skater technician, then I was promoted to a team leader,” Pressley said.
A single mother of four kids, Pressley has been with the GLWA for five years since graduating from the program in March 2020.
She was seeking a way to care for her children while also finding a profession that utilized her skills and talents.
“I went to Focus: Hope and [GLWA] were doing a seminar,” she said on Monday. “They were looking for apprenticeships, and they asked me, was this something I can do?
“I said, ‘I’ll try it. I’d try anything,’” Pressley said. “I needed a job.”
The program started in 2018.
It’s split into two parts: in-class learning partnered at a community college, and on-the-job training at the water treatment plant on Jefferson Avenue in Detroit.
It works with Focus: Hope, along with Oakland, Macomb, and Henry Ford Community Colleges to provide the in-class training in a number of sectors, including:
Instrumentation technicians
Water treatment plant operators
Electricians
Maintenance technicians
“We really are kind of the best, kept secret,” Patricia Butler, GLWA’s director of organizational development, said. “People don’t normally think, ‘Oh, when I grow up, I want to work in a water treatment facility’, unless their family works there.”
Butler previously worked in the healthcare sector and says that jobs like this are a hidden gem in skilled trades.
“Water is important. It’s vital to life; It’s vital to health,” Butler said. “Being able to work in this industry, to me, is a continuation of working in healthcare.”
The program is designed for individuals of all ages who are interested in transitioning into skilled trades.
She also noted that participants in the program come in with college degrees and are looking for.
“We’ve seen people from all ages come through our programs, from I think, 20 years old all the way up to 60 years old.”
One of those apprentices is Cameron Turner, one of the program’s youngest at just 21 years old.
The son of an engineer, he didn’t want to attend college but struggled to find his own identity.
“I scavenged,” said Turner. “I looked to manufacturing, and I wanted to, you know, hands-on, I wanted something adventurous, something that was different every day.”
He initially wanted to work as a mechanic, but changed his mind after taking a couple of classes.
He’s now working in the instrumentation technology program and has two years to go.
Turner draws inspiration from his friends who are currently college students.
“I’m taking three classes as of right now, and they have, you know, full-time classes. Some of them even have full-time jobs as well,” Turner said.
So, I take that as always as motivation, as in, ‘Okay, I see them doing this.’ That means I can, you know, I can do it,” Turner said.