TULSA, Okla. — When Ronnie Rollins found his family and himself living out of his car in a Broken Arrow parking lot three years ago, he knew he needed help.
He found it through Tulsa's Goodwill Career Academy, where he enrolled in the unarmed security officer training.
His certification led to a one-day job with a company providing security for Langston University.
He told 2 News he didn't want to work for someone else. He had another goal.
"I ended up starting my own company," said Rollins. He also became CLEET licensed, then spent the better part of two years growing his business.
Rollins is now proud to say, "From September of last year 'til now we're in 4 or 5 different states and I've got 30 some odd employees."
Some he hired out of the same Goodwill program that gave him his fresh start.
I've actually been able to send multiple people monthly I send people monthly through Goodwill's Career Academy," said Rollins. "I have 4 or 5 that are still working for me right now here in Tulsa that has gone, gone through the, the, the Goodwill Career Academy."
"The Goodwill Career Academy provides certification training in lots of areas, according to its Director, Parrish McDaris.
"Goodwill Career Academy is an opportunity for anyone in our community that needs training to get what we would consider to be, industry recognized credentials, certificates," said McDaris. "Things that businesses recognize and they would hire people for, such as forklift training certifications, OSHA, ... security industry certifications from the Council for Law Enforcement Education and Training."
The Career Academy offers all of its classes at least once every month, sometimes multiple times a month, to get as many people certified and trained to go to work and make a living wage.
"We do our enrollments Monday through Friday from 8:00 to 4 p.m. and so we, we're always letting people come in. We have folks coming in off the street. People come in through enrolling through the website,"McDaris said. "They can come in virtually any way possible that you need to access us over here at 2800 Southwest Boulevard in Tulsa.
He adds, they work hard to break down barriers to employment. "We do get folks that are currently unhoused. We get folks coming through our programs that are on, you know, SNAP benefits, and because of that we have lots of partnerships. So we have partnerships with veterans organizations, partnerships with SNAP Employment and Training, all of which pay for the licensing fees and other types of things that might encourage people to go through a training program as well as supporting them with fuel cards or bus passes or even we have even Uber rides."
Transportation to get people to and from classes and to their first 90-days of work if needed to help ensure a successful transition into the workforce.
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