30 Minutes Bay Area

by Barbara Rodgers
(CBS 5) Jason Satterfield can't explain how things went wrong in his life, but at 21, he was running the streets and causing trouble.

"My life wasn't doing' nothing. I went to jail," Satterfield says.

Last summer, Jason and Lonnisha joined the long line of people looking for a second chance at the Cypress-Mandela training center in West Oakland.

The all-black staff of teachers spends four months trying to transform raw recruits into construction workers. Some of the applicants have never held a saw or hammered a nail. Many are still coping with drug problems.

"I believe in these individuals because they've been kicked to the curb," says Cypress-Mandela Director Art Shanks. "They have to have a standard that they can arise to, a goal. They've never been given that goal. They've never been shown that golden goose, or that rainbow."

Shanks helped start the school after the Loma Prieta Earthquake brought down the Cypress Freeway. When a new freeway was built, Shanks used his construction background to train West Oakland residents for some of those high-paying jobs.

Classes start at 7 a.m. sharp, and tuition is free. But the rules are strict. No jewelry is allowed, no long hair, no phones, pagers or boom boxes.

Lonnisha started keeping track of her days without marijuana. By the second month, she felt like a different person.

"When I was smoking, I didn't care what I was doing." Lonnisha says. "Cypress makes you realize what you're here for. You don't have time for all the ignorance and crap that you were doing before. You're focused on your goal."

Her goal is a good paying career, but to get there she'll need more than construction courses. That's why Cypress-Mandela teaches basic life skills like nutrition and time management.

"You have to basically humble yourself," says Lonnisha, who enjoys learning from the school's staff. "You don't take it personally…they're proof of success to us. They're proof of success being African Americans."

Instructor Michael Carter started his construction career in the Deep South. He was often the last man hired, and only when no whites were available.

"I knew every day I went to work I was competing for my job," says Carter, who is hard on his students. "That's pretty much the reason I hand it down to them like that. Because that's the only way you're gonna keep your job."

Jason Satterfield says the classes are helping him control his anger and get his mind in the right frame. Shanks says setting goals is at the heart of the program.

"We teach them how to believe in themselves," Shanks says.

He admits that the program is not a perfect fix. Only about half of the students make it through the courses. Of the graduates, only about three-quarters will find jobs in construction.

Jason Satterfield spent 10 months looking before he found construction work.

"Oh I'm very happy, very happy," Satterfield says. "I'm out every day making money, working. And it feels good to have a job. Feels good collecting that paycheck every Friday."

Nearly one year after graduation, Lonnisha Monroe is working full time as a van driver for disabled people. Even though she is not in construction, she doesn't feel her time at Cypress-Mandela was wasted.

"It totally made a difference in my life," Lonnisha says. "I don't smoke weed at all. I don't drink. I don't really hang out on the streets or none of the stuff I used to do. Cypress just gave me that kick in the butt I needed."

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