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Out of the shadows
Former gang members and convicts prepare for careers in solar energy

May 2009 | Environment

By MIRIAM JORDAN
The Wall Street Journal

Albert Ortega had spent most of the past seven years locked up for drug trafficking. When he finally got out late last year after an 18-month term, he was looking for a way to stay out of trouble.

He found it in solar energy.

“I wanted a new way of life,” says Mr. Ortega, a brawny 34-year-old who still bears the marks of his old one, including a tattoo of the name of his former gang, the East Side Wilmas, around his biceps. “Solar puts me on the cutting edge.”

GREEN-COLLAR JOBS

It’s a good place to be. President Obama has made the production of renewable energy one of the pillars of his job-creation plans. All sorts of people are now rushing to acquire skills to launch careers in the budding “green collar” sector.

Among the early leaders is Mr. Ortega’s new gang, a group composed mostly of former Los Angeles gang members on parole who are learning how to install solar panels. Their training is funded by Homeboy Industries, a Los Angeles nonprofit that helps people with criminal pasts find employment.

For years, Homeboy Industries put former felons to work at a bakery and cafe it runs in East Los Angeles. Last summer, founder Greg Boyle, a Jesuit priest, was approached by a supporter about the idea of preparing them for careers in the green economy.

“I leapt at the opportunity,” says Father Boyle.

Homeboy joined forces with the East Los Angeles Skills Center, a public vocational school that offers a hands-on program to teach the design, construction and installation of solar panels.

The center created an intensive course for Homeboy. “I loved the idea of doing something for these guys,” says Brian Hurd, the senior instructor who designed the course.

ALGEBRA AND GEOMETRY

Homeboy, funded by individuals, community groups and revenue from its businesses, pays the $131 tuition for each student; it also pays participants an hourly wage of $8. The class meets for two months, weekdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

“I was so motivated, I would fall asleep with the books on my bed,” says Mr. Ortega. Determined to get into the course, he phoned or visited Father Boyle for two weeks, until he was asked to take a drug test. Mr. Ortega passed and was offered a spot in the class.

On a recent morning, some 30 tattoo-coated students sat at desks in a basement classroom, taking notes as their instructor scrawled algebra equations and geometry problems on a chalkboard. Then they figured out such things as the area of a house’s roof and the angle at which solar panels should be mounted on it.

One of the students, Jessica Espinoza, 23, says she couldn’t find a job after being locked up for two years because she helped a felon escape from a courthouse. “The minute they saw I went to jail, employers didn’t give me the time of day,” she says. “Hopefully I can take what this school gave me and make a career in this new industry.”

In the afternoon, the students put on safety goggles and got to work on solar panels and electrical circuits in the workshop. At one station, they drilled holes through aluminum rails where panels are mounted; others drove bolts into metal racks. A few studied the layout of a roof to figure out sizing for pipes.

‘MORE MOTIVATED’

The East L.A. Skills Center also offers a night class in solar-panel installation that is open to the general public, but there’s a long waiting list to get in. That’s why some “regular folks” have been clamoring to get into the Homeboy class, says Ed Ruiz, the instructor.

Doug Lincoln, 61, who once managed luxury-car dealerships, was offered admission to the Homeboy course after he inquired about a faster-paced class. On hearing that it was mainly for ex-cons, “I thought it was a joke,” he says.

Now, Mr. Lincoln is about to graduate. He says he plans to start a solar-panel installation firm and hire some of his former Homeboy classmates. “These guys are more motivated than hundreds of employees I’ve managed” in the car business, he says.

Earlier this year, Mr. Ortega passed an exam that qualifies him to install solar panels nationwide. He says he has already been approached by employers.

Several of his classmates who completed the course are already working, earning about $15 an hour; experienced installers can make more than $30 an hour. Philippe Hartley, general manager of Phat Energy, a Los Angeles solar company, has hired several Homeboy graduates. The Los Angeles Unified School District plans to start hiring some graduates of the program to install 50 megawatts of solar power on its campuses.

“Being former gang members doesn’t preclude them from building a career in solar technology,” says Veronica Soto, a school-district director.

Others are also interested. “We expect to hire out of the program as quickly as they can get them to us,” says Gabriel Bork, a vice president at installer Golden State Power. “These guys are much better trained than many others I have hired.”