New trade school at Austin homeless shelter hopes to give purpose, jobs to residents

AUSTIN, Texas - An Austin emergency shelter is taking a different approach to the city's homeless problem.

Instead of focusing solely on putting a roof over people’s heads, The Other Ones Foundation will start teaching some of its residents how to change tires, install an HVAC system, or fix a car.

"This is about finding purpose," said Chris Baker, the founder of The Other Ones Foundation

For Baker, it’s purpose that’s driving this project.

"I dropped out of high school when I was in 9th grade," said Baker. "I spent a couple years doing all kinds of stuff that high school dropouts do."

Now on the other side of homelessness, he stands before a crowd Friday.

"All I wanted to do was to build sets," said Baker. "That was what my dream was."

So he returned for his high school diploma, then a bachelor's degree in theater, and eventually his first job at a homeless shelter.

"Which leads to that, which leads to this," said Baker.

It’s an invisible string of circumstances that finally leads him to Friday’s opening of the John Paul DeJoria Skill Center.

"The room we're in right now is everything from taking apart every part of an automobile to understanding an engine," said John Paul DeJoria, who donated a $350,000 grant for the project.

The center is an expansion of the Esperanza Community, an emergency homeless shelter in East Austin. Here, residents can learn the skills required for jobs like HVAC, auto-mechanics, plumbing, and other trades.

"It changes your life," DeJoria. "You're back in society, you have money, you have safety, you have a place to stay, and you are like everybody else."

The first instructors will come from Austin Community College.

ACC, The Rework Project, and the Texas Workforce Solutions Capital Area will cover the tuition of eligible students.

"Central to our work at Austin Community College is loving our students to success, this is what it looks like," said Donald Tracy, interim director of continuing education at ACC.

A ribbon cutting opened the center with a round of applause and a word from Austin’s mayor.

"It's not just about recruiting jobs, it's about putting Austinities, including the most vulnerable Austinites, in the jobs that are being created," Mayor Kirk Watson.

This skill center is what Chris Baker thinks he was meant to do all along.

"If life is about finding purpose, found it," said Baker.

And he hopes this place will help someone else find their purpose too.

"Everyone needs a purpose and no matter what your challenges are in life, there's always something for you to have a purpose," said DeJoria.