‘Straight out of poverty:’ Pre-apprenticeship program celebrates new Rochester location

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — A pre-apprenticeship program in Rochester has a new home, Multi-Craft Apprenticeship Preparation Program.

The organization held a ribbon cutting at 400 Central Avenue Tuesday. The entrance is on Joseph Avenue.

The building is a 54,000-square-foot space, and Monroe County awarded MAPP $1.2 Million in ARPA funds for the purchase.

The program itself is a 10-month intensive.

“We go through everything from painting to electrical work, carpentry, plumbing, pipe fitting, we do it all to give you a broad sense of what you like or don’t like,” says executive director Kareem Berry.

Once a student completes the program, they are fast-tracked to a local apprenticeship program… And on to a better life.

“Nothing stops a bullet like a job, and it gets you straight out of poverty,” Berry said.

Rob Smith is a graduate of the program and the current training coordinator. He and the students at MAPP will be rehabbing this old manufacturing space. Berry says MAPP will do 85% of the work themselves.

Smith said this on what having a good paying and consistent job means to him:

“Being able to have my own financial status, being able to afford things on my own, having a clearer mentality, mentally I’m great.”

Oher community organizations — CTC and Untapped Ministries — will also make the space home once the renovations are complete.

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