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5C’s Development Program - Owner, Mr. John Brown smiling with a construction hat

JOHN BROWN, TEACHER, MENTOR, & FOUNDER

After finishing high school I went into the workforce for 3 years working jobs that I did not like.  It was not until I began working at Lowe’s wood yard that my dad said “son, you need to take a trade.”  I then went to the Richmond Opportunities Industrialization Center, Inc.  (OIC).  There they are taught housing construction and rehabilitation.  OIC was an urban program in the Richmond community that helped neighborhood children to learn hands on workplace readiness skills to prepare them for the future.  Doors began opening in the building trade area and I seized the opportunity and walked right in.  For the next twenty years I have worked in the building trade from carpentry to constructing, acquiring certifications in the building trade to contract and owning a business.  I have taught carpentry in public education for the past ten years.

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  • Over 20 years of experience in building trades

  • 10 years teaching vocational building trades in public education

  • Skills USA trainer

  • Workplace Readiness trainer

  • Certified Scaffolding trainer

  • OSHA -500 trainer (West Virginia University – National Resource for OSHA Training)

  • NCCER  (National Center for Construction Education and Research)

  • Carpenter Instructor

  • Trainer Instructor

  • Building trades career counseling

  • John Tyler Community College Adjunct Instructor

  • Carpentry Frame 1 & 2 Instructor

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