Help Me Howard: Construction Internship Scam In Harlem

A group of men and women signed up for a free program run by a non profit up in Harlem. It sounded great. They could learn a trade. The internship part of it offered $10 an hour and it would jumpstart a career in construction.

Instead, they ended up being very disappointed. They didn't learn a trade, there were no paid internships and they're nowhere near getting jobs in construction.

The free program run by the Harlem Congregations for Community Improvement, HCCI, a non-profit, sounded great. And It was, at first.

"When I first got here," said Rocky Felix, "I was happy. You should have seen all the motivational speakers, all the promises, for once I felt I was in the right place at the right time."

The idea was they'd jump right in, each of them assigned to a practice booth. They'd frame it, put in tile floors, learn how to put up sheet rock then tape it. Real skills. All of it overseen by a professional, their instructor.

Thomas Avinger immediately felt in over his head. "I don't know how to tape," said Thomas. "I went and pasted instead of taping. You're supposed to tape and paste at the same time so the tape can be wet. I didn't know that until after I did it and Will came over and corrected me but I was like, I ain't got no tape... where can I get the tape and he said, ask the instructor, the instructor wasn't here... I couldn't even get the tape."

Another trainee, William Verdejo, tried to help but the obstacles in their way were formidable... for one thing a paid instructor who wasn't always there. He wouldn't talk to the PIX News at Ten when we were there.

Then there was a problem of supplies... and most of the time, no tools.

"When it comes to the tools," said William Verdejo, "some of us never had a chance to actually practice with tools that are supposed to be used, to become efficient with tools of the trade."

So too few skills learned in the first three months and then no paid internship for the last three months.

"HCCI said if we don't put you in a paid site," Verdejo continued, "then we will pick up the slack, none of that ever materialized."

All those promises are clearly stated in the HCCI literature. It says, "The men and women enrolled in this program will benefit from on-the-job training through paid internships, at current wages of $10 per hour."

Ansel Bradford got referred by his parole officers. We asked him if he was disappointed. "Very. Absolutely," he said.

We caught up with the president and CEO of HCCI, Lucille McEwan. She told us HCCI gets the money from the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone for this Construction Trades Academy.

"I think we have a good training program here," said Ms. McEwan. "Three months is training which they get from us," she said. "And the other required cooperation from the construction industry is to support black men and women who need jobs in this city and we don't get that support."

We asked her about complaints the instructor was often missing in action. She said, "I can make sure that my instructor is present and on time in the future. When they called it to my attention, I went to them."

And what about the paid part of the internships that was promised, we asked. "Our expenses have been reduced dramatically because of the lack of jobs and because we are a performance-based contract and so if we don't get those jobs we don't get a payment for those internships either.

That's small consolation for these men who put their faith in the program's promises. Six months invested and very little to show for it.

Their only hope now was to have us tell their story. Getting the word out might help others