ATSSA Signal July/August 2019

American Traffic Safety Services Association 8 ATSSA News Looking for flaggers? ATSSA and FailSafe-ERA’s Right Road program helps member companies fill positions During ATSSA’s 49th Annual Conven- tion & Traffic Expo on Feb. 11, ATSSA announced its partnership with Fail- Safe-ERA on the Right Road Job Training and Placement Program, which helps qualified returning citizens receive the training and job resources they need to put them on a path to success in tem- porary traffic control. Participants of the program spend five days in job readiness and soft-skills training. They then receive specialized job training and placement assistance, including ATSSA flagger training and certification. Class members are given several months of counseling and men- toring. Upon successful completion of the program, participants will be placed with sponsoring ATSSA member com- panies in temporary traffic control positions. “ATSSA is proud to work with FailSafe-ERA on this key initiative. Moving forward, it is our hope to provide ATSSA’s top qual- ity training to formerly incarcerated in- dividuals who might face challenges re- joining society, said ATSSA Vice President of Member Services Donna Clark. “Si- multaneously, we will be addressing a member concern of an issue relating to hiring and retaining qualified workers.” The first pilot program was successfully completed in Fredericksburg, Virginia earlier this year. Clark said through working with ATSSA members to gauge interest in partici- pating in the program, her team found there have been successful programs similar to Right Road within ATSSA’s membership, including one formed by former ATSSA Chair and Worksafe Traf- fic Control Industries Inc. President Deb- ra Ricker in Vermont. Ricker said that in Vermont, she and other manufacturers and contractors were experiencing difficulties because inmates were producing the same prod- ucts and selling them at a lower cost, thus creating competition. “When I got into the business and start- ed to build my sign shop, prisons cut their prices by 30 percent in an attempt to undercut outside businesses,” Ricker said. “I took this matter to the legisla- ture and gathered a group of business representatives to address this issue.” Ricker said she worked with committees of the Associated General Contractors (AGC) and with the legislature to find a solution in which prisons were not im- pacting private businesses, but instead partneringwithprivate businesses, which could employ former inmates after release. “That’s how the conversation started. Af- ter a lot of work, we came up with a pilot program and after working with the leg- islature—which gave us a small grant to fund the initial program—we identified offenders who were going to be released in three to six months and we offered these individuals training; this is similar to what ATSSA is currently doing through its Right Road program,” Ricker said. Members of the AGC later provided the opportunity to fill out job applications and those were posted on the AGC web- site without the applicants’ names. If companies were in need of employees, they could use the AGC website as a re- source to hire qualified applicants. “We started this as a win-win opportu- nity and having hired a couple of for- merly incarcerated people, I can say we had a good experience participating in the program,” Ricker said. ATSSA Senior Technical Advisor Eric Per- ry said the association hopes to reach the same level of success with the Right Road Job Program as some of its mem- bers, such as Ricker. “This year I was able to help teach a flagging course to 10 individuals in Virginia as part of our new training and placement program,” Perry said. “It was such a rewarding ex- perience to not only equip individuals with the skills they need to stay safe out on the roadways but also to help them redeem stability as they reenter society. These are hard-working people and it was great to know we’re placing them with association member companies after they ’ve received the highest- quality roadway worker training.” Clark said ATSSA and FailSafe-ERA have plans to broaden the program in com- ing years and maintain the organiza- tions’ partnership. According to Clark, both organizations are encouraging members to become sponsors of Fail- Safe’s 10th Year “Center of Hope” Fund- raiser Gala on Aug. 24. Information about sponsorship opportunities and the reg- istration form for FailSafe’s gala are available at www.failsafe-era.org. For more information about ATSSA and FailSafe-ERA’s Right Road Job Training and Placement program, contact Clark at Donna.Clark@atssa.com . ATSSA is proud toworkwithFailSafe-ERAon this key initiative.Moving forward, it is our hope toprovideATSSA’s topquality training to formerly incarcerated individualswhomight face challenges rejoining society.