BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) – On Thursday morning, 150 students gathered at the Southern Museum of Flight to participate in the “Good Jobs, Not Guns” open house event with Job Corps.

Students had the opportunity to meet with employers and learn about job and academic training as they prepare for life after graduation. Additionally, they got to engage with state and city leaders to discuss the challenges many of them are facing.

The open house provided high school students in our area with the chance to meet with recruiters from the military and the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department. They also learned more about workforce development, including skilled training to start a career as a welder or electrician. Leaders expressed that they wanted to show these students that there are endless opportunities available.

“They can learn trades that are going to help them with long-term attachment to the workforce, give them careers to purchase homes, buy cars, and have retirement,” says Frank Coiro with Montgomery Job Corp.

The “Good Jobs, Not Guns” event was a collaboration between the Montgomery and Gadsden Job Corps and the Southern Museum of Flight.

“We just want to make sure that the community understands that there is a different route you can go. You don’t always have to resort to violence,” explains Corey Davis with Gadsden Job Corps. “You don’t always have to pick up a gun; you can pick up a book.”

Their goal was to promote nonviolence among youth and expose them to more opportunities.

“What we want to do is provide pathways to young people,” Southern Museum of Flight Executive Director Dr. Brian Barsanti said. “Provide them a pathway to a skilled trade that is going to make them very marketable as they get into the workforce.”

State Representative Juandalynn Givan was one of a handful of lawmakers and leaders who met with these children to work on ways to create a safer environment. She hopes this type of exposure will lead them toward a more positive way of life.

“There is a whole big life out here. I want to say to the young, choose a life of freedom, not a life of being bound in jail with shackles. Choose a life of liberty, of democracy, and not of dictatorship from a warden,” said Givan. “Choose a life in which you live life and not have it snuffed out.”

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