“I’m not taking my foot off the gas. We have to push because the goal is not to meet our numbers; the goal is to build wealth,” said Michael Strautmanis, vice president for civic engagement at the Obama Foundation.
Mamon Powers, Jr., Powers & Sons CEO and Chairman of the Board, in his Gary, Ind. office on August 9, 2022.“That’s all I saw,” said the 74-year-old CEO and chairman of the board of Powers & Sons Construction. “I was fortunate to grow up in an African American neighborhood where most of the men were in business. They were either working in steel mills or in business.”By the time Powers was a preteen, he was working for his father, Mamon Powers, Sr.
Powers Baria recalled that Barack Obama was still president when her father came up with the plan to solidify the odds of Black contractors and Black people building Obama’s Center. “Everything’s going according to plan,” said Michael Strautmanis, vice president for civic engagement at the Obama Foundation. “I’m not taking my foot off the gas. We have to push because the goal is not to meet our numbers, the goal is to build wealth, and to create a new model for taking people into these good construction careers in a community that has been under invested in for generations. That goal will be complete beyond my lifetime. The numbers are good for accountability purposes ...
Sharika Harris, 32, is one person benefiting from working on the Obama Presidential Center. She’s a plumbing apprentice with four years in the trades already. Her company is helping set up the center’s garage. She’s been working with the nonprofit Chicago Women in Trades to help her prepare for her journeymen’s test. The North Lawndale resident said she went looking for a career in the trades after custodial work became boring.
“During that apprenticeship training, remember you’re earning while you’re learning, and each year your pay is going up as you learn your craft until you complete your apprenticeship program,” she said.
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