Arthur M. Brazier Foundation Presents Community Tech Training Program

Dr. Byron Brazier, recently held a grand opening for The Arthur M. Brazier Foundation’s trade school entitled BSD (Building Self Determination) Industries, which will train community residents in the technology field. Photo Credit: Christopher Shuttlesworth
Dr. Byron Brazier, recently held a grand opening for The Arthur M. Brazier Foundation’s trade school entitled BSD (Building Self Determination) Industries, which will train community residents in the technology field. Photo Credit: Christopher Shuttlesworth

Arthur M. Brazier Foundation Presents Community Tech Training Program

By Christopher Shuttlesworth

The Arthur M. Brazier Foundation along with Alderman Michelle Harris and Mayor Rahm Emanuel recently held a grand opening for the business trade school and manufacturing facility, BSD (Building Self Determination) Industries,

located at 9551 S. Cottage Grove.

BSD Industries’ second training program provides hands-on robotics training and industry-recognized certification training to 44 students, which helps develop them for techcareers.

We recognized the need to not only provide workforce development skills

but to take it one step further and give community residents on-the-job training where they earn a paycheck and develop skills for a career in a growing industry,” Dr. Byron Brazier, who is the Brazier Foundation Board Chairman and Chief Executive Officer said in a BSD press release.

The BSD program, which is currently free for trainees, has received two million dollars in funding from the Chicago Housing Authority and $500,000

from JPMorgan Chase.

John Hooker, Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) Chairman, said before he came on board with the BSD initiative, he wanted to know how the training program would benefit residents in the community.

“Each BSD class will have close to 50 percent of residents from CHA learn about where we’re going tomorrow [in technology],” said Hooker.

BSD Industries will be at full production in 2018 and is expected to produce 123 million units of high quality and sustainable plastic products, according to a BSD press release. “The cutlery will be available for purchase with profits earmarked for investment in the stabilization of communities including education, safety and economic development.”

“Dr. Brazier painted the picture for me and I can see the picture developing right before me,” Alderman Michelle Harris of the 8th Ward, said. “I’m honored to work with a man who has full beliefs for communities on the South Side and what this building will do in terms of bringing jobs and training for African American men.”

Mayor Rahm Emanuel said although the BSD program has recently been

introduced, it took three to four years of work to bring it all together.

“When you sit with Dr. Brazier and you hear what he wanted, it’s actually not the words but the tender voice and the possibility of what could happen,” Emanuel said. “The firm belief in the city is that you can’t succeed in the future if you don’t invest in the future, which is right in front of us.”

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