Cars and Boys Get Help at Brooklawn

At CHHSM member ministry Brooklawn Child and Family Services in Louisville, Kentucky, the staff works to help boys overcome serious emotional disturbances and to find foster or adoptive placements. So how did they get involved in oil changes and brake work?

For teenaged boys at Brooklawn, part of healing is developing self-esteem through vocational education, and the ministry operates an accredited special education school in collaboration with the Jefferson County Public Schools. In April 2005, the two organizations opened the Brooklawn Auto Service Training Center, a working garage where boys aged 13-18 can learn what it takes to be an auto mechanic.

Boys at Brooklawn and other state-agency schools can participate in the program as long as they meet behavioral standards; between 20 and 22 take part on most days. The Training Center offers classroom instruction as well as hands-on training under the supervision of instructors, who are employed by the school system.

How’s the service? After a few months in business, with only word-of-mouth advertising, the Auto Service Training Center has a two-week waiting list for cars in need of repair. And since the boys’ labor is free, customers pay only for parts. “I had my brakes done there and it cost $50,” said a satisfied customer, “whereas it would have been at least five times that somewhere else.”

Although Brooklawn’s program does not provide formal certification for employment, program instructor Bill Greenwell feels confident about his students’ skills. “I can take a student who’s never set foot inside a shop and make him employable in a year,” said Greenwell. “Now that’s entry-level employment, but that’s more than most people have who walk in off the street looking for a job in an auto shop.”

To learn more about Brooklawn Child & Family Services and its programs, please visit www.brooklawn.net. If you’re in Louisville and your car needs work, please call 502-451-5177 to get on the waiting list!