By Don Rhodes II | For The Birmingham Times
The hum of saws, pipes, and conversation on a Saturday morning welcomed young men from across Birmingham, not just to acquire a trade, but to build their futures.
Eleven young men gathered at a construction site in Hoover, Alabama inside a developing subdivision in a section of the area where new homes are still being built and worked on.
At its core is LegacyWorks, a nonprofit founded in 2018 by educator Terrence Ingram, that does the same: build and work on the lives of the young men. Ingram has taken it upon himself to make sure his students have a chance at education, career, and self-empowerment.
Ingram, who began his career as a member of the Teach for America Corps in 2009, returned to Alabama with a mission to alter the lives of young people. “I felt an imperative as I was thinking about the [crime] rate in Birmingham and the impact on young Black men particularly,” Ingram said. “Our focus is decision-making skills and individual agency — alerting them to the fact that their choices can improve their circumstances.”
Rather than attempting to chip away at large systemic barriers by itself, LegacyWorks targets tangible solutions: apprenticeships, literacy training, exposure to trades, and opportunity for college. It takes students on college campus tours, introduces them to apprenticeships, and teaches them that education and training can be a portal to meaningful careers.
Since its launch, the program has helped 44 young men from all corners of Birmingham learn trades, participate in community service, apply to colleges and express themselves through music.
The Program
After graduating from Birmingham-Southern College with a degree in music in 2009, Ingram began teaching English to middle schoolers in Nashville as a Teach For America corps member.
Though his first year was “rough,” Ingram said he found a new way to get his students engaged with learning.
“Almost every day, I incorporated songs into my lesson, some that I would write by myself, some that I wrote with the students. We were still learning all of the standards that they were supposed to learn but in a way that was more culturally responsive,” Ingram said.
“It was a passion, and I saw the difference I was making, but I wanted to move back to Alabama…I decided that I would not stop the work, but I had to find another way to do it.”
So he got to work, meeting with members of his church and researching ways to translate his work to Birmingham.
Word Of Mouth
LegacyWorks started as a pilot program in 2018 at Martha Gaskins Elementary School in Roebuck with four students.
Over time, LegacyWorks grew beyond the school through word of mouth as mothers saw the difference in their sons and the boys told their friends about what Ingram had done for them.
Jeremiah Hayden, 15, has been a part of LegacyWorks for six years and said Ingram has become a father-like figure and role model in his life.
After his own father died, Hayden moved in with his grandmother, who fostered four other boys. After having a conversation with Hayden’s mother, Ingram decided to take the five boys under his wing.
“I met Mr. Ingram, and I just feel like he’s had a good effect on my life,” Hayden said. “I’ve stayed since I was 9 and I feel like he really watched me grow up and mature.”
Hayden said he looks forward to graduating high school and studying physical therapy at a big university.
For Henry Reynolds Jr. and other students like him, the program has been transformative. A sixth grader when he joined, Reynolds, 17, said LegacyWorks changed his concept of what he will do with his life.
“Now I know that I can be an electrician, be a plumber, or do carpentry and make an honest living for myself,” said Reynolds, who attends Birmingham’s Huffman High School. The most valuable lesson, he said, is that “there’s always good ways to make money without doing nothing illegal.”
Seconding that was another student, Malik Thirkill. Completing his high school diploma and eventually obtaining his CDL Certificate, Thirkill, 17, said the program opened his eyes to possibility. “It took me a minute to realize Mr. Ingram was actually trying to help me,” he said. “Now I can imagine myself “obtaining my CDL — it’s something I really want to do,” he said.
After the plumbing fundamentals, Thirkill said the program isn’t all about techniques but about concern. “They make sure you’re okay and headed in the right direction. They’ve been in my life since fifth grade.”
In the future, Ingram hopes LegacyWorks expands beyond Birmingham. With a volunteer pool and recent fundraising to hire staff, the organization will grow its trades program and eventually have its model replicated throughout Alabama. “On a Saturday like this, I want to see multiple sites across the city where young men are learning different trades or on the path to higher education,” Ingram said.
For LegacyWorks’ students, it is more than an academic program — it’s a lifeline. As Reynolds succinctly put it in one word: “Great.”
AL.com’s Alaina Bookman contributed to this post.
For more visit www.legacyworksbham.com
