WESTBROOK, Maine — Employers created nearly 40,000 new manufacturing jobs this summer in the United States; that's according to statistics from the Department of Labor. As those jobs grow, learning a trade is becoming more important to those just entering the workforce.
That's the idea behind a growing school in Westbrook, where the students are learning a valuable skill; a little more of the English language; and what it means to have career goals.
Manufacturing jobs are making a comeback inside the old Dana Warp Mill in Westbrook. American Roots is a fairly new company making jackets, pullovers, and other clothing. Among their best customers, union workers. The business Ben Waxman and his wife Whitney Reynolds started in 2015 now employs more than 20 people.
"The whole premise was to take our resumes and our rolodexes in our previous careers and create a business to business line that was 100% American made, down to every thread, human made," says Waxman.
Each employee of American Roots has access to health benefits and a 401(K), they get a yearly raise, and are represented by a union.
"They treat me like a human being," says employee Anaam Jabbir, who heads up the local union chapter. "I like that."
Jabbir and her family immigrated to America from Iraq in 2009. When her family restaurant closed a few years ago, she was once again entering the workforce without much direction... until she heard about a free commercial sewing school that was just starting up in Westbrook.
"We looked for students through Portland Adult Education," says Dory Waxman, founder of The Old Port Wool & Textile Company. She started the school, Common Threads of Maine back in 2015. That was when her son Ben and his wife Whitney were starting up their business, and weren't sure where to find skilled workers.
"I interviewed 26 women for the first class and we only took six," recalls Waxman. Jabbir was in that class.
Here, instructors not only teach the students how to sew different types of material, they help the students find jobs.
"Hyperlight [Mountain Gear]; Sea Bags; Angel Rock; Flow Fold, all of these companies are constantly looking for stitchers," says Waxman. "The point of the school is to give them the opportunity and the skills so they can go out into the world and find a job that is going to respect their skill and pay them accordingly, and hopefully they will have health benefits and a couple of weeks vacation someday. Maybe buy a house or a car, we have a couple of people who have done that. So that’s what this is about."
The classes are free; bus passes, gas money, daycare is all provided to give these students every opportunity to succeed. Their instructors are paid through a grant through a partnership with Southern Maine Community College and Maine Quality Centers, but would likely be helping in some way even if they weren't.
"The women who are in the program have come from difficult backgrounds," says Waxman. "They never complain. We have quite a few who are survivors of torture, there’s a fair amount of post traumatic stress that has come with how they’ve gotten here, bringing their small children with them."
They learn math skills, more English, and talk about their goals. For many of them, it's the first time they've even thought about their future.
"We're instilling in them that they have power inside themselves that they can use and they have skills and the skills are something they can use at home. A lot of them they can sew clothing for their children or their family members but they can also go out into manufacturing sector in Maine and we advocate for good wages. So they know they’re not going out there to just have a job that’s going to keep him in poverty," says Waxman.
These are jobs in a sector that seems to be expanding; growing in mills that once housed old machines and young immigrants, now a better work environment, offering a brighter future.
To learn more about the classes offered, check out Common Threads of Maine's website.
The school's fiscal sponsor is a partnership with Friends of Portland Adult Education where donations can be made.