For more than 20 years, Rashad Byrdsong’s Community Empowerment Association has worked to stem violence in Pittsburgh’s East End by providing a variety of life skills, violence prevention, academic and job skills programming to young Black men and adults.
His nonprofit initially sought out property owners, community development corporations, including the city and its authorities, and soon provided work for young men clearing and cleaning the vacant and abandoned lots in Homewood. But he realized that to break the symbiotic cycles of poverty and violence, people needed more than a job; they needed careers.
To that end, Byrdsong took a two-pronged approach. On one hand, CEA began giving both youth and older residents training in rough framing, drywall, painting, and related construction trades. On the other hand, he formed Ma’at Construction with partner Johnnie Comer and began employing those who completed the training, giving them hands-on experience, with on-the-job mentoring from veteran journeyman construction professionals.
Slowly, Ma’at has been growing, winning subcontracts on major construction projects throughout the city, Allegheny County and beyond—all the while, exposing its workers, and their expertise, to major construction firms and developers.
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