A Brooklyn-based vocational training initiative recently unveiled a set of custom benches constructed by formerly incarcerated Brooklynites in front of the Oculus at the World Trade Center.
The group of eight craftsmen created the handmade seats during Brooklyn Workforce Innovations’ Brooklyn Woods program, a 10-week training which taught them the basics of woodworking and introduced skills they could use in their future careers.
Scott Peltzer, director of Brooklyn Woods, founded the program 24 years ago as a way to help unemployed, low-income New Yorkers with skills training and development for a career in woodworking and fabrication.
He worked hands-on with each team member to produce a final project that they all were proud of.
“The opportunity to build these benches in that space really gave the participants an overwhelming sense of pride,” Peltzer said. “To be involved in this and to install them and to be able to take their families to the Oculus Plaza was enormously gratifying for them.”
Eric Pagan, who participated in the program, said he worked in carpentry before being incarcerated, but he never thought he’d be able to return to the workforce. Before finding Brooklyn Woods, he had been volunteering for various community services but this was the first time he saw a future in carpentry after being in jail.
“The exciting thing for me is, while I was incarcerated I was thinking to myself, what am I going to do when I get outside? I can’t do what I used to,” he said. “I found a little niche. That program wasn’t just a program. It opened me up to a lot of possibilities and opportunities that I could’ve never dreamed of.”
Pagan said the rest of the woodworkers were amazed at the decision to install the benches in a location where millions of people can use them. Not only did they get to create a great final product, but now their work could be shared with the rest of the community.
“Me and the other cohorts had no idea of the enormous work that was going to be involved or that it was going to be displayed,” he said.
Because of his past work, Pagan was able to take on a teaching, father-figure role to other participants. He now hopes to lead a program similar to Brooklyn Woods in the future.
“A lot of people out there who don’t fit into regular sorts of office-type jobs are looking to be able to work with their hands,” program director Peltzer told Brooklyn Paper. “Most of the people who come to our program are very interested in learning a skill and something that they can use for the rest of their lives.”
The benches were made through a partnership with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. They can be found near 50 Church St., in the pedestrian plaza right outside of the World Trade Center in Manhattan.
