By Randiah Camille Green
July 6, 2026
This sponsored story was originally published by Outlier Media

This story was written by Randiah Camille Green and created in partnership with the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation. It is part of a year-long series focusing on programs and pathways to good paying jobs and careers in Detroit.

Outside the Belle Isle Nature Center sits a 10-foot-long wooden megaphone, welcoming visitors to climb inside to hear amplified sounds. Sitting in it feels like getting a warm hug from a tree, while listening to birds chirping and wind blowing through the surrounding ephemeral wetlands. This megaphone was built by Detroit high school students with the workforce development organization, Atlantic Impact, to amplify the sounds of nature and the students’ carpentry skills. 

Twenty-year-old Ashley Sigala participated in building the nature megaphone two summers ago, when she was 18. She was looking for something productive to occupy herself with that summer and was interested in working with her hands. She didn’t know much about carpentry prior to her experience, but she and her fellow students learned how to measure, cut, sand, and assemble the wooden structure together, through Atlantic Impact.

“I learned a lot about communication, because a lot of us didn’t know how to communicate very well at first,” she said of her experience. “I felt a burst of happiness and excitement, because something so little turned into something so big, going to a public place in Detroit that’s going to be there for a very long time.”

Atlantic Impact is a Detroit-based nonprofit that runs workforce development and college readiness programs for youth between the ages of 16 and 24. The megaphone was built as part of their summer apprenticeship readiness program, the Our Town Training School Pre-Apprenticeship Program, which teaches young people skilled trades like carpentry, masonry, welding, plumbing, and painting, with support from Grow Detroit’s Young Talent. The program runs eight to 10 weeks, and participants also learn job-readiness skills like resume building and interviewing tips. It is offered free of charge, in partnership with Detroit at Work, the City of Detroit’s workforce development agency and employment hub.

“Skilled trades tend to have higher wages, and it’s an aging population currently in skilled trades, so there’s a need for young people to come in and fill those jobs,” said Atlantic Impact Executive Director Anise Hayes. “Our goal is that 90% of students in the apprenticeship program will be placed with a job within six months. … They will come out of the program ready, with both the interpersonal skills, soft skills, and workforce readiness that will make employers want to work with them.”

She added about the megaphone, “We are really proud to have done that…that, to me, is a testament to what this training does because the students who built that megaphone got to see it installed, they got to see people use it, and then they got to be able to go out and tell employers that they built that. That’s the story of our work. We want our students to be able to say … that the things that they make have real world impact.” 

While Atlantic Impact has a roughly 87% placement rate for students landing a job following the apprenticeship readiness program, they also operate a woodshop where students can earn $15 an hour while looking for work. After two summers with Atlantic Impact, Sigala continues to work in the woodshop, making products like customized cutting boards, benches, and chairs. She enjoys laser engraving on the wood, especially Red Wings’ and Tigers’ logos, and the baseball team’s Old English D. While she is currently studying finance at Wayne State University and sees woodworking as a hobby, her experiences with Atlantic Impact have given her newfound confidence.

“I feel like building the megaphone did help me grow a lot, maturity wise, because when you’re using tools, it’s not something you can just play around with,” she said. “And the fact that they trust me to use a big machine makes me feel appreciated and valued. I know it’s hard for people to find jobs right now and a lot of people are struggling. Well, with Atlantic Impact, I’m able to stay and get paid, have a job and still go to school.”

Atlantic Impact also supports Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs within the Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD), which give hands-on training in skilled trades. They work with schools like the Randolph Career and Technical Center and Breithaupt Career and Technical Center, where students from across DPSCD can opt to attend for full or half days. For students who may not have access to these CTE programs, Atlantic Impact hosts similar activities at their own training space.

“They’re being exposed to the work, getting the chance to learn a little bit more about the trades,” Hayes said. “We kind of think of it as a continuum, where a student enters it, they get exposure, [then] they make a decision after they get the exposure whether this is something they want to do.”

Once a year, the organization hosts the Build Detroit Skilled Trades Challenge at Eastern Market, where CTE students from across metro Detroit compete in carpentry, welding, electrical, and masonry challenges. The students receive blueprints for a project and have three hours to build it. Afterward, they are judged by industry professionals and can receive awards. 

“It’s really almost like an in-person audition that the students are giving, showing off their skills to employers and to unions across the region,” Hayes said. 

Overall, Atlantic Impact’s goal is to help young people understand the value of potential careers in skilled trades and provide them with access to opportunities to enter the field. 

“We want our students to understand that they’re not just building stuff, or they’re not just in a CTE program, or doing apprenticeship readiness to build something that has no value,” Hayes said. “We want them to understand … that the work they are going to do has real significance in the world that they live in. When you walk into a building, when you walk into a school, someone built that. When you drive down the road, someone built that.”

For more information on Atlantic Impact, visit atlanticimpact.org/ and for details on programs, see atlanticimpact.org/experience/ or instagram.com/atlanticimpact/. Applications for the summer apprenticeship readiness program opened in the spring and the program begins in July.

To learn more about programs and pathways to good paying jobs and careers in Detroit, Highland Park, and Hamtramck, visit: https://outliermedia.org/tag/pathways-to-good-paying-jobs/