Craftsman with Character founder: Youth need guidance, opportunity in skilled trades
17 Oct 2024
JANESVILLE — Members of the Janesville-area business community listened at a breakfast meeting on Wednesday to Dave Hataj share about Craftsman with Character, the school to work program he founded in Edgerton that has gained national attention.
The BreakFAST with BMO gathering at the Boys & Girls Club of Janesville was sponsored by the BMO Bank and Forward Janesville.
Hataj created Craftsman with Character in Edgerton as a mentorship program that had a dual focus: filling skilled labor jobs left open by an aging, retiring workforce, while exposing high school students uninterested in going to college with apprenticeship and future career opportunities.
To round out the experience, participants would learn about the character traits required of a successful employee.
The program has since spread to schools across Rock County and beyond.
“We started 11 years ago in Edgerton,” Hataj shared. “It was such a hit because we saw some of these kids that just weren’t very academic, just really starting to blossom.”
Some participants have gone on to later secure full-time job with local businesses, including with his company, Edgerton Gear, Inc.
“Kids that were D students in high school that were dropping out — 10 years later they’re some of my best leaders,” Hataj said.
Hataj said in his shop the average worker’s age is now 30 — bucking a national older trend, where some similar shops have an average age in the 50s. He said an average age of 30 “is unheard of in manufacturing.” And “I almost have zero turnover,” because employees are supported, he said.
Students who participate in Craftsman with Character spend four days a week in real-world work environments with hands-on exposure and learning opportunities from current employees at partnering businesses. They also spend one day a week in the classroom where are are offered growth through mentoring, engaged discussions, and a focused curriculum designed to foster their development and character.
In January of 2023, a Craftsman with Character program was launched in Beloit. Soon afterward, a representative from the U.S. Navy approached Hataj asking what was needed to take the program national.
“Six weeks after the Navy reached out, I had a 3-year contract for $2 million. They said ‘grow this as fast as you can because we need this everywhere.’” Hataj said.
He said skilled workers are needed to make things like nuclear submarines for the Navy.
“Our U.S. nuclear submarines are the only competitive advantage we have in all of our military and they can’t manufacture them fast enough,” he said.
The Navy surveyed all 1600 of its suppliers across the country to gauge how to build those subs faster, and the overwhelming response was that young people are needed to work in the trades to replace workers who are retiring, Hataj said.
Hataj characterizes Craftsman with Character as a pre-apprenticeship course that gets youth ready to learn, introduces them to local businesses and works with them on the soft employable skills they will need.
e said youth who participate in Craftsman with Character have a 100% graduation rate.
“It’s about connection, relationships and having those kids understand that people care about them,” he said.