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Bilingual Contractor Training Program

EL CENTRAL by EL CENTRAL
October 12, 2022
in Community, Español, Featured
Reading Time: 16 mins read
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By Nina Ignaczak, Founder and Publisher of Planet Detroit.

Growing up in Southwest Detroit, Sonia Alvarado learned how to fix houses from her parents, both union carpenters.

“There were always projects going on. I know a lot about construction and the trades because of both of my parents,” she said. “It was very much doing all the work, learning how to do stuff.”

Later on, Alvarado parented and adopted eight children and shared that knowledge with her kids, eventually building a family business rehabbing homes. During COVID, she and her husband split up, and he kept the company. Alvarado decided to branch out in a different direction and get trained for lead abatement work.

Detroit needs certified lead contractors – most of whom work in private contracting companies – and inspectors. In 2019, the city received $9.7 million in grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for lead abatement work in Southwest Detroit, where more than 75% of homes were built before 1940. Any home built before 1978, when Congress banned lead in paint, is at risk of having lead paint. It aims to mitigate or abate lead in 450 Detroit homes in the 48209 zip code, prioritizing those with children, who are especially vulnerable to lead exposure. The program has faced obstacles between the pandemic and a shortage of contractors.

Lead is a potent neurotoxin that can lead to learning, behavior, hearing, and speech problems. Exposed kids may have reduced IQ and attention problems. Once a child is identified as having an elevated level of lead, it’s imperative to identify and reduce sources of exposure from the child’s environment. There is no safe blood level for lead. Children in Detroit face 1.5 times the rate of elevated blood levels as those in Michigan.

Alvarado is bilingual; she speaks both Spanish and English. That, combined with her construction knowledge, makes her an excellent candidate for the city’s lead abatement program in 48209, where many families speak only Spanish and where more than 16,000 Hispanic contractors live and work in the City of Detroit, according to census data.

Alvarado connected with Bridget Espinosa, whose firm Puente Cultural Integration had begun a lead contractor training program to certify Spanish-speaking and bilingual contractors to do lead abatement work. She received the training along with four of her children, who are also bilingual.

After becoming certified, Alvarado was hired by the city as a building inspector, focused on inspecting lead abatement projects. She said that having a bilingual background is crucial to completing projects where homeowners speak Spanish because language barriers can result in miscommunication and delays. Alvarado was about to head out to a home where confusion over the presence of a family dog had resulted in a project being delayed for nearly a year.

“Even small things can make a big difference – so having bilingual inspectors and contractors is absolutely necessary,” she said.

The training program is operating with $300,000 in grant funding from the Erb Family Foundation and the Gilbert Family Foundation over two years. Global Detroit, a local economic development nonprofit, serves as Puente’s fiscal agent. The City of Detroit Housing & Revitalization Department is a partner in the project and is providing an additional $50,000 in reimbursable funding to Global Detroit. According to Espinosa, many certified workers have found work with contracting firms or have launched their own businesses.

“We are always searching for qualified contractors to increase our contractor pool. The contractors we work with are essential to our loan and grant-funded home repair programs. It is important that the contractors HRD work with reflect the diverse communities we serve, Katrina Odom, project manager for the city’s Housing & Revitalization program, told Planet Detroit in a statement. “Contractors that come from the community, with diverse backgrounds and skills, mean every Detroit resident can be actively engaged in their experience as a program participant and build a rapport with their contractor and their respective teams, whether they speak English, Spanish, Arabic or any other language.”

Puente offers two paths to certification – a four-day training to become a certified lead worker or five days to become a lead supervisor, both are taught in either Spanish or English. An additional one-day EPA certification in RRP (Renovation, Repair, and Painting) is also included.

So far, 42 Spanish-speaking or bilingual lead contractors have been certified through the program; they hope to train more than 100 over the two years. Out of those certified, 17 have been women. Some of those women have launched commercial cleaning businesses to service lead abatement companies, which Espinosa describes as a “win-win” for everyone involved.

“These women are making substantially more than they would have made just working for a general contractor that’s not doing lead abatement work. And they’re providing a huge service to the lead abatement companies,” she said.

When Espinosa first connected with the city in 2019, she discovered “they didn’t have a single contractor that was certified that spoke Spanish, and they knew that 75% of the homes that they were going to be fixing up had Spanish speaking residents,” she said.

Espinosa’s firm, Puente, provides small business coaching services to Spanish-speaking entrepreneurs, including small contractors, in the region.

“It’s not easy for our immigrant community to just sign up for a class and take it, and at the time, when we first started this program, there was no such thing as a bilingual class – it didn’t exist, “ Espinosa said. So she started by finding a company with one certified bilingual contractor and launched the first bilingual cohort in 2020.

“It was the very first time in the history of the state of Michigan that there was a Spanish language class taught and that we had Spanish language supervisors certified,” Espinosa said. “The whole thing was done in Spanish – the class was taught in Spanish, the testing was done in Spanish.”

Through her work, Espinosa has found that immigrant contractors require extra support beyond bilingual courses. So Espinosa and her team take extra steps to assist with the test, helping register cohort members with the state testing center, offering transportation to Lansing to take the test up to three times, feeding them, providing business technical assistance, and offering a stipend to cover time off from work to attend the training. The total cost of these services runs about $3,500 per participant.

Espinosa said continued challenges include the test itself, although it is translated into Spanish, there is not a universal dialect and is very different from the one spoken by most of the participants from Mexico.

“And so we are kind of filling in that gap,” she said. “We are that bilingual bridge to support the connectivity between our immigrant community and resources and opportunities.”

The Puente team is currently enrolling for its next bilingual cohorts which will take place November 7-11, 2022, and again in February. The deadline to enroll is October 17th. All Spanish-speaking workers from Metro Detroit are eligible to apply. More information can be found at businessalianzas.org/events or by contacting Puente General Manager Yazmin Payan at 313-349-0089 or by email team@puenteci.com.

Published in partnership with Planet Detroit, a local news site dedicated to environmental and public health news.


El programa de capacitación de contratistas bilingües tiene como objetivo impulsar el trabajo de reducción de plomo de la ciudad en el suroeste de Detroit.

Al crecer en el suroeste de Detroit, los padres de Sonia Alvarado le enseñaron a reparar casas, ambos carpinteros sindicalizados.

“Siempre había proyectos en curso. Sé mucho sobre construcción y oficios por mis padres”, dijo. “Se trataba en gran medida de hacer todo el trabajo, aprender a hacer cosas.”

Alvarado fue madre y adoptó a ocho niños y compartió ese conocimiento con sus hijos, y finalmente construyó un negocio familiar de remodelación de viviendas. Durante COVID, ella y su esposo se separaron y él se quedó con la compañía. Alvarado decidió diversificarse en una dirección diferente y capacitarse en el trabajo de reducción de plomo.

Detroit necesita contratistas certificados en plomo – la mayoría de los cuales trabajan para empresas privadas de construcción – e inspectores para el trabajo de reducción de plomo. En 2019, la ciudad recibió $9,7 millones en subsidios por parte del Departamento de Vivienda y Desarrollo Urbano de EE. UU., HUD por sus siglas en inglés (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development) para casas en el suroeste de Detroit, donde más del 75 % de las casas se construyeron antes de 1940. Cualquier casa construida antes de 1978, cuando el Congreso prohibió la pintura con plomo, corre el riesgo de tener pintura con plomo. Su objetivo es mitigar o reducir el plomo en 450 hogares en el código postal 48209 de Detroit, priorizando aquellos donde viven los niños, que son especialmente vulnerables a la exposición al plomo. Entre la pandemia y la escasez de contratistas, el programa ha enfrentado obstáculos.

El plomo es una potente neurotoxina que puede provocar problemas de aprendizaje, comportamiento, audición y habla. Los niños expuestos pueden tener un coeficiente intelectual reducido y problemas de atención. Una vez que se identifica que un niño tiene un nivel elevado de plomo, es imperativo identificar y reducir las fuentes de exposición del entorno del niño. No existe un nivel seguro de plomo en la sangre. Los niños de Detroit enfrentan una tasa de 1,5 veces mayor en niveles sanguíneos en comparación a los del resto de Michigan.

Alvarado es bilingüe; ella habla español e inglés. Eso, combinado con su conocimiento de la construcción, la convierte en una excelente candidata para el programa de reducción de plomo de la ciudad en 48209, donde muchas familias solo hablan español y donde viven y trabajan más de 16,000 contratistas hispanos en la ciudad de Detroit, según datos del censo.

Así que Alvarado se conectó con Bridget Espinosa, cuya firma Puente Cultural Integration había comenzado un programa de capacitación en plomo para contratistas bilingües y de habla hispana para realizar trabajos de reducción de plomo. Ella recibió la capacitación junto con cuatro de sus hijos, quienes también son bilingües.

Después de recibir la capacitación, Alvarado fue contratada por la ciudad como inspectora de edificios, enfocada en inspeccionar proyectos de eliminación de plomo. Tener antecedentes bilingües es crucial para completar proyectos en los que los propietarios hablan español, dijo, porque las barreras del idioma pueden provocar problemas de comunicación y demoras. Alvarado estaba en camino a una casa donde la confusión sobre la presencia de un perro de la familia había provocado que un proyecto se retrasara casi un año.

“Incluso las cosas pequeñas pueden marcar una gran diferencia, por lo que es absolutamente necesario contar con inspectores y contratistas bilingües”, ella comentó.

El programa de capacitación está operando con $300,000 en subsidios por parte de Erb Family Foundation y Gilbert Family Foundation durante dos años. Global Detroit, una organización sin fines de lucro de desarrollo económico local, se desempeña como agente fiscal de Puente. El Departamento de Vivienda y Revitalización de la Ciudad de Detroit (The City of Detroit Housing & Revitalization Department) apoya el proyecto y está proporcionando $50,000 adicionales en fondos reembolsables a Global Detroit. Según Espinosa, muchos de los ya certificados han encontrado trabajo con empresas de construcción o han iniciado sus propios negocios.

“Siempre estamos buscando contratistas calificados para aumentar nuestro grupo de contratistas. Los contratistas con los que trabajamos son fundamentales para nuestros programas de reparación de viviendas financiados con préstamos y subvenciones. Es importante que los contratistas con los que trabaja HRD (por sus siglas en inglés) reflejen las diversas comunidades a las que servimos, comentó Katrina Odom, gerente de proyecto del programa de Vivienda y Revitalización de la ciudad, a Planet Detroit en un comunicado. “Los contratistas que provienen de la comunidad, con diversas referencias y habilidades, aportan a que cada residente de Detroit puedan participar activamente en su experiencia como integrante del programa y establecer una relación con su contratista y sus respectivos equipos, ya sea que hablen inglés, español, árabe o cualquier otro idioma”.

Puente ofrece dos caminos hacia la certificación: una capacitación de cuatro días para convertirse en trabajador certificado en reducción de plomo y cinco días para convertirse en un supervisor en reducción de plomo, ambos se ofrece en español o inglés. También, el programa incluye otro día de certificación en RRP (Renovación, Remodelación y Pintura) por parte de la Agencia de Protección Medioambiental (EPA por sus siglas en inglés).

Hasta el momento, 42 contratistas han sido certificados a través del programa, la mayoría de los cuales de habla hispana o bilingües; ella espera entrenar a más de 100 durante los dos años. De los ya certificados, 17 han sido mujeres. Algunas de esas mujeres han lanzado negocios de limpieza comercial para dar servicio a empresas de reducción de plomo, lo que Espinosa describe como un “ganar-ganar” para todos los involucrados.

“Estas mujeres ganan sustancialmente más de lo que estarían ganando trabajando para un contratista general que no realiza trabajos de reducción de plomo. Y están brindando un gran servicio a las empresas de reducción de plomo”, dijo.

Cuando Espinosa se conectó por primera vez con la ciudad en 2019, descubrió que “no tenían ni un solo contratista certificado que hablara español, y sabían que el 75 % de las casas que iban a reparar tenían residentes latinos, ” ella dijo.

Puente, la firma de Espinosa, brinda servicios de asesoría para pequeños negocios a empresarios latinos, incluidos negocios de construcción, en la región.

“No es fácil para nuestra comunidad inmigrante simplemente inscribirse en una clase y tomarla, y en ese momento, cuando comenzamos este programa, no había clases bilingües – no existían”, dijo Espinosa. Entonces, comenzó por encontrar una empresa con un entrenador certificado bilingüe y lanzó los primeros cursos bilingües en 2020.

“Fue la primera vez en la historia del estado de Michigan que se impartía una clase en español y que teníamos supervisores inmigrantes certificados”, dijo Espinosa. “Todo se hizo en español: la clase se impartió en español, las pruebas se realizaron en español”.

A través de su trabajo, sabían que los contratistas inmigrantes requerían apoyo adicional más allá de los cursos bilingües. Entonces, Espinosa y su equipo toman medidas adicionales para ayudar con la prueba, ayudando a registrar a los miembros del grupo en el centro de pruebas estatal, ofreciendo transporte a Lansing para tomar la prueba hasta tres veces, alimentándolos, brindando asistencia técnica empresarial y ofreciendo un estipendio a cubrir el tiempo perdido del trabajo para asistir a la capacitación. El costo total de estos servicios ronda los $3,500 por participante.

Espinosa dijo que los desafíos continuos incluyen la prueba en sí, que está en español pero usa una versión no universal muy diferente al que hablan la mayoría de los participantes que vienen de diferentes regiones de México. Logró que el estado permitiera que los intérpretes tradujeran la prueba al español que entendieran los miembros del grupo.

“Y entonces estamos llenando ese vacío”, dijo. Somos ese puente bilingüe para apoyar la conectividad entre nuestra comunidad inmigrante a los recursos y oportunidades”.

El equipo de Puente actualmente está inscribiendo para sus próximos cursos bilingües que se llevarán a cabo del 7 al 11 de noviembre del 2022 y nuevamente en febrero. La fecha límite para inscribirse es el 17 de octubre. Todos los trabajadores de habla hispana en Metro Detroit son elegibles para presentar una solicitud. Se puede encontrar más información en businessalianzas.org/events o comunicándose con la Gerente General de Puente, Yazmin Payan, al 313-349-0089 o por correo electrónico a team@puenteci.com.

Publicado en asociación con Planet Detroit, un sitio de noticias local dedicado a noticias ambientales y de salud pública.

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The Tigers honored Negro League legend Ron “Schoolboy” Teasley in a special ceremony, celebrating Detroit’s rich baseball history and Teasley’s...

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The Nuevo Comienzo Class of 2025.
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Wayne State’s 2025 El Nuevo Comienzo Celebration

by EL CENTRAL
June 19, 2025
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Wayne State’s El Nuevo Comienzo celebrated Latina/o/x and Native grads with culture, community, and pride, honoring Detroit's vibrant Latino heritage.

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Community Volunteer Rhianna Morgan, wearing a bandana, assists visitors in identifying native plants. The garden includes species chosen for their ecological and medicinal value.
Community

Faith and Sustainability: A Rain Garden on Sacred Ground

by EL CENTRAL
June 19, 2025
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Grace in Action’s new rain garden in Detroit cuts stormwater costs, supports pollinators, and builds green space through the Sacred...

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What to Do When Detroit Air Is Polluted with Wildfire Smoke
Community

Balancing safety and community in Southwest Detroit: Lessons from Clark Park’s revitalization

by EL CENTRAL
June 12, 2025
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Clark Park in Southwest Detroit transformed from crime hotspot to thriving community hub—thanks to grassroots action, city support, and evolving...

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Bagley Arts Alley Celebrates Detroit’s Multicultural Roots, Opens June 28

Bagley Arts Alley Celebrates Detroit’s Multicultural Roots, Opens June 28

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