ROSELAND — Plenty of job-training programs and trade-focused schools have found a home in Chicago, but a new proposal may be one of the most unique: a maritime school.
Local nonprofit Prologue Inc., which owns a marina at 13421 S. Vernon Ave. and already runs programs for students and young adults, plans to create a school on the Far South Side on the marina property that would offer job training for those interested in working in the maritime industry.
There are maritime academies in Texas, Ohio and Pennsylvania, but unlike those schools, Chicago's wouldn't be military-focused.
Prologue's proposed school, to be named William Tillman Maritime Academy after a free black man who rescued a merchant ship that was declared property of the Confederacy during the Civil War, will serve teens and young adults ages 17-21.
The school was slated to open last fall, but the project got held up because of "funding and politics" said Jerry Thomas, a spokesman for Prologue, adding that the new goal is to have it up and running by 2016.
Prologue CEO Nancy Jackson said she won't let the lack of a building stop her and her team from helping the 25 students who already have shown interest in the new program. She said she will either buy a building in the area or build a brand new school.
Gene Robinson, 18, lives in Altgeld Gardens, a public housing development on the Far South Side. He and his older brother have been working with their instructor Joe Gant Jr. through Prologue's marina program.
Gant has been teaching them how to gut out boats, and they're currently working on five old boats at the marina, he said.
"It has been a fun and educational experience," Robinson said. "I’ve learned a lot of stuff, and overall it has been a great experience. It has been like the best summer I’ve ever had."
Before the program, Robinson admitted he didn't know much at all about the maritime industry, but he said he can now see how beneficial these skills can be for his future — and he now aspires to a career in the industry.
Instructor Gant, 48, said he was given a second chance in life by the maritime industry after being incarcerated for more than 20 years, and he hopes to steer students away from the path he chose.
They're learning more than how to repair boats, he said. They're gaining life lessons about discipline and persistence.
Prologue intends to offer CPS courses along with a comprehensive maritime industry curriculum at the proposed Tillman school. Students will learn maritime skills and become exposed to maritime science and technology, along with maritime career paths.
“Our community needs jobs, jobs and more jobs,” Jackson said. “We must provide the undereducated, underserved and the unemployed with the tools to provide for their families and to help them become productive citizens. The maritime industry is an untapped arena."
The nonprofit will share its plans and vision at the first Freedom Fest on Saturday at the Miracle Marina on the Little Calumet River, 13421 S. Vernon Ave., the proposed site of the school, which touches the Roseland and Riverdale communities. The free event, which is set to run from noon to 6 p.m. will have food, activities and prizes. Community leaders and elected officials have been invited.
Jackson said that she wants to help break the cycle of hopelessness that many on the Far South Side feel because they're unemployed.
"The [maritime] industry is forecasting many jobs with good wages over the next few decades," Jackson said. "Many of the jobs do not require a college degree."
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