Our Mission and Vision
Our Mission is to work with young men and women between the ages of 16-35 to help them develop the skill of Carpentry. We believe other soft skills can be taught through this field as well. The shortage of carpenters throughout the job market has increased yet the demand for skilled, job ready, men and women has soared.
We envision preparing as many young men and women as we can, to become skilled in the field of carpentry, also to develop other work ready skills to be successful and productive in whatever field they finally settle into.
Meet the Executive Director
Darryll started his career in carpentry in 1992, after spending a year in vocational training at the Bullard Havens Vocational School in the state of CT. He then went on to work with residential companies in the Fairfield County area. Harmon moved to the Commercial side of the trade where he found great success as well as an increase in pay. He has worked on universities, supermarkets, housing complexes, major department stores, all types of schools and various other projects.
Harmon admits that learning the trade wasn’t easy, he often wanted to quit. With the encouragement of his grandfather, he kept his hand on the plow and stayed with it. He remembers a conversation when his grandfather told him “Just stay with it and find someone to take you under their wing and teach you the trade”. That finally happened when Harmon met Guy Murray, an experienced carpenter with years of experience in many different aspects of the trade. Harmon and Murray worked together on many projects from CT to NY. There came a time when Murray told Harmon “What I’m teaching you will give you the ability to feed your family wherever you go for the rest of your life”, Murray went on to say, “just make sure you reach back and teach others one day”.
That message stayed with Harmon, he moved to Charlotte, NC in 2018 and started his own construction company, UpTop Interiors. As Harmon started to expand his company in Charlotte it became evident to him that the skill level was not the same as he was accustomed to, and he struggled to expand because of it. It was then he decided to do what Murray had told him, Reach Back and teach others. Harmon credits the carpentry trade for his personal and business success and wants to give those same teachings to young men and woman so that they can succeed in life wherever they go. With almost 30 years in the business Harmon teaches not only how to learn the trade of carpentry but, more important to him is the ethics, integrity, and confidence that come with the trade no matter what your skill level is. Harmon believes that everyone can be taught the trade, they must want to learn, and need to know what they don’t know and seek proper instruction with the right attitude.
Darryll D. Harmon
Executive Director