By Kenneth Pojoy
PVJOBS, a South Los Angeles-based nonprofit that provides construction job training and employment opportunities to the local at-risk community, has placed a group of its workers to help build SoFi Stadium in Inglewood. These workers not only received invaluable construction experience and on-the-job training by working at the SoFi Stadium development project, but also an opportunity to enjoy an extraordinary assignment.
This month, Inglewood Today shares how their careers and personal lives have been forever impacted by PVJOBS and working at the SoFi Stadium development project. In Inglewood Today’s three-part series highlighting a few of these workers, here’s our first story of Inglewood native Kenneth Pojoy.
Born and bred in Inglewood, carpenter Kenneth Pojoy felt a strong sense of pride having worked at the SoFi Stadium development project. “It felt good to do something for my community,” said Pojoy, who worked on the stadium’s intricate roofing during its construction. “It was my way of giving back to the community.”
Pojoy feels indebted to his community, given that so many others have invested in his life to help him succeed as a construction worker. Pojoy shared that he often got into trouble during his youth, eventually leading to his incarnation. By the time he was released, he was a young father who needed to get a job to support his two boys. Struggling to find work, particularly due to his incarceration record, his job search nearly seemed hopeless until his sister Arlin told him about PVJOBS. He soon applied to the job program, enrolling in their construction training course that led to his eventual union membership. PVJOBS then placed him on a number of construction projects over the next decade.
After working for Kiewit Corporation on a downtown L.A. development project, a foreman acknowledged Pojoy’s hard work and recommended that he join them on their next construction project at SoFi Stadium. Pojoy jumped at the opportunity. “I’m amazed at the final project,” said Pojoy. “Now when I go to the stadium, I can feel the energy. I can point to so many things that I worked on.”
Pojoy’s enriching construction experience has inspired him to continue his education to further his carpentry career. While he attended Inglewood’s Morningside High School as a teen, he never graduated. So he plans to return to school to earn his GED. He says that the diploma will support his endeavor of one day becoming a project manager.
