Roughly Speaking: Mike on Jobs, TV, & Baltimore

Mike Rowe back in Baltimore to help expand a program that trains ex-felons in construction skills

After the fires and vandalism of April, the president and CEO of Associated Builders and Contractors of Baltimore decided that the ABC’s annual gala needed to be something other than another big, formal dinner. “We need to do more,” declared Mike Henderson.

So the winter gala became the first-ever fundraiser for a 10-year-old program that trains people from Baltimore, many of them ex-offenders, in the building trades.

It’s called JumpStart, and it’s a project of the ABC and the Job Opportunities Task Force. Mike Rowe, the Baltimore-born host of the Discovery Channel’s Dirty Jobs and now CNN’s Somebody’s Gotta Do It, is the keynote speaker for this Saturday’s sold-out event at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront. You can hear my interview with Mike Rowe on Episode 42 of the Roughly Speaking podcast.

Read the complete article and listen to the podcast on the Baltimore Sun website.

Dan Rodricks: Commentary and conversation on life in Baltimore, Maryland and the USA