EVERETT — At 13, failure came easy and often for Jared Kalinski.
A teacher told him, “If you’re struggling in school now, it’s only going to get harder,” recalled Kalinski, still heart-broken at 40.
With his parents’ help, he graduated from Green River College’s high school completion program.
Trade school flipped the script for Kalinski. He had perfect attendance and made the Dean’s list. It eventually led him to a job at Boeing.
Last fall, Kalinski and his friend Luke Emerson started a nonprofit to help high schoolers from low-income families access the trades.
‘Expanding those possibilities’
Nestled in the Delta Community Baptist Church parking lot, the Delta Garage is located in a 40-by-8-foot white shipping container.
Emerson and Kalinski welcomed high schoolers there every Sunday afternoon during the school year to work on motorcycles.
One of the project bikes from Delta Garage’s first year, a Honda CL175, is parked out front of the Delta Garage workspace on July 5 in Everett.
The pair teach a lot through motorcycles. Staying with projects through the lulls. Organization. Workplace safety.
“Not everything about building motorcycles is sexy or exciting,” Kalinski said. “Like cleaning the grime off parts and sticking with it. That’s challenging enough for myself. When you get into the lulls of working on a project.”
His approach? Honesty and treating the kids like adults. He tells them, “This is important and it has to be done.”
Every Sunday, Kalinski and Emerson exposed the students to the skills and language of mechanical trades.
They can now tell a future employer they have experience in a shop doing “all that kind of stuff that employers want to hear.”
Emerson, a recovery court coordinator for Snohomish County Superior Court and a pastor, said it’s his religious duty to help community.
At the court, he works with adults with substance use disorders who face jail time.
Crew Chief Jared Kalinski walks a Honda CL175 project bike over to the work area at Delta Garage on July 5 in Everett. The program has received around ten bikes as donations in just a year’s time. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
But he felt prevention might be easier than restoration.
So he decided to go upstream.
“What I’ve realized is that blue, red, it doesn’t matter,” Emerson said. “The problems that communities face, you cannot legislate away, you cannot throw money at it. Eventually it’s people doing things.”
To break the cycle of poverty, youth have to graduate from high school and then find a full-time job, Emerson said.
“It’s about expanding those possibilities,” he said. “By exposing them to this broader ranger of worthwhile careers, there hopefully is a bit more motivation to finish high school or investigate programs at Everett Community College.”
‘Open and accepted’
An after-school program for low-income children in upstate New York inspired the pair to start Delta Garage.
Emerson and Kalinski said that to getting its engine running has been an exercise in controlled chaos.
The city first said shipping containers were not allowed in residential neighborhoods. Kalinski and Emerson put wood panels on the container’s doors so the city would approve.
Insuring youth to work on motorcycles was another battle. A local broker found a willing company. Still, the liability insurance is about half of the $15,000 annual cost to run the program.
Delta Garage co-founder and chaplain Luke Emerson speaks about the program during an Engage Everett event at Delta Garage on July 10 in Everett. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Then recruitment proved much more difficult than expected. Eventually, four high schoolers attended Delta Garage every week.
Emerson said they weren’t necessarily at risk of not graduating but still benefitted from the program.
“I wanted deviance but we got a different kind of outsider,” Emerson said. “We somehow, not on purpose, created a space where people often on the fringe felt really comfortable, open and accepted and I love that.”
Emerson noted the garage is hosted by the church but is not a ministry of the church.
Participants don’t need to be Christian.
‘You can work with anybody’
Ellieanna Cavazos, an 18-year-old rising senior at Everett High School, said she learned a lot from the program about welcoming youth with disabilities.
Cavazos said the inclusivity has made her a better communicator and collaborator.
“We have a kid that’s on the spectrum that works with us,” she said. “I had never worked with somebody that was on the spectrum. And a cool thing that I discovered, you can work with anybody.”
It’s a different dynamic from school, where Cavazos said students with disabilities are not offered the same opportunities.
She now feels confident doing basic maintenance and oil changes on her own motorcycles.
The program has also brought Cavazos closer to her grandparents who also ride.
Next year, she is excited to become more of a mentor at the garage. She is hoping her newly-adopted Husky and German Shepherd puppy, Chloe, can be a shop dog.
Emerson and Kalinski are also dreaming bigger for next year.
Jared Kalinski wears his Delta Garage vest during an interview at Delta Garage on Friday, July 5, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
They want to create stronger ties with industry partners to expose participants to a wide variety of trades.
The pair is aiming to leverage relationships with the Everett Housing Authority, Sequoia High School and others to identify youth who may benefit the most.
Still the container is small, especially in the winter when they have to close the doors because of the rain.
To really expand, the program needs more and bigger spaces.
Emerson dreams of a future with multiple youth garages, maybe on the Tulalip Reservation or at the local Boys and Girls Club.
More broadly, he hopes to inspire others to ask themselves: “Who am I? What do I have influence or authority over to impact? What can I do to contribute?”
Correction: A previous version of this story misspelled Ellieanna Cavazos’ name.
Aina de Lapparent Alvarez: 425-339-3449; aina.alvarez@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @Ainadla.
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