This morning, Bowling Green has 22 new painters, thanks to Sherwin-Williams.

For the past two weeks, 22 people have trained at the Housing Authority of Bowling Green: three days of classroom instruction; six days of painting halls, offices, and door and window frames at the housing authority; and a graduation breakfast this morning at the authority’s Garvin House. It’s not nearly as intensive as the 16-week professional apprentice training, but the participants will emerge with solid basic skills, ready to work as entry-level painters, said instructor Bill Allman.

During the training, the students got about $400 worth of brushes, rollers, paint pans and other supplies in a Sherwin-Williams tote bag, said Allman, who retired from the paint company after 35 years.

“It’s all pro-grade,” he said. “Basically, they have enough stuff to go out and paint somebody’s house on Monday.”

The free training and supplies are a boon to Dwight J. Lightfoot, who lives outside Oakland. He showed his loyalty by wearing a Sherwin-Williams hat and shirt as he painted window frames in housing authority Executive Director Abraham Williams’ office on Tuesday.

Lightfoot said he’s been painting on his own for a year and a half, but he didn’t know enough to do it professionally. The Sherwin-Williams Home Work program has taught him enough to – he hopes – get a painting job.

Mayor Elaine Walker had several local painting contractors lined up to interview program participants Thursday and Lightfoot said he was looking forward to a chance at getting paid for his new skills.

“I’ve been on unemployment for almost 14 months. It’s tiresome,” he said. “There ain’t nothing better than having a job.”

Walker said this morning that few contractors came to interview the newly trained painters. They’ve all got less work due to the recession, so the training hasn’t resulted in any new jobs yet, she said.

Carrie Barnette, housing authority special projects director, said that with the influx of federal economic stimulus money, the housing authority hopes to hire some local firms for renovation or construction projects – thus giving them incentive to hire some of the Sherwin-Williams program’s graduates.

Even so, Lightfoot said he’s grateful to the housing authority, instructors and local taxpayers for providing a venue for the training. Even if he doesn’t get a painting job immediately, he can still use the new skill for himself, and save money, he said.

“I’d recommend this program to anybody,” Lightfoot said.

Sherwin-Williams has sponsored the program since 2003 and usually works with housing authorities because they tend to have good job placement services, Allman said. Since then, the Sherwin-Williams Home Work program has trained several hundred people in major cities including San Francisco, Cleveland and Washington, D.C.

Close to 70 percent of trainees wind up with jobs as a result, said Tanya Vlahovic, special projects intern at the housing authority.

She and Barnette credited Walker with working for two years to secure the $90,000 grant program through the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

Half of that money went for this class, but there’s a second session in September, Barnette said. A few people who couldn’t fit into this group are already registered for that, but there are still spaces available, she said.

There wasn’t much space available Tuesday in one small housing authority office, where housing authority residents Alletta Miller and her son, Antonio, 20, worked together on the walls.

Alletta Miller said the class has really helped; she’d done some amateur painting before, but didn’t know how to prime walls beforehand, or choose the right paint.

“I’ve always liked to paint, and I just wanted to learn how to do it the proper way,” she said.

Now she too is hoping for a painting job. During the current recession, she’ll take what job she can get but can see herself painting as a professional career, said Miller, who was laid off in December.

“It’s a nice program. If anybody has the opportunity to sign up, I recommend that they do so,” she said.

Antonio Miller said even if he can’t find a painting job, he’ll never have to call a house painter. But he may not ask for his mom’s help, after working next to her for several days.

“I’ve got to do it right, or she’ll keep getting on me,” Antonio Miller said. “It’s kind of nerve-wracking.”

Even those who have jobs, such as Don Duvall, who does maintenance for the housing authority, said they welcomed the new skill.

“I recently got married and I’m going to buy a house, so I know I’m going to have to paint,” Duvall said as he painted a bathroom door. “You can’t know enough skills in today’s economy.”

— For information on the September training session, contact the Housing Authority of Bowling Green at 843-6071.