Who We Are

The story of how Ōnin became involved in workforce development finds its beginnings at Central High School, located in Tuscaloosa, AL. The principal of Central High, Dr. Sutton was faced with a serious dilemma on his hands. He was seeing his graduating seniors who weren’t going to college falling through the cracks of society without any work or purpose. This reality troubled Dr. Sutton deeply to the point where he began knocking on employer’s doors to see if they would hire some of his graduating seniors, who weren’t going to college. Soon, the word about Dr. Sutton’s actions and his passion for his students began to spread across the west Alabama region. After learning about the needs facing Central High School and meeting with Dr. Sutton personally, Ōnin immediately adopted his high school as our own. In order to solve this unemployment barrier facing graduating seniors at Central High, Onin brought school educators and employers together to tackle this issue. This employer charge was led by Russel Dubose from Phifer Inc., who formed key employer networks and in partnership with the West Alabama Works! network. The program designed during that meeting has since become a catalyst of change throughout the entire state of Alabama.