POLK COUNTY, Fla. — The Polk County nonprofit Mills Building and Training Association is teaching young adults who are aging out of the foster care system a trade so they can take care of themselves.

Charles Mills, a foster parent himself, said he started teaching foster kids and foster kids who aged out of the system the construction trade in 2017. He has since added on auto paint and body training to his program.

"Most of the kids that we get, they're not eligible to go to college because they dropped out of high school because they were traumatized from being pulled from their parents,” Mills said.

Growing up with learning disabilities, he said the construction trade saved his life.

"My dad taught me construction and it seemed I caught on to that. By the time I was 26, I already had a construction company running it,” said Mills.

Being a foster parent inspired him to convert his business into a nonprofit so he could train foster children.

His program accepts foster children between the ages 15-25. They get paid $9 an hour. Mills lines up home construction jobs for them to work on and learn from. 

"If you teach them a trade, now they can go out and support themselves. They're not out robbing people’s cars, stealing their cars, breaking into their houses,” Mills said.

At least 15 foster kids have been a part of his program. Oshanae Everett is one of them.

She's 17 and a mother of two. She entered foster care when she was seven.

She stopped going to school this year figuring it would be faster to get her GED. She's hoping this training will lead to a better paying job, so she can afford to get her own place.

"Stuff ain’t cheap, so yeah, that's kind of hard, I'd say. Like, with paying for everything, you know rent, electricity, it all adds up," said Everett.

Mills said Everett is like many foster kids. Once they turn 18, if they don't go to college or trade school, they're on their own.

“They don’t give you a stipend. They don’t get a place to live. They don’t get any of that,” Mills said.

Mills said his nonprofit charges the same as any other company for home repairs. The difference is the labor is tax-deductible.

He said his nonprofit also uses donations to help it pay for workers’ compensation insurance.