Crossover Development Company

Revitalizing our community through economic and housing development.

Did you know that only 3.9% of construction workers in the City of Tulsa are African-American? What about the fact that the percentage of carpenters is even less at 3.5% even though 14.9% of the City of Tulsa’s population is African American?* Over the years I’ve had a hunch that African American men were not successfully getting construction jobs. I often wonder, “Why is this a problem?” especially since construction jobs are good paying jobs that help men provide for their families.  by Justin Pickard

four carpenters, as well as great electrical, plumbing and HVAC subcontractors benefit from this development work! Moreover, in addition to on-the-job training, CDC is utilizing the NCCER carpentry educational curriculum to train CDC’s construction employees. NCCER carpentry certification is a nationally recognized certification that employees can take with them to obtain a livable wage wherever they might be in the future. 

I know this personally since all six of my Dad’s brothers worked in construction related fields. Actually, anyone who knew my Dad, knew that although he was an attorney, he was really a construction worker at heart. My Grandfather was a construction superintendent, so my Dad grew up working on his jobs. I’ve often joked that my brothers and I wished he would take up golf instead of constantly tackling construction jobs at home! My friends in high school would say, “Justin, what’s the matter, you can’t come on Saturday? Are you sheet rocking again?” and start laughing at me. But this points to another advantage of construction jobs – you learn skills and confidence to help you build equity in your own properties. My wife, Leah, and I bought and remodeled our first house while I was in undergrad at TU,

and we have remodeled two other houses and a commercial building since.

When you fast forward to the way Crossover Development Company (CDC) has been tackling the need for quality housing in north Tulsa by both remodeling and building new construction homes, you begin to see what an opportunity construction jobs, specifically carpentry jobs can be in our community. If we spend $60,000 remodeling a house, $40,000 of that goes to labor, and we do our best to see those dollars create jobs for men in north Tulsa. Charles Wilkes, CDC’s Operations Manager, and I are happy to see our current crew of

Dr. John Perkins and Dr. Wayne Gordon write, “Many charity programs, though well-intended, strip people of their dignity by doing for them instead of empowering them to do for themselves.” The unemployment rate in our neighborhood is 16.9% (several times higher than the rest of Tulsa). If men and women have jobs with livable wages, then they don’t need continued charity. Please pray and support us in our efforts to address this need in our community. We long to see our construction job training program grow and expand to include additional crews as the size and number of our development projects grow. Lord willing, many families will be blessed by construction just like mine has been.

Justin Pickard has been married to his wife, Leah, for 17 years, and they have 4 children. They were both greatly impacted by short-term missions trips to inner city St. Louis and the philosophy of Christian Community Development and its thought leaders. God used those trips to prepare them for the work He had called them to in north Tulsa, called Crossover Community Impact. They have shepherds’ hearts that always means both their home and their hearts are full.

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