The shutdown has come for a Richmond-based program that linked people released from jails and prisons to training for construction jobs.

“It was no joke,” said Kenneth Williams, founder and director of the nonprofit Adult Alternative Program, after he found the training center’s doors padlocked and posted with signs barring entry on April 1.

AAP has occupied since 2017 the former REAL School building at 4929 Chamberlayne Ave., which served students diagnosed as emotionally disabled.

Mr. Williams said he was advised that Richmond Public Schools closed the building in preparation for its transfer to City Hall as surplus property. RPS wanted to turn the building over free of tenants.

City officials now are waiting for RPS to deliver a quitclaim deed allowing a transfer of ownership on the court record. As described to the Free Press, the transfer process may take up to an additional month as City Council must approve an ordinance accepting the deed before it can be recorded and the building officially become city property.

Mr. Williams said he remains optimistic that the city, after it takes possession with the recording of the deed, will allow him back in.

City officials have not responded to Free Press queries about whether that will happen, and Mr. Williams said he has not received any hint that he will be allowed to resume operations after the city takes control.

He said his goal is to start new classes in the training program in May, though that might not be possible given the process for taking in an RPS building.

Mr. Williams also acknowledged that the program has not produced the $8,000 a month he estimates is needed to cover operating costs, including paying for the building’s electricity and water and staff salaries.

He said he has sought an operating grant from the city, but his program was not included on the list for funding in the 2022-23 city budget that Mayor Levar M. Stoney proposed and presented to City Council in March for review and approval. It would be up to City Council to amend the budget to include his program.

He said he would “dig into my own pocket if necessary to start the classes.”

Mr. Williams said he started the program to provide the same opportunity in construction that he found after he was released from prison about 35 years ago.

The retired 73-year-old contractor said he began AAP in 2012 when he operated Williams Appliances Plus, a used appliance store at 123-125 W. Brookland Park Blvd., along with the construction business he ran from his home. As part of the AAP program, his wife, Alfreda B. Williams, started and has run Woman2Woman, whose program is designed to motivate and support single parents and other women seeking to gain employment.

In 2017, he and his wife sold the North Side business property for $60,000, according to city records. Mr. Williams said the proceeds, along with a $22,000 grant from the Richmond Police Department, were used to pay for essential improvements to the decayed RPS building so it could be used for the training program. He also credits support from various contractors who contributed to improvements.

According to the AAP website, the program that is offered without charge to the students provides a 90-day curriculum that enables students to focus on character development, improve their decision-making skills and training in various building trades to help students prepare for jobs in the industry.

He said that classes include 10 students at a time and that 109 people have graduated since the program opened in the RPS building.