Across the country, too many people are pushed out of opportunity before they ever have a fair chance. Many Roots of Success participants have experienced under-resourced schools, poverty, unstable employment, incarceration, housing insecurity, and other barriers that make it difficult to access quality jobs.

Roots of Success was created for these learners. The program meets people where they are, honors the knowledge they already carry, and gives them the language, skills, credentials, and career direction needed to move into essential infrastructure jobs.

Our mission is to prepare youth and adults from underserved communities for high-road jobs and careers in essential infrastructure sectors, including water, waste, transportation, energy, buildings, food systems, and open space.

Through rigorous Pre-Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship programs, participants build environmental literacy, systems knowledge, technical vocabulary, industry-recognized credentials, applied problem-solving skills, and leadership skills needed to access 70 entry-level jobs and 111 career pathways.

We prepare participants to understand how essential systems work, apply what they learn to real-world challenges, and use their knowledge to improve social and environmental conditions in their communities.

Roots of Success was created by Dr. Raquel Pinderhughes, Professor of Urban Studies & Planning at San Francisco State University. Her research and teaching focus on environmental planning, workforce development, and the green economy.

Through decades of work with communities most affected by economic and environmental injustice, Dr. Pinderhughes saw a painful disconnect: the people closest to environmental and infrastructure challenges were often excluded from the education, credentials, and jobs connected to solving them.

Roots of Success was built to change that.

Since its founding in 2009, Roots of Success has grown from an environmental literacy curriculum into a national workforce development model and federally registered Pre-Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship.

Nearly 2,000 certified instructors have delivered the curriculum through hundreds of programs in the United States and abroad, including in high schools, youth programs, community-based organizations, job training and reentry programs, and carceral settings.

Almost 30,000 participants have completed Roots of Success in community and carceral settings. Participants gain environmental literacy, systems knowledge, technical vocabulary, hands-on knowledge, industry-recognized credentials, and career pathway preparation connected to jobs operating and maintaining essential infrastructure in water, waste, transportation, energy, buildings, food systems, and open space.

A Roots of Success classroom is not just a place where participants learn information. It is a place where people connect their lived experience to the systems that shape their communities: water, waste, transportation, energy, buildings, food systems, and open space.

Participants learn technical vocabulary, workplace expectations, environmental literacy, financial literacy, and career pathway planning. Just as importantly, they begin to see themselves as problem-solvers, workers, teachers, leaders, and people whose knowledge is needed.

This is where the transformation begins.

Participants build foundational knowledge in water, waste, transportation, energy, building, food systems, and open space, strengthen academic literacy, professional vocabulary, communication, problem-solving, and workplace readiness.

The curriculum helps learners understand how essential infrastructure systems work, where jobs exist, what skills employers value, and how different career pathways connect across infrastructure sectors and career clusters.

Roots of Success is more than curriculum. It is a movement grounded in dignity, environmental justice, workforce opportunity, and the belief that people who have been locked out of opportunity are in fact capable of leading change.

In classrooms across the country, participants are not only learning about infrastructure jobs. They are building identity, confidence, and purpose. Some become graduates. Some become instructors. Some become peer leaders. Some become the first person in their family to see a real pathway into living-wage work.

From uncertainty to direction

Graduates leave with a clear understanding of infrastructure jobs, workplace expectations, credentials, and the next steps they can take toward employment.

Maurice Hampton completed Roots of Success while incarcerated and taught the program at Pickaway Correctional Institution in Ohio. Through teaching, he built confidence, leadership, and a deeper understanding of the systems that keep communities running, including  water, waste, transportation, energy, building, and open space.

Since returning home, Maurice has continued to build on that foundation. He advanced from an entry-level job into the building trades, earned a college degree, and worked as a Civil Engineering Inspector at Quality Control Inspection. In 2025, he was hired as a Construction Coordinator at AQUA, a major water and wastewater utility company.

His story shows how Roots of Success helps people turn knowledge, discipline, and leadership into life long proffessional development and occupational mobility in essential infrastructure jobs.