Darnell Epps is the founder and CEO of Thurgood Industries, a workforce development platform committed to advancing economic opportunity in underserved communities. Inspired by the legacies of Thurgood Marshall and Martin Luther King Jr., Epps approaches workforce development as a modern civil rights issue — one rooted in dignity, empowerment and generational change.
He sat down with Ryan Workcuff, a construction manager at Burns & McDonnell, to discuss how digital platforms, mentorship and inclusive partnerships are helping bridge the skilled labor gap and expand economic justice across the country.
Ryan Workcuff: Darnell, thank you for joining me today to talk about workforce development and the impact of mentorship. Workforce development is more than just job creation. It's about empowerment, dignity and systematic change. How did the legacies of Thurgood Marshall and Martin Luther King Jr. influence your approach to workforce development initiatives?
Darnell Epps: Workforce development, I view it as a civil rights issue. Martin Luther King Jr., in his final days, was protesting on behalf of sanitation workers. Thurgood Marshall, you know, my company is actually named after him. Thurgood was my — is my idol. He was a legal engineer who spearheaded the arguments in Brown v. Board of Education to overturn Plessy v. Ferguson. No one was a stronger advocate for the right to industrial self-determination than Thurgood Marshall. He was a champion of extending opportunity to everyone. And you know, so, I approach workforce development in my work as one of the civil rights. I view it as a civil rights issue.
In a city where, you know, you have the number one law school still economically stratified, right, you have a 26% poverty rate in the median household income of $42,000. So, in many of the communities where you have these higher unemployment rates, you know, it's been like that for decades. Generational poverty really exists. And you know, I’ve seen it firsthand growing up in public housing in New York City.
We have to work hard to make sure the skills training, the information, the opportunities are made available to people in communities where the hunger for economic opportunity is greatest. If we can do that, we can, you know, break down some of the systemic barriers that we see that, you know, keep these communities entrenched in poverty in many cases, right?
RW: How does your work connect economic justice with solving the skilled labor shortage?
DE: Our work to get that information to those segments of the population is, you know, an economic justice issue. Whether it's in Appalachia in East Paintsville, Kentucky, or it's in East New York, Brooklyn, or Fair Haven in Connecticut, our goal is to make sure that people in these communities that suffer from high rates of unemployment do have the information. They're aware of the job opportunities and the training opportunities to help get them out of poverty. That's an economic justice issue, and we're doing that through a digital platform. And even if you think about the schools that we partner with — I mean, many of the students that we work with are people of color or students who are on the lower end of the socioeconomic ladder. You know, we want to give them tools to help find apprenticeships, to find internships, to land that dream job and to have better bargaining power.
RW: Thank you so much for your time today and joining us to answer some questions and just highlight the awareness of connection in diverse partnerships.
DE: Thanks, Ryan, it's really an honor to be here at Burns & McDonnell, and hope to explore synergies in the future.
This post is part of Together By Design, a quarterly business diversity newsletter published by Burns & McDonnell to advance a community of inclusion. This newsletter features stories of great opportunity, leaders who bring out the best in others, innovative approaches, and diverse perspectives that shape the business community and the world at large.
