Bryant Hill is in the business of spreading hope.

That’s not the written mission statement of Bryant’s organization, but it is what it amounts to.

Hill is executive director of Building Job Skills for Americans with Disabilities (BJS). Located one story above his business, Hill Janitorial in Gardendale, BJS is a place where students from Jefferson County schools and Birmingham city schools come every week to attend classes taught by Hill and others.

Some of the students who come through BJS have had brushes with the law, severe family situations or other extreme circumstances. But for Hill, the past is no excuse for not doing your best in the present and in the future.

“It’s not where you’ve been, it’s where you go,” Hill told a group of a dozen students last week before they boarded a bus to go back to their school in Birmingham.

BJS is celebrating a year in existence. Fifteen students completed BJS training last summer. Hill said 70 students are already enrolled for this year.

So far, 12 BJS students have received their Alabama occupational diploma, and one student recently sent Hill an invitation to his college graduation.

The overall purpose of BJS is to teach students job skills that will help them learn to work and be productive rather than live their entire lives with assistance from the government and from charities.

“It’s about giving them an option to go from dependency to independency,” Hill said. “We want them to be contributing members of society.”

In order to enter the program, students must be working toward an Alabama occupational diploma or certificate of completion from high school.

There is also a program for adults.

Bryant considers his work a ministry. He started the organization last year, but he said the dream had been with him for many years.

“God called me to this,” he said. “I was just searching my life for purpose. I was happy with my business, but not happy with what we were giving back.”

Students do not pay to go through the BJS program. Funds for the program come from sponsors and donations.

While some funds trickle in, Bryant said BJS needs more help, in several different ways.

“I need the Gardendale community to step up,” Bryant said. “We’re asking them to come by and give a solution to the problem.”

One way to help is to serve as a guest speaker to a group of students to encourage them and offer advice and information about job skills.

Another way is to serve as a mentor.

“They need more mentors,” Hill said of the students who come through his doors. “It means so much to me that these kids are so teachable.”

BJS also has more tangible needs, in the form of financial support.

One specific need is a television and VCR so students who do not read well can watch the material from videos. BJS uses a curriculum called Career Cruising.

“The task is large. It is going to take a village,” Hill said. “We just want to give hope.”

To learn more about BJS, visit bjsinc.org or call Hill at (205) 631-4102.