Eric Cosgrove has 30 years of construction experience and is a California Human Development (CHD) Anthony Soto Employment Training (ASET) Center Construction Program Instructor. We asked him to share what CHD has meant to him and how he found his passion for opening doors and creating opportunities for those underserved.

Eric grew up in a military family, which meant a lot of moving from place to place. Due to this constant travel and Eric had to find a way to always see different settings as home. Eric decided to look towards the people and see more of what connects us and less of what divides us. Eric realized no matter what background, location, or status, “All people are human. All people laugh and cry no matter what part of the world you come from.”

Eric started his career in electron microscopy. Although that was a challenging occupation to get into, he didn’t like it. Eric didn’t feel fulfillment and passion for the work he was doing. He then decided to pursue something different and went to school to become a network engineer and a certified computer repair technician. He found out relatively quickly this wasn’t his passion for similar reasons.

Finally, an opportunity came for him to discover and chase his passion, building. He finally began his construction career and found the fulfillment he’d been longing for. He spent 20 plus years doing this work. Unfortunately, he got to an age where his body couldn’t keep up with the work’s physicality. And as if it was fate, he looked around and saw an ad for California Human Development.

He had the vision to come to CHD and implement a pre-apprenticeship plan for the union construction course. He would be the perfect instructor for this course and became a CHD instructor for this exact purpose.

For Eric, the student’s journey fuels his commitment to instruction. Eric said, “It’s exciting for me to see the student starting out, come into the system, go and get the education, and see them cross the bridge to a union and a union employer. Regardless of where these students come from, I love them like my own family.”

We are proud to have Eric here in the CHD family. His story is just one of the many stories we have that demonstrate our commitment to opening doors and creating opportunities for people here at California Human Development.