In celebration of National Safety Month, we are proud to spotlight Ontario, a CEO participant who saw a critical gap in job site protection and decided to build the solution.
Ontario still remembers the moment something didn’t sit right.
He was taking an OSHA safety training course earlier this year for the Union Pre-apprenticeship Program offered through a partnership with the Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO) in Buffalo.
Ontario was scanning through the standard personal protective equipment (PPE) required on construction sites – hard hats, gloves, and harnesses. Everything had a purpose. Everything had a design.
But one group was missing.
“There was PPE for just about every risk you could think of,” Ontario says. “But nothing for pregnant women working construction.”
The realization stayed with him, especially because it wasn’t abstract. A friend of his who was a mother-to-be had been injured on a job site and lost her baby. “That stuck with me,” says Ontario. “It made me start asking why something like that isn’t already out there.”
At 40, Ontario is hyper-focused on his future employment. After serving four years in prison, he returned nine months ago to his hometown of Buffalo, New York, moving into his own apartment and searching for a way forward in a job market that can be especially unforgiving for those who are justice-impacted.
According to the Prison Policy Initiative, formerly incarcerated people face an unemployment rate of more than 27%, a stark reminder of how difficult reentry can be.
Ontario found his footing in January 2026, when he joined the Center for Employment Opportunities, a nonprofit focused on helping people transition from incarceration to stable employment. He started on a transitional work crew, spending a month helping the Buffalo Department of Transportation clean and beautify roadways.
“It gave me structure right away,” Ontario says. “You’re working, you’re showing up every day – it gets your mindset right.”
At the suggestion of his job coach, Ontario enrolled in the Union Pre-Apprenticeship Program, an 8-week on-the-job construction trades training program that introduced him to trades such as carpentry, solar installation, and hazardous materials handling, as well as OSHA safety certification. The program became a turning point – not just for employment, but for inspiration.
Ontario explains that CEO gave him the spirit to want more from himself by supporting and mentoring him. “You have to have a direction, and then CEO can help by showing you different paths you can take.”
CEO’s model goes beyond job placement. Participants receive practical support such as clothing, bus vouchers, van transportation, food assistance, and access to mental health services – resources that help remove the everyday barriers people face from the moment they are released.
While Ontario was building skills, he was also building an idea. The gap he noticed in PPE led him to launch a company focused on designing protective equipment specifically for pregnant workers in construction and other labor-intensive industries. Within months, he had formed an LLC, secured a trademark, developed prototype designs, and filed for a patent.
The need he identified reflects a broader issue. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported that physically demanding work – especially involving heavy lifting, prolonged standing, or hazardous exposure – can increase the risk of injury and pregnancy complications. Yet there is no PPE equipment designed with those risks in mind.
Ontario didn’t wait for the industry to catch up.
At the same time, his own career continued to gain momentum. Ontario was hired by the carpenter’s union Local 276 as a provisional journeyman. After 60 days, he is expected to reach full journeyman status. His daily responsibilities now include masonry, electrical work, carpentry, and roofing.
“I spent my childhood in foster care and was locked up as an adult,” Ontario says. “Now I'm in college and have a great job. I own my own company. Life is good.”
Nine months after returning home, Ontario is no longer just navigating reentry – he’s shaping what comes next.
“If I hadn’t gone to CEO, who knows what would have happened. But I still had to put in the work…you have to want it more than anything,” says Ontario. “Stick with the program – it’s truly life changing.”
