The Desks
The paper between a man and the thing he needs
Four desks. Each one is a list, a phone number, a ride, and a folder that stays his. None of them is a service — the service is somewhere else, and the desk is how he gets to it.
Work is the first desk and the one that is complete. Health, family, and legal open in the house the day the house manager can make its phone calls. Until then, the numbers are yours to use. Everything on this page runs on your phone and nothing you tap leaves it.
Featured publication
The Other Walls
Sho-Don Lamont Gilliam and Better Men of Virginia · First edition, September 2026
A workbook for men coming home from incarceration or working through recovery. It covers the unwritten rules a man carries from one place to the next, the small commitments he can keep this week, and a plan for what comes next.
- CostFree
- FormatsWeb, fillable PDF, and print
- PrivacyNo registration. Nothing written in it is collected.
Pick a desk
The Work Desk
Where do you stand?
Tap what you already have. The desk tells you what to do first and which desk handles it.
Saved on this phone only. Clear your browser data and it is gone — which is the point.
Which trade
Pick one and see the whole road
What the work is, where to train near Petersburg, who pays for the class, what the day-one kit costs, how long until a check, and the catch nobody mentions.
Prices and dates change. Ask each school for its newest catalog before you pay or sign. The full starter kit list, by trade (PDF).
Who pays for the class
Most of this money follows the student
You apply for it yourself. Each door has a rule attached, and the rule is the cost. Open the one that fits.
FastForward — short courses, you pay a third
Virginia community colleges' program for short courses that end in a credential. You pay a third when you sign up. The state pays a third when you finish, and the last third when you earn the credential. If you do not finish, you owe the second third. You must have lived in Virginia for the last twelve months.
The workforce center — federal training money
Virginia Career Works – Crater Region can pay tuition for approved programs under federal job-training rules, and registered apprenticeships qualify. Ask what to bring.
G3 at Brightpoint — longer certificates
Pays what financial aid does not cover, plus a book stipend, for certificates such as Electricity and HVAC. Needs a FAFSA, six credit hours, a diploma or GED, and income under the limit.
Workforce Pell — since July 2026
Pell Grants now cover some short programs of eight to fifteen weeks at accredited colleges. Ask Brightpoint which of its programs qualify.
mikeroweWORKS Work Ethic Scholarship
$500 to $34,000, paid to you. U.S. citizen, a diploma, an accredited program two years or shorter. The essay has to be yours.
An apprenticeship pays you
An apprentice earns a wage while he trains. The Richmond Electricians' JATC runs one.
Three doors to a paycheck
1
A registered apprenticeship
Paid from the first week. School one night a week. Four years to the card in electrical; shorter in some trades.
2
A fair-chance employer
Companies that hire men with records on purpose. Virginia Has Jobs keeps the list and the hiring events.
virginiahasjobs.com/fairchance3
An employer-run academy
The company trains you and hires you at the end. Ask the workforce center which plants and contractors are running one this season.
The background question — written your way
Short, true, and finished. Where you were, what you did with the time, what you are doing now. Practiced until it comes out the same every time. The desk helps you write it and hears it back until it holds.
The first ninety days — when a job is easiest to lose
- Be there fifteen minutes early, every day, for ninety days. Nothing else you do matters as much.
- Call before the shift if you cannot make it. The call is what counts.
- Ask one question a day. Write the answer down.
- Do not lend, borrow, or argue on site.
- Keep the first three pay stubs. They are the paper for everything that comes next.
The true costs, in one place
- Early mornings. Many sites start at 6:00 or 7:00.
- Drug tests. Several programs and employers test, some for marijuana.
- Time. About four years to a journeyman electrician's card.
- A first check that may be smaller than money you have seen before. It grows, and it is steady.
- Travel. Some jobs and academies are out of town, and supervision rules come first.
- Finishing. FastForward charges you if you quit partway.
This is a slow road, and it holds weight. A man who can wait does well in the trades.
Free, works on a phone, yours to write in. Or email for it. If you have tools or gear to give a man starting out, text the same number. Answered within one business day.
The Health Desk
A card in his wallet and a ride to the door
Most men coming home have no insurance and are eligible for it. Three steps, in order. The desk makes the calls with you and drives.
1
The card
Medicaid, applied for by phone in the first week. Have your Social Security number, date of birth, an address, and what you earn — for a man just home, usually nothing yet, and that is an answer.
Cover Virginia 1-855-242-8282Weekdays 8 to 7
2
A doctor
One primary-care office, chosen in the first month, with the number in your folder. The first visit gets your prescriptions straight and your blood pressure read.
The desk keeps a list of offices taking new Medicaid patients.
3
The walk-in door
Greater Reach Community Services Board, same-day assessment, no appointment. Petersburg: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 8:30 to 1:00, 3335 South Crater Road. Plan on two hours.
804-862-8008What to bring to the walk-in door
Medication for opioid or alcohol use
A man on it stays on it. The house does not interfere with a prescription, and the desk keeps the prescriber's number where he can find it.
What it is not. BMV is not a clinical provider and holds no clinical license. It does not assess, treat, counsel, or prescribe. It helps a man get to care; it does not provide it. Nobody at BMV decides whether a man walks through that door. He does.
The Family Desk
The order, read line by line
A child-support order is the debt that follows a man longest, and the one most men have never actually read. Find out the number, ask for the review, go to the courthouse with the folder.
1
Find out the number
Give your case number or Social Security number and get the balance and the monthly amount. Write both down.
Child Support 1-800-468-8894Weekdays 7 to 6
2
Ask for a review
An order can be reviewed when your circumstances have changed — a release, a lost job, a new one at lower pay. The request is yours to make, in writing. Write it below.
3
The courthouse
If a hearing is set, go with the folder and a ride. If you need a lawyer, the Legal Desk has the number.
Write the review request
Fill in what you know. The letter builds itself below; copy it, sign it, and send or hand it in. Nothing you type is saved or sent anywhere by this page.
Being a father from here
Visitation that exists on paper or does not; the school that has never met him; the first phone call. The program's kitchen-table door is for exactly this, and the desk points a man to it.
What it is not. BMV never holds a man's money, never acts as payee, and never speaks to the other parent on his behalf. It reads the order with him and drives him to the office that can change it.
The Legal Desk
His license, his fines, his record
Three pieces of paper stand between most men and the first job on the Work Desk list. Find out what each one says, then get to the office that can change it — documents in one folder, and a ride.
1
The license
DMV will tell you exactly what you owe and what you must do — the compliance summary. Ask at any customer service center or call. Unpaid court fines no longer keep a Virginia license suspended; ask whether that applies to you.
DMV 804-497-71002
Fines and costs
Every court in Virginia offers a payment plan, and a man on a plan is not in default. Ask the clerk for one before the first missed payment, not after.
3
The record
Since July 1, 2026, Virginia seals some records automatically and lets you petition to seal others. First step: your own criminal history from the Virginia State Police, so you know what is on it.
vsp.virginia.govA lawyer, free
Central Virginia Legal Aid Society, 229 North Sycamore Street, Petersburg. Weekdays 9 to 5. Licenses, child support, expungement and sealing, housing.
804-862-1100What it is not. BMV does not give legal advice and does not represent anyone. It finds out which office does, and gets him there.
Every number on this page
Checked September 2026. Confirm before you rely on them
| Who | What for | Contact |
|---|---|---|
| Virginia Career Works – Crater Region | Training money, job help | 804-862-6155 · vcw-crater.com |
| CCWA | Short trade courses, FastForward | ccwatraining.org |
| Brightpoint Community College | G3, certificates, Workforce Pell | brightpoint.edu |
| Southside Virginia Community College | Fiber, power line | southside.edu |
| Richard Bland College Workforce Center | Drones, short programs | rbc.edu |
| Richmond Electricians' JATC | Electrical apprenticeship | 804-752-8266 · rjatc.org |
| Virginia Has Jobs – Fair Chance | Fair-chance jobs, hiring events | virginiahasjobs.com/fairchance |
| Cover Virginia | Medicaid by phone | 1-855-242-8282 · coverva.dmas.virginia.gov |
| Greater Reach CSB | Same-day walk-in, Tue/Thu 8:30–1:00, 3335 S. Crater Rd. | 804-862-8008 · crisis 804-862-8000 |
| 988 | Crisis, any hour | Call or text 988 |
| Virginia Child Support (DCSE) | Balance, reviews | 1-800-468-8894 |
| Virginia DMV | Compliance summary, reinstatement | 804-497-7100 · dmv.virginia.gov |
| Virginia State Police | Your record, sealing | vsp.virginia.gov |
| Central Virginia Legal Aid Society | Free lawyer, Petersburg | 804-862-1100 · 229 N. Sycamore St. |
| Petersburg Area Transit | Bus routes and hours | ridepat.com |
General information, not legal, tax or medical advice. Programs, prices and rules change, so confirm with the office before you act.