Tim Baker became a master barber before graduating high school and never had trouble finding a job, but he sees his friends struggle to find work and he wants to help.
“The young kids out here are just looking up to dope boys,” said Baker. “They don’t know that they have other options.”
The 37-year-old father of three opened the only barber college in Chattanooga this year. He has four students so far, including a 36-year-old U.S. Army veteran and an unemployed felon who says his dream is to become a barber.
Baker said his goal is to have every student job-ready when they leave his shop.
The shop is in the Wal-Mart plaza off Brainerd Road. Inside, students dressed in dark blue uniforms greet customers as they walk inside. Stations with high chairs line the room, where Baker cuts a client’s hair at one end while students watch and wait for customers. Baker said he wants eventually to open part of the room to a cosmetologist.