OUR STORY
About Us
All About Our Story
Our Vision. Our Mission. Our Legacy.
OUR MISSION
To empower underserved Brooklyn residents with hands-on trade training, certifications, and career pathways, while strengthening small businesses and building communities through real-world projects.
OUR VISION
A Brooklyn where opportunity is local, talent is recognized, and neighborhoods thrive because residents are equipped to build their own futures.
WHO WE ARE
The
Organization
The BOTT Foundation is an integrated workforce and construction development nonprofit based in Brooklyn. We weld skills, business, and community into one unstoppable force — training residents in high-demand trades, preparing small businesses for government contracting, and creating pathways that ensure local people are the ones building local neighborhoods.
Our programs begin with welding certification and expand into project management, project administration, estimating, and site safety workshops. By combining classroom training with real-world projects, BOTT ensures graduates leave with the skills, confidence, and experience employers are looking for.
BOTT is more than training. It’s a blueprint for community revitalization. By equipping residents with career-ready skills and connecting them to employers, contracts, and opportunities, we’re creating a stronger, self-sustaining Brooklyn where growth is built by the very people who live here.
THE FOUNDER
Leslie Lambert
Leslie Lambert is the driving force behind the Brighter Opportunity Through Trade (BOTT) Foundation. A welder by trade and an entrepreneur by experience, Leslie knows firsthand how the skilled trades can change lives.
He began his career in welding, eventually launching a welding school, and has faced the ups and downs that come with building a business from the ground up. Through years of perseverance — from navigating funding challenges to mentoring young workers — Leslie developed a clear vision: create a system where Brooklyn residents can learn practical, income-generating skills and use them to strengthen their own communities.
His journey from the welding booth to nonprofit founder is proof that trades aren’t just jobs — they’re stepping stones to independence, pride, and generational opportunity.