Maybe Cory McCray is one of the lucky ones. Or skilled. Or talented. Or maybe all of the above.

McCray survived tough neighborhoods in Baltimore, where education was undervalued, drugs were rampant and families frayed. He spent weeks and months in Maryland’s juvenile justice system each year between the ages of 13 and 18, and risked being sentenced for years as an adult.

State Sen. Cory McCray of Baltimore credits an apprenticeship with saving his life.

But McCray not only survived an upbringing that wrecks so many lives. He thrived. As the title of his new book says, it’s an apprenticeship that saved his life.

At the urging of a loving mother, McCray was accepted into an International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers training program and began developing the skills that would lead to

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