Endowment to Fund Minority Workforce Outreach
 The National Housing Endowment, the philanthropic arm of NAHB, has awarded a $10,000 grant to fund an outreach program to establish and strengthen NAHB Student Chapters at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and universities and colleges with traditionally large Hispanic populations.
The program will target minority students in support of the Home Builders Institute’s (HBI) charge of providing NAHB members with a talented and diverse workforce. A challenge to the industry at large, as well as for the student chapters program, is to overcome the lack of minority participation at the university and community college level. Through the program, student leaders will be targeted and encouraged to start student chapters at their schools. HBI will provide them with information on scholarship and awards programs and encourage representatives from local home builders associations and member companies to visit their schools. Information on best practices of successful student chapters will be made available to the new chapters. The student chapters will also be encouraged to attend the International Builders’ Show and participate in the student competitions that are held there. This outreach to minority campuses nationwide will help NAHB diversify the housing industry workforce as well as its membership by starting with the industry’s future leaders — at the NAHB Student Chapter level. For more information on the outreach program, e-mail Page Browning, director of academic services at HBI, the workforce development arm of NAHB, or call her at 800-368-5242 x8918. | 
