Job Training Initiative Beginning in Four States
In partnership with builders in Florida, Idaho, South Carolina and Virginia, the Home Builders Institute (HBI), the workforce development arm of NAHB, is initiating its “Building Today’s Workforce for Tomorrow” program in residential construction. Under a $4.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor and the President’s High Growth Job Training Initiative, the program will be implemented at 10 sites over the next three years. The program’s goal is to recruit 250 participants at each site, who will earn an Associate’s Degree that combines crafts skills training with academic credit. Hands-on training will be provided in carpentry, electrical wiring, plumbing and HVAC; and the best practices and products coming out of the initiative will be replicated elsewhere around the country. Facilitated by HBI, representatives from home builders associations, community colleges, local schools and workforce development boards will be collaborating at each site to ensure that students receive a well-rounded education and leave the program with good prospects for employment in the construction industry. Following are the four sites identified for the program to date:
- In Idaho’s Blaine County, HBI will join an existing partnership comprised of the Building Contractors Association of Wood River Valley, the HBA of Magic Valley, the Blaine County School District and the College of Southern Idaho to enhance residential construction academies already in place. The effort will also seek to expand a dual credit program between the school district and the College of Southern Idaho.
"This grant will unify and connect a solid high school residential construction academy with the college routes for both apprenticeships and college degrees,” said Dr. Jim Lewis, superintendent of the Blaine County School District. He added that he expects the program’s professional and technical orientation to draw significant numbers of new participants and bolster the community’s construction workforce.
HBI Trustee Sue Woodyard of Ketchum, Idaho, called the new HBI initiative “an excellent example of how collaborative efforts between industry and educators can be effective in helping young people pursue home building careers. “There is so much available to them in our industry and I see this grant as key to helping many more succeed,” she said.
For years a staunch advocate of education in residential construction, the late Jim Woodyard laid the foundation for the introduction of programs like “Building Today’s Workforce for Tomorrow” in Idaho. “Applying this grant money toward such a worthy curriculum serves Jim’s legacy by continuing to assist both the young people of Idaho and the home building industry,” said his widow.
- Virginia’s Tidewater Builders Association (TBA) will take the lead in working with Tidewater Community College and five local school districts. In implementing the program, the association will receive support from the Virginia Community College system, the Virginia State Board of Education and the regional workforce development board.
“HBI’s approach to developing a career ladder will help address the labor shortage we face,” said Channing Pfeiffer, executive vice president of the home builders association. “TBA and its partners look forward to being in the forefront of this model to recruit the residential construction industry.”
- In South Carolina’s York County, where there have been layoffs in the textile and chemical industries, the training will be given a special impetus by York Technical College, the York County Home Builders Association, three school districts and the Catawba Regional Council of Governments. “There is definitely a shortage in the construction trades, and this grant is an excellent catalyst to mobilize local resources to address it,” said Robert Barber, a member of the council of governments and the new program’s advisory board.
The remaining six sites for the program will be announced throughout this year as they are determined.
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