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HBI Students Help Cancer Victim Repair Home in Florida

For four days, the students worked at the Clayton home replacing fascia and removing an old carport.

An integral part of the CRAFT (Community Restitution and Apprenticeship-Focused Training) program, community service projects provide valuable hands-on training for students.

Project CRAFT operates at the youth academy in partnership with Florida’s Department of Juvenile Justice to provide training in six trades — carpentry, electrical wiring, landscaping, facilities maintenance, plumbing and masonry.

Students receive 840 hours of training in their chosen field, a pre-apprenticeship certificate upon completing the training and job placement assistance. Of those who graduate, 86% are placed in jobs, further education or training.

Paul Devlin, president of the Highland County Housing Initiative, organized the makeover of Clayton’s home. Discounted materials were received from Home Depot.

“The National Association of Home Builders provides us with connections or provides us with jobs,” Bob Bucy, Project CRAFT vocational skills training coordinator, told the local Highlands Today newspaper.

“We use a lot of local builders associations to help place these kids,” said Bucy, who was recently asked to join the board of directors of the Highlands County Housing Initiative.

As the workforce development arm of NAHB, HBI offers a variety of programs and resources to help address the labor needs of the association's members.

For more information on Project CRAFT’s programs in Florida, e-mail John Hattery at HBI, or call him at 800-368-5242 x8916.

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