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Training Program Jump-Starting Construction Careers
Since it was launched in 2005, Home Builders Institute's (HBI) “Building Today’s Workforce for Tomorrow” program has already established a successful track record in preparing students to enter the residential construction industry.
Funded by the Department of Labor (DOL) under the President’s High Growth Job Training Initiative, HBI has established programs in 10 states, each offering at least 250 students industry-sponsored training in carpentry, electrical, plumbing and HVAC.
Moving beyond the traditional approach to trades training, HBI and its partners have created a comprehensive approach to construction industry workforce development that provides career exploration and recruitment for high school students as well as incumbent and displaced workers.
While HBI has worked with a great number of organizations to implement the program, the expertise of local and state home builders associations has been pivotal. Other partners include K-12 school districts, community colleges, workforce investment boards and Job Corps Centers (JCC).
Success From Coast to Coast
“This is a much more efficient approach to construction training in these trades,” said John Orr, president and CEO of the North State Building Industry Association in Sacramento, Calif. “As an association, we need to do more about workforce training so that programs are strengthened and enhanced, and to do that we need support from builders, the trades and suppliers — our members.”
Participation in “Building Today’s Workforce for Tomorrow” enabled Lajuan Woodfork, a recent carpentry graduate from HBI’s Jacksonville JCC, to jump-start his career with a job at Thomas May Construction and to enter directly into the Northeast Florida Builders Association's second-year apprenticeship program.
“Lajuan is just a good person; he has a lot of focus and determination. He really gives some thought to what he is doing,” said Kent Hiter, a construction superintendent for Thomas May. “We have high hopes for him, and if he sticks with us he will get to do a little bit of everything.”
With total employment in the construction industry predicted to increase by nearly 1 million jobs by 2012, the need for skilled training is in high demand. As part of the “Building Today’s Workforce for Tomorrow” grant, HBI will provide “best-practice” research to DOL, so that the program may be continued and/or replicated.
“Building Today’s Workforce for Tomorrow” programs are up and running in Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Kentucky, New York, South Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
For more information, e-mail John Shortt at HBI, or call him at 800-795-7955 x8924.
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