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Pulte and HBI Promote Diverse Housing Workforce
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From left, Pulte’s Gary Binford , national director of finance and planning; Jessica Davisson, director of operations, Phoenix; and Magan Gand, customer relations manager; at the Diversity in Construction Luncheon during the International Builders' Show earlier this year. |
Over the past several months, Home Builders Institute (HBI) and Pulte Homes have partnered on several innovative programs designed to promote diversity in the residential construction industry.
“Although our company is quite large, Pulte’s culture is wrapped around a strong sense of family and a ‘small company’ atmosphere,” said Richard Dugas, president and chief executive officer of the Fortune 200 builder. “For us to reach our overall goals, however, we need to take the next step and become a more inclusive and diverse organization that welcomes challenging new ideas and embraces differences that will ultimately make us stronger.”
In 2006, Pulte delivered 41,487 homes in the U.S. and generated consolidated revenues of $14.3 billion.
The 2007 International Builders' Show (IBS) in Orlando, Fla. served as a springboard for the HBI-Pulte partnership. Working with the NAHB Student Chapters, Pulte sponsored “Women in Construction” and “Diversity in Construction” luncheons, which featured professional presentations and roundtable discussions with students, builders and professors focusing on finding creative ways to attract more diverse populations into the industry’s workforce.
“Our industry has seen amazing growth over the past 10 years and is poised for even more in the future,” said Kari Lawry, Pulte’s national director of diversity and college recruiting. “It would be impossible for us to sustain long-term growth, profitability and innovation without inclusion and diversity as a key business objective.”
Pulte also will be participating in HBI’s Team Builders and “A Day at the Job Site” programs.
Team Builders, now in its second year, was established in partnership with the Hispanic Heritage Foundation's (HHF) LOFT (Latinos on the Fast Track) program to provide Hispanic college students with summer internships working for builder companies in management jobs. Pulte will be accepting its first group of interns this summer.
“A Day at the Job Site,” also in its second year, will bring diverse NAHB Student Chapters to actual Pulte building projects. Students will tour developments, interact with on-site superintendents and witness the daily operations of a major American home builder.
“Any great company that sustains itself over time doesn't achieve that status on the brilliance of a few, but rather through the combined and diverse views of many," said Dugas.
For more information on how HBI and Pulte are working together to further diversity in the home building workforce, e-mail Page Browning, or call her at 800-795-7955 x8918.
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Sixty students, professors and industry professionals talk with their tablemates at the Diversity in Construction Luncheon. Participating in the discussions and wearing red shirts were students from HBI’s inaugural class of Team Builders. |
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