|
Job Corps Center Develops Partnership with Local College
Students at the Fred G. Acosta Job Corps Center in Tucson, Ariz., participating in the Home Builders Institute's (HBI’s) Job Corps curriculum are earning academic credits from the Pima Community College (PCCC) under an articulation agreement worked out between the two institutions over the past year.
HBI instructors John Gallagher, Gerry Ortiz and Michael Flores — who provide plumbing, electrical and facilities maintenance training, respectively — were able to expand on a previous agreement to enable their students to now earn up to nine college credit hours for their Job Corps trades training.
The earlier partnership between Fred G. Acosta JCC and PCCC was part of HBI’s “Building Today’s Workforce for Tomorrow” grant, which also included several Tucson public schools, workforce development boards and the Southern Arizona Home Builders Association.
On June 29, the three instructors submitted their first student reports to administrators at PCCC. A total of 29 students received the full nine credits.
Fred G. Acosta JCC’s Advanced Career Training (ACT), which is offered at the center, allows students who have completed some college credits to remain housed at the Job Corps dorms while they transition to college full time.
This semester, seven HBI graduates will be starting as full-time college students. Five of the students will remain on the Job Corps campus through the ACT program, and the remaining two will live at home.
"I am proud to see these young people excited about pursuing a college degree," said Gallagher. “Our partnership with Pima Community College has really brought continuing education opportunities to the forefront and our students are eagerly taking advantage of them.”
“Innovative partnerships have been the lifeblood of HBI for decades and we are excited to see another example of our instructors giving their students further access to education,” said HBI Chairman M. M. “Mike” Weiss.
HBI, the workforce development arm of NAHB, is the largest national training contractor in Job Corps, placing more than 2,000 young people annually in jobs in residential construction. NAHB members work through their local home builders associations to help develop the curriculum, mentor students and provide internships or work-based learning opportunities.
For more information on HBI’s Job Corps programs, e-mail Keith Albright at HBI, or call him at 800-795-7955 x8911.
|
