October 3, 2011
Nation's Building News

The Official Online Newspaper of NAHB

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Workforce Development
New HBI Mentoring Program Encourages Youths to Prepare for Home Building Careers
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From left to right, Dennis Torbett, HBI vice president for workforce training and employment; Tadar Muhammad, HBI C-CORE director; Don Pratt, chairman of the HBI Board of Trustees; Fred Humphreys, HBI's president and CEO; and NAHB Second Vice Chairman Rick Judson.

At the National Construction Coaching Opportunities to Reach Employment (C-CORE) Summit held on Sept. 20-22 in New Orleans, the Home Builders Institute (HBI) welcomed 200 home builders association executive officers and staff members, non-profit mentoring advocates, government officials, and youths and their mentors nationwide to share best practices and lessons learned.

Summit attendees heard from youth development researchers and mentoring experts about how mentoring helps young people become more productive and establish a positive career path.

A panel of mentees shared their personal experiences learning from building industry professionals, and discussed how mentoring helped them decide to seek higher education or skills training.

“The home building industry needs to be involved in mentoring because we don’t have a lot of young people in our industry,” said Tim Thornton, president of the Home Builders Association of Middle Georgia.

“We need more. If we can bring one person into the industry, turn one life around, then it’s worth the time we put into it,” he said.

Thornton noted that his association’s HBI C-CORE mentoring program has changed the lives of 16 young people.

He attributed much of the success to his member participants taking the time from the outset of the program to get to know their students and what they hoped to achieve.

NAHB Second Vice Chairman Rick Judson urged greater participation in mentoring, asking fellow home builders and remodelers to support the next generation of residential construction by becoming HBI C-CORE coaches.

“HBI C-CORE provides a sizable payoff for youths, the home building industry and local communities with a minimal time commitment from coaches,” said Judson.

“Construction coaches incorporate mentees into their regular activities — including bringing a mentee to job sites, local home builders association meetings and home shows in addition to spending time together sharing ideas,” he said.

Launched in March 2010 with funding from the U.S. Department of Justice, the HBI C-CORE program matches youths with home building professionals from all facets of the industry who provide guidance on careers.

Working with local partner organizations and local and state HBAs, the program has enrolled about 600 youths and more than 200 coaches.

The program has focused on 16- to 18-year-olds, but is expanding to include children in middle school.

Responding to a critical need for workforce development, the goal of the program is to match 5,000 middle and high school students with industry coaches by mid-2012.

The program has also developed best practices and a manual for creating successful mentoring programs that can be adapted by HBAs.

“It should come as no surprise that a caring adult can make a real and meaningful impact on the life of a young person,” said Fred Humphreys, president and chief executive officer of HBI.

“In the short time that HBI C-CORE has been in existence, we’ve already learned of a number of mentees who are now aiming for higher education and training to enter the residential building field — that’s the true sign of success,” he said.

C-CORE programs currently are available at 28 sites in 11 states and are expanding to more locations in other states in the coming year.

For more information, click here; or email Tadar Muhammad at HBI, or call him at 863-557-5054.

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