January 16, 2012
Nation's Building News

The Official Online Newspaper of NAHB

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Workforce Development
HBI C-CORE Program Celebrates National Mentoring Month
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An HBI C-CORE construction coach shows young people how to hang drywall.

In observance of National Mentoring Month this month, the Home Builders Institute (HBI) — a partner in the National Mentoring Summit on Jan. 24-25 in Washington, D.C. — is focusing on the HBI Construction-Coaching Opportunities to Reach Employment (C-CORE) program with home builders associations across the county.

HBI C-CORE programs pair youths with HBA members who serve as construction coaches to help provide guidance on education and career goals. The program, which is funded by a three-year grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, aims to match 5,000 teens ages 13 to 18 with more than 1,600 residential construction industry mentors.

Kim Shanahan, executive officer for the Santa Fe Area Home Builders Association, strongly supports the HBI C-CORE program and serves as a mentor for a young man with a two-year-old daughter.

“Here at the local level, our HBAs are about networking and education opportunities and making sure that the workforce in our local community is ready to go to work,” said Shanahan. “What HBI C-CORE does is teach us how to be mentors. They help us understand and relate to young people and give us the tools needed to be strong mentors.”

HBI C-CORE coaches and mentees participate in group activities — such as community volunteer projects, visiting job sites or just sharing a meal.

“We need to bridge generational differences and recognize that if we don’t train these kids and welcome them into our industry, we won’t have an industry,” Shanahan said.

Mentoring is also valuable for the young people involved. “A mentor is not just someone who helps you for the moment but someone who may even change your life,” said Alexis Devora, Shanahan’s mentee.

In a case study video featuring the Santa Fe HBA, Devora and Shanahan discuss the benefits of the HBI C-CORE program and how to get involved.

Bunnie Coker, EO of the Home Builders Association of Middle Georgia, said the C-CORE mentoring program is mutually beneficial to both the youths and the mentors.

“I mentor and coach not so much for what I can do for the youths, but what the youths have done for me,” Coker said. “I have learned so much about what it means to have meaning in my life — to give without expectations.”

The HBI C-CORE program also has developed best practices and a manual for creating successful mentoring programs that can be adapted by other HBAs. Programs are available at 29 sites in 12 states and are expanding to more locations in other states this year.

For more information about HBI C-CORE and to learn how to become a mentor, visit www.hbi.org; or email Tadar Muhammad at HBI, or call 863-557-5054. 

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