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Drug Czar Visits HBI Training Program

Drug czar John Walters, director of national drug control policy, visited the Home Builders Institute's (HBI) Project CRAFT site in Nashville last month to see how the Davidson County Drug Court (DC4), the only residential drug court in the country, is working with the institute to turn around the lives of local drug offenders.

DC4’s Judge Seth Norman hosted the visit and was cited by Walters for his work and innovative approaches to rehabilitation.

HBI, the workforce development arm of NAHB, offers construction and life skills training on eight sites in five states through the award-winning Project CRAFT (Community Restitution Apprenticeship-Focused Training) program.

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The program has scored enormous success in Nashville since it was established in 2002 thanks to a U.S. Department of Labor Youthful Offender Demonstration grant. Sixty students have graduated and been placed in construction related jobs with an average hourly starting salary of $8.30.

Students in the Nashville program at DC4 are older than those enrolled in other CRAFT programs, and go through a more intensive curriculum that includes after-program mentoring and extensive case management.

For more information on Project CRAFT/Nashville, e-mail Dennis Torbett at HBI or call him at 800-795-7955 x8908.
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