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Florida Job Corps Students Earning College Credit
 Under a model “Building Today’s Workforce for Tomorrow” program by the Northeast Florida Builders Association, students at the Jacksonville Job Corps Center are receiving training in carpentry and electrical wiring, earning credits toward an associate’s degree and developing ties with members of the housing industry that will enable them to establish careers in construction.
Under a $4.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor to the Home Builders Institute (HBI), the workforce development arm of NAHB, model programs are underway at sites in Arizona, California, Connecticut, Idaho, Kentucky, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia and Florida.
Job Corps students participating in the Jacksonville program can receive 24 credit hours towards a degree from St. Johns River Community College or 30 hours from Florida Community College at Jacksonville.
“Eighteen months ago, Labor Secretary Elaine Chao stood side by side with Kimsha Lowery, an HBI Job Corps student, to announce this grant and the benefit this effort would bring to Job Corps students,” said HBI Chairman Michael Sivage, a builder and developer in Albuquerque, N.M. “This is the type of collaboration we all envisioned at the time, and we hope other HBI Job Corps programs, home builders associations and community colleges will use this as a model in their career development efforts.”
The Northeast Florida Builders have worked with the Job Corps Center in Jacksonville for some time, and several graduates have been accepted into the association’s apprenticeship program. In January, Kareem Dorsett, one of the association’s electrical apprentices, was recognized with the NAHB President’s Award at the International Builders’ Show.
Through its Builders Care program, the association has also been instrumental in helping Job Corps students gain job site experience and work with prospective employers by participating alongside builders and contractors in community service rehab projects.
HBI currently operates its standards-based trades training programs at 68 Job Corps Centers in 40 states. The “Building Today’s Workforce for Tomorrow” grant was awarded to HBI under the President’s High Growth Job Training Initiative.
For more information on “Building Today’s Workforce for Tomorrow,” e-mail John Shortt at HBI, or call him at 800-795-7955 x8924.
For information on HBI’s Job Corps programs, click here; or e-mail Maria McIntyre or call her at x8912.
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