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HELP for Growing Construction Programs on the Way
 The second round of HELP grants — the National Housing Endowment’s Homebuilding Education Leadership Program that was created last year to bolster college and university residential construction management programs around the country — will become available in November and applications are due now.
HELP was created because many college-level construction management programs today focus on commercial construction. The goal of the HELP program is to seed or grow residential construction programs and to triple the number of college graduates entering the home building industry over the next decade.
“This is a project that is very close to the hearts of our National Housing Endowment Board of Trustees,” said Gary Garczynski, endowment chairman and 2002 NAHB president.
HELP is providing grants of up to $100,000 to two- and four-year colleges and universities so they can expand or enhance existing residential construction management programs, or develop new programs in that academic area. Schools will be expected to leverage the HELP grants to create permanent funding for their residential construction program.
Three academic institutions, Eastern Carolina University, Georgia Tech and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, were awarded the HELP program’s initial grants last year.
“This gift allows our program to move to the next level of quality and growth as it continues to gain national prominence,” said Dr. Leon L. Copeland, chair of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore’s technology department. “Our goal is to prepare well-educated professionals for challenging careers in the construction industry. Our graduates are hired by area builders at an impressive rate.”
To Apply
Colleges and universities interested in applying for the grants must submit a hard copy of a Letter of Inquiry to the endowment by Sunday, April 1.
Applicants will be informed of the endowment’s grant decision in May.
For more information about the HELP grant program, or to download a Letter of Inquiry or Request for Proposal, visit the HELP initiative on the endowment Web site by clicking here.
To learn more about the endowment, visit www.nationalhousingendowment.org.
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