|
Students Start Industry Jobs With Grants From Lowe’s
With annual $50,000 contributions from Lowe’s Home Improvement, the Home Builders Institute/Lowe’s Building Careers Scholarship Fund continues to help Job Corps students in the construction trades make the transition to jobs in the home building industry.
The scholarship was initiated in 2004 with a contribution of $50,000 from Lowe’s. To date, it has helped nearly 200 graduates of HBI’s Job Corps training program pay for transportation, insurance, rent, tools, home goods and other expenses related to beginning a career in residential construction.
HBI, the workforce development arm of NAHB, is the largest national training contractor in Job Corps, with 146 programs at 60 Job Corps Centers.
Most recently, the scholarships helped two graduates of HBI’s landscaping shop at the Old Dominion Job Corps Center — Charles Geralds and Darrell White — move from Monroe, Va. to start jobs in Charlottesville.
Both Geralds and White entered Job Corps at the same time with the goal of learning a trade and improving their lives. They took a liking to landscaping and were soon receiving the “special hat” award from instructor Mark Campbell for completing advanced levels of their trade.
After finishing the Job Corps program, they were offered positions at TruGreen/Chem Lawn and decided to make the move together, with $1,900 in Lowe's scholarships that helped them defray the costs of a new apartment, a car, insurance, cell phones and housewares.
In addition to its participation in the scholarship program, Lowe’s invites HBI Job Corps students and NAHB leadership to join executives of the Fortune 50 company at its International Builders’ Show booth every year to recognize the program in a brief ceremony.
“Over the past few years, HBI and Lowe’s have built a very rewarding relationship through a variety of projects,” said HBI Chairman Bill Paul. “It’s amazing to think back to the Building Careers Scholarship as the springboard for this collaborative growth, not to mention all the students it has helped.”
For more information on the scholarship or to hire an HBI Job Corps graduate, e-mail Keith Albright or Maria McIntyre at HBI, or call them at 800-795-7955 x8911 and x8912, respectively.
|
