NBN Online for the week of March 24, 2008

Endowment Awards HELP Grants to Four Colleges

The National Housing Endowment, the philanthropic arm of NAHB, recently awarded four $100,000 HELP ― Homebuilding Education Leadership Program — grants to four colleges and universities to help them create, expand and enhance existing residential construction management programs.

“In order for the home building industry to continue to strive for excellence, we must foster opportunities for the next generation to learn and develop skills from educational programs that are equipped to provide the latest and greatest in technology and theory,” said Gary Garczynski, endowment chairman and 2002 NAHB past president. “The four institutions awarded the grant money have shown a strong commitment to providing the best education and have helped raise the level of professionalism in our industry for generations to come.”

The four schools awarded HELP grants include:

• California Polytechnic University — San Luis Obispo in San Luis Obispo, Calif., which will use the funding to support curriculum development
  
  
• Jefferson State Community College in Birmingham, Ala., which will use the funding to recruit students and expand its residential construction program
  
  
• John A. Logan College in Carterville, Ill., which will establish an NAHB student chapter and advisory board and incorporate Residential Construction Academy classes into its curriculum
  
  
• Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tenn., which will strengthen its residential construction program; 80% of the program’s graduates are hired into the industry

“We are pleased to receive a HELP grant from the National Housing Endowment, which gives us the opportunity to create an integrated educational model for residential construction management unlike anything we have seen before,” said Barbara Jackson, director of the California Center for Construction Education at California Polytechnic University-San Luis Obispo. “The financial support has also helped us leverage our opportunities to best serve our students and the home building industry.”

“In the 28 years I have been involved in the construction industry and 18 years in construction education, my experience with the endowment is one-of-a-kind — one that fully supports the housing industry,” said Mike DeMattei, instructor at John A. Logan College.

The HELP initiative was created to bolster college and university residential construction management programs around the country and to triple the number of college graduates entering the home building industry over the next decade.

Last year, the endowment awarded pilot HELP grants to East Carolina University, the Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore.

For more information on the HELP grant, call the endowment at 800-368-5242 x8483 or visit www.nationalhousingendowment.org/education.htm.