Champion & Expand Workforce Development

The future of our industry rests on our ability to attract skilled workers, managers and team leaders. The Skills Challenges we host help high school students consider construction as a rewarding career path. The courses we offer help our current workforce stay connected to new trends and best practices.

The tenets we follow are to:

• Increase awareness of career opportunities

• Help grow a sustainable pipeline of talent evelop strategic partnerships xpand training for the existing workforce ork with the state’s collegiate Construction Management programs

1 . Dennis Bradish and Mark Woodall chilled with Scrappy the Owl during KSU Day at the Capitol. Dennis serves as president of the AGC Student Chapter at KSU and interns with Barnsley Construction Group while he completes his construction management degree program. During KSU Day, Mark introduced him to key legislators who are helping advocate for workforce development funding for the construction industry.

2. Everybody cheers on Skills Challenge teams! This year, we hosted over 2,200 student observers and competitors from 90 schools at 7 events. It’s amazing to also see so many community leaders and parents in attendance. We are growing our Skills Challenge series to 8 regional events for 2023. Details are found at www.agcga.org/skills.

3. Providing quality professional development training to our current workforce is a top priority for the association.

4. Celebration time! Brasfield & Gorrie hosted a party for construction teachers and industry sponsors who participated in the 2022 Metro Atlanta Skills Challenge. Due to the generous donations for the day’s fundraising efforts, Blake Riedling (r) announced that each teacher would receive funding to help them purchase materials for their lab.

5. Elementary and middle school students have fun getting their hands dirty learning the basics of tile setting at the C. C. Owen Tile Co., Inc. booth at the Construction Ready CareerEXPO. Over 6,000 students visited booths like this hosted by member firms who specialize in various trades.

6. School bragging rights are at stake at each of the Skills Challenges. Teachers and students work hard all year to be competitive and celebrate when they take home top honors.

7. Teamwork makes the dream work! Several Skills Challenge competitions require students to work together on a common project.

8. High marks from everyone! Both in-seat and virtual participants gave glowing reviews of this hybrid course. They shared how helpful it was to have seamless conversations with all participants which allowed them to learn not only from the instructor but from each other.

9. Hands on activities, group work and up-to-date learning materials help participants get more out of courses. Devin Manners with PRO Building Systems made the most of time away from his work schedule to get a deeper understanding of construction blueprints.