Career and Technical Education: a year-round priority

by Hannah Cassara Content Specialist and Janelle Guthrie Communications Director

This is why BIAW and many local homebuilding associations across our state have made CTE workforce development a top priority all year to bring awareness to career opportunities and the dire labor shortage in CTErelated fields.

“We’re investing in tomorrow, next year and on to keep the construction trade viable,” said 2023 MBA Pierce President Chris Lockhart. “This tool drive is a great showing of community support.”

February has been proclaimed Career and Technical Education (CTE) Month all around the nation. CTE prepares the workforce needed across various industries and occupations, including residential construction, making it vital for students, businesses and communities.

BIAW encourages support for these programs across our state to ensure all learners have access to high-quality CTE programs in lucrative and in-demand career fields to bolster our workforce.

Master Builders Pierce Tools for Schools Drive

Throughout November and December, the Master Builders Association of Pierce County’s Emerging Professionals Council partnered with Contract Furnishings Mart in Tacoma to hold a “Tools for Schools” tool donation drive benefiting construction trades students at the Pierce County Skills Center. On Jan. 12, the group presented the students with 250 tools that students can use to fill their toolbelts upon graduation, as well as $460 in cash to benefit the program.

The Emerging Professionals Council, a networking group empowering young leaders and professionals in the housing industry, provides mentorship, leadership training and education opportunities tailored to the needs of emerging industry professionals. Serving high school juniors and seniors from school districts around Pierce County, the Pierce County Skills Center provides rigorous technical and professional experiences that prepare students for high-demand, high-wage jobs and post-secondary education. Learn more at bethelsd.org/pcsc.

MBAKS Student Chapters

As part of its Emerging Professionals program, the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties (MBAKS) became the first local homebuilding association in Washington state to establish National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Student Chapters, not just one but four.

NAHB Student Chapters is a program created to help local homebuilding associations partner with area schools to prepare a new generation for careers in homebuilding. MBAKS partnered with Edmonds College’s Construction Management program, Wood Technology Center at Seattle Central Community College, Sno-Isle TECH Skills Center in Everett and Lake Washington Institute of Technology in Kirkland.

The student chapters will allow participants to become student members of MBAKS, which provides complimentary access to events and networking opportunities with local building professionals, among other benefits. In addition, this program will bring awareness to field-based education and training opportunities and address the urgent need for qualified trade professionals in our industry.

Learn more about NAHB Student Chapters at nahb.com/studentchapters

JCHBA invests in their community

The Jefferson County Home Builders Association (JCHBA) is working to form a clear pathway for students and a future worker pipeline for residential construction by collaborating with local area schools and industry leaders to support teachers offering constructionbased curriculum and hands-on training programs.

Last year, JCHBA directed $5,000 in BIAW grant funds to the Community Boat Project in Port Hadlock to fund multiple construction internships for young people and an additional $5,000 in tool grants to Chimacum High School for their expanding shop classes. In 2023, JCHBA is actively supporting a grant for the Manufacturing Class at Port Townsend High School, as well as a separate grant for the new Agricultural Mechanics shop at Quilcene High School.

2.2 million

New skilled trades workers needed to meet current demand

1 million Units needed to fix our nation’s housing crisis

270,000 Units needed in Washington state alone

To see these programs in action, stop by the Home Show at Blue Heron School in Port Townsend on Saturday, March 4, where JCHBA will feature a Tiny Bunk Unit (TBU) built by the interns of the Community Boat Project for local housing providers.

The Community Boat Project offers threeto nine-month paid internships under its Shelter from the Storm Program. Individuals gain leadership skills and improve technical woodworking skills.

The Community Boat Project in Port Hadlock provides hands-on, meaningful learning experiences partnering teens with high-capacity adult mentors in unique programs that focus on real work, critical thinking and human-social skills. The program’s goal is to produce skilled and empathetic adults for our region.

Frame Your Future awarded $1 million

Frame Your Future, a product of the Spokane Home Builders Association (SHBA), helps bridge the gap between the classroom and the workplace by supporting high school construction programs. FYF connects students with SHBA builder mentors, providing them with an industry-driven curriculum and hands-on building experience.

In October 2022, the Spokane County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved to award $1 million in funds to Frame Your Future from the Federal American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act.

“We’re thrilled to have the Commissioners’ support of our industry-driven solutions to the housing crisis and construction worker shortage,” said Brian Burrow, Frame Your Future’s director of workforce development. “These funds will boost our efforts to expose more students to the trades at a time when school districts are cutting shop programs from their budgets.”

In 2023, Frame Your Future will pilot a two-week boot camp and place participants with a builder for on-the-job training, reimbursing wages to the employer for a period of time. Learn more at frameyourfuture.org

CTE in the legislature

A bill supported by BIAW’s government affairs department, HB 1308, would expand graduation pathways for Washington high schoolers to include a performance-based pathway. The bill is sponsored by Rep. Monica Jurado Stonier (D-Vancouver). These new pathways would create a connection from skills in the classroom to skills that are applicable in the real world.

The bill “intends to create graduation pathways that allow students to demonstrate their readiness in performance-based ways, in addition to the existing test-based and course-based options, and in core subject areas that most strongly align with the student’s individualized goals for high school and beyond.” These pathways are especially helpful for students who prefer hands-on learning experiences such as working in the trades.

BIAW supports this bill because it creates more opportunities for mastery-based learning, especially for schools that are unable to offer a CTE pathway. The bill also requires school districts to provide use any time you have an opportunity to share your story. As we celebrate CTE Month, we invite you to use these tools whenever you’re invited to speak to a class or group of young people. Here are some ideas for your next presentation.

Do

A Little Research

Chat with the instructor or principal before your presentation to learn a little more about the students. Keep your audience in mind while you speak. Speaking to a group of construction trades students will be vastly different than speaking to an eighth-grade math class.

Share your story

Open your presentation by briefly introducing yourself, your company and how you got your start in residential construction.

Let them hear from other people in the Painting

Pathways video

BIAW worked with four young workers with four distinctly different pathways to show young people the benefits of working in residential construction and how to find their way.

Find it here: biaw.com/ workforce-development-forstudents-and-educators.

pathways offered to them at their high school. This means more students can learn about careers in the trades, helping us prepare the next generation of builders and remodelers.

BIAW tools help promote trades

Builders and remodelers are the best ones to tell our stories and encourage young people to join our industry. Still, when a builder or remodeler gets a chance to visit career day at a local school, it’s not easy to sift through all the information to develop a presentation that resonates.

BIAW’s Workforce Development Task Force, made up of builders and associates from across Washington, worked with BIAW staff to update the BIAW Workforce Development website with tools you can

Provide the

“Careers in Construction” wage data

Show students how much they can make on average in common residential construction careers. BIAW has a PowerPoint with the latest Washington wages. Either show it on a screen or download it and hand it out. Find it on the BIAW website here: biaw.com/ wp-content/uploads/2022/09/careersconstruction-powerpoint-6.pptx.

End with a call to action

Tell them where they can find more information about education, training and jobs in residential construction in your area. Check with your executive officer or call Education and Workforce Development Director Al Audette for more information.