YouthBuild USA and Home Builders Institute (HBI) announce their 2020-2021 partnership, aimed at equipping nearly 200 U.S. Department of Labor YouthBuild grantees coast-to-coast with access to resources for educating opportunity youth in construction trade skills.
HBI and YouthBuild USA have partnered since 2003 to ensure quality career and technical education to students in YouthBuild’s 46-state network of urban and rural programs. In the last decade, nearly 800 participants have earned HBI training certificates from YouthBuild programs. This latest partnership seeks to strengthen the pipeline of those offerings, which will include:
“Our longstanding partnership with HBI provides an incredible edge for YouthBuild participants as they prepare to enter the building trades workforce,” said John Valverde, president and CEO of YouthBuild USA. “We are so grateful for HBI’s collaboration, especially during this time of upheaval, as we equip even more young people with the training and certifications they need to skillfully begin their careers.”
YouthBuild Louisville is a YouthBuild USA affiliate and DOL YouthBuild grantee that participated in the summer 2020 DOL YouthBuild virtual HBI PACT certification training in July. According to DeMarcus Keene, YouthBuild Louisville’s Construction Manager, even though he’s worked on planning crews and trained students in the past, learning about new work methods, procedures and training stations, and getting to learn in a group atmosphere helped alleviate the pressure of creating and applying lesson-planning.
Keene also noted, “the HBI training really helped me with my confidence and knowledge to go back to my team with a definite plan of standardized instruction to apply at YouthBuild Louisville. This will work hand-in-hand with efforts to see our students certified with construction skills and hired within the building profession with the help of the employability skills and other resources we offer.”
“HBI is proud to be able to work with YouthBuild and their participants, who will provide a workforce to a housing industry currently in need of more than 200,000 skilled trades workers,” said HBI President and CEO Ed Brady.
YouthBuild USA is the nonprofit support center for 300 local YouthBuild programs operating in 21 countries, with 252 programs in 46 U.S. states and 48 programs in 20 other countries. In YouthBuild programs, unemployed and out-of-school young people ages 16 to 24 work toward their high school diploma or equivalency, while learning job skills by building affordable housing and other community assets in their neighborhoods and engaging in community service and leadership training. Proven effective by the most rigorous program evaluation research, YouthBuild’s comprehensive model gives graduates the confidence and tools they need to become strong, responsible, and ethical young leaders. For more information, visit www.youthbuild.org.
The Home Builders Institute (HBI) is a national nonprofit that provides training, curriculum and job placement services for the building industry. With overall program job placement rates at over 85 percent for graduates, HBI training programs are taught in local communities across the country to at-risk youth, veterans, transitioning military members, justice-involved youth and adults, and displaced workers. Visit www.hbi.org for more information and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube
