Earlier this month, the Carolinas AGC Foundation’s Build Your Career workforce development initiative hosted its Spring 2019 Ambassador Summit Series meetings. Meetings were held in Columbia, SC at Mashburn Construction and also in Raleigh, NC at the American Institute of Architects building. More than 60 CAGC Build Your Career (BYC) Ambassadors, our volunteer “boots on the ground” industry professionals, attended these meetings.

“The biggest challenge the construction industry still faces is attracting and recruiting new generations of workers into the vast array of well-paying and rewarding careers that are currently available, and in the coming years, in the construction industry throughout the Carolinas” said Dave Simpson, CAGC President and CEO. “The CAGC Build Your Career program is playing such a vital role in not only addressing, but also potentially ending the labor shortage crisis in the construction industry here in the Carolinas.”

At the recently held Build Your Career Spring Summit meetings, our Ambassadors were provided with brand new customized toolkits. These toolkits contained essential tools necessary to equip our Ambassadors with all-inclusive resources and materials to successfully participate in industry-specific BYC workforce development outreach efforts. The new BYC toolkits function as a “resource hub” for our Ambassadors, providing them with all the supplies needed to promote construction career awareness to K-12 students and various groups of displaced workers—inevitably leading future generations of workers to ample career opportunities within the construction and trade industry.

CAGC’s Dave Simpson continued to say, “Our recent BYC Summit meetings were a huge success because our Ambassadors now have the tools they need to properly promote construction career opportunities to our industry’s future workforce, at every level.” The BYC Ambassador Summit meeting attendees echoed Simpson’s sentiments:

Mark Johnnie, VP and Region Manager, Southeast Region for CAGC member, Balfour Beatty, stated: “The consensus of those that attended the Summit meeting is that core BYC tools and materials are now in place for us to start the process of attracting the next generation builders to our industry. For Balfour Beatty, our first step is to include BYC as a discussion point during our weekly team meeting. Our second step is to target a school in our operating area, using the tools provided by BYC, and then to talk with school administrators about how we can work with them to deliver the exciting news about our industry to interested students. Ultimately, we feel like we now have a tool box full of very useful tools and the only thing left for us to do now is to get the tools out of the box, try them, and learn. That’s what we are going to do!”

Kris Hannah, Business Development and Marketing Manager for State Utility Contractors in Monroe, NC said, “Tammy Ford has done a superb job developing the CAGC Build Your Career initiative. The new BYC website, Ambassador toolkits, customizable presentations and the NC and SC school contact lists have totally eliminated the “how” and “what” guesswork for us when it comes to the process of educating our youth on careers in construction!”

Mike Hall, President and Owner of Hall Contracting gave his endorsement of the BYC program, stating: “I cannot tell you how pleased I am with the work Tammy Ford has done developing a professional approach and first-class materials for the Build Your Career initiative and its volunteer Ambassadors. I hope our CAGC members will get involved in supporting this crucial, long-term solution to our needs of attracting new blood into the construction arena as a career choice. It is an investment, not an expense.”

Meghan Ketterman, Director of Business Development at Contract Construction, BYC Ambassador and CAGC Foundation Trustee said, “The work that Build Your Career Director, Tammy Ford, and the Carolina’s AGC is doing to promote the Contractors in the Classroom program is effective in building this pipeline to construction programs at the high school level. The new Build Your Career website and toolboxes provide a multitude of resources for any contractor to begin the conversation with their education communities. Contract Construction is very proud to not only be an ambassador for the BYC Contractor in the Classroom program, but also for the construction industry as a whole.”

The BYC program continues to gain traction at an exponential rate. “There is nothing more important to our industry than workforce development and the Build Your Career initiative is the driving force behind our CAGC efforts as we work together to tackle this very important issue that affects each and every of us,” said Luke Blythe, VP of Operations at Blythe Development and current Chair for the CAGC Foundation Board of Trustees for the Carolinas AGC Foundation.

The CAGC Foundation’s Build Your Career workforce development initiative is committed to putting an end to the construction labor shortage crisis. Through numerous BYC programs and Ambassador outreach efforts, CAGC continues to build the next generation of construction professionals and a skilled labor pool—ultimately ensuring the growth and sustainability of our industry for many years to come!

For more information on the CAGC Foundation’s Build Your Career workforce development initiative or to volunteer to be a BYC Ambassador, please visit our website at www.buildyourcareer.us/ or contact Program Director, Tammy Ford, via email at tford@carolinasagc.org or by phone at (704) 995-3901. To make a contribution to BYC, please visit our secure online donation portal, https://carolinasagc.givingfuel.com/byc-ambassador-fund.