Workforce shortage is felt locally as well as nationally.
Thanks to a $750,000 grant from the Lowe’s Foundation, CCC is aiming to help address that shortage by muscling up its skilled training programs in construction, HVAC, electrical, plumbing and more. CCC also has plans to remodel its current facility to create more lab space for students, upgrade equipment, computers and software, and hire additional instructors.
Members of the Lowe’s Foundation Board of Directors traveled to Flagstaff to visit CCC on Oct. 26 to see first-hand how the grant funding would be spent to help local communities build up their ranks of skilled tradespeople.
“We know there’s a worker crisis in the skilled trades,” said Lowe’s Foundation Director Betsy Conway. “We wanted to make a difference and we wanted to make an immediate impact.”
According to information from Lowe’s, there are an estimated 546,000 new skilled tradespeople needed nationwide on top of the normal pace of hiring to meet demand in 2023 alone. Additionally, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the United States faces an acute skilled trades workforce crisis with 85% of contractors reporting trouble finding skilled workers nationwide.
Flagstaff and Coconino County are no different, said Ken Myers, coordinator for the Construction Technology Management program at CCC.
“We’re going to keep having a decrease in skilled-trades workers unless we get a new generation of young people trained sooner, rather than later,” Myers added. “This is going to be a huge piece of getting these kids trained right.”
CCC was one of 10 colleges nationwide chosen as recipients of the Lowe’s Foundation Gable Grants program. The program is a five-year, $50 million commitment by Lowe’s to help prepare 50,000 people for skilled trades careers. This year’s recipients were awarded nearly $8 million in grants to help bolster skilled trades training infrastructure.
Among the Lowe’s Foundation Board of Directors who visited CCC was Kyle Guenther, divisional merchandising manager of Seasonal and Outdoor Living for Lowe’s, who said, “This is truly a special trip for us. Seeing this come to life has been a real pleasure. I’m really proud Lowe’s can be a part of this.”
Coconino County Manager Steve Peru said that the grant will be “game changing” for county residents who desire to improve the quality of their lives with the skilled-trades training available at CCC.
CCC President Dr. Eric Heiser said, “We’re incredibly honored to have been selected as one the first-ever Gable Grants recipients from the Lowe’s Foundation. This gift will allow us to build our already growing Construction Management program and allow us to add even more students to the high-demand, high-wage field within Flagstaff and Coconino County.”
Heiser added, “Given the dire need for affordable housing in and around Flagstaff, the ability to add more skilled workers to the booming construction industry couldn’t have come at a better time. My sincere thanks to the Lowe’s Foundation for choosing us as a partner to further this valuable program.”
Myers said that every student in all the CTM programs seeking degrees or certificates will touch equipment and receive training made possible by the Lowe’s grant – which equates to about 100 students impacted each year.
“It will give them an idea on working with electricity and HVAC, and it might spark some of them to pursue those areas as a career,” Myers said, adding that he’s placing students, who are still in training, in paying jobs and apprenticeships right now, even before completing the requirements for their certificates.
“I think that’s important, because it shows the need out there,” he said. “There are not enough ‘thank yous’ I could get out on the importance of this donation – to our program and to the community.”
All 10 recipients of the first distribution of the Lowe’s Foundation Gable Grants are community and technical colleges from across the country with innovative skilled trades training programs. Each school will receive a two-year grant to support infrastructure needs to grow existing or build new programs.
Conway said that the Lowe’s Foundation focuses on community colleges because they provide training as well as additional services needed to get students ready for the skilled workforce. Additionally, community colleges like CCC focus on partnerships to get services and training to students. For instance, she cited CCC’s partnership with Habitat for Humanity of Northern Arizona to help build starter homes in the Flagstaff community. Students acquire experience and skills building sections of the homes, and Habitat for Humanity benefits from the labor of the students helping to build the homes.
“The common thread for all of them is innovation,” she said. FBN
By Larry Hendricks, FBN
For more information about the grants, visit lowes.com/foundation. For more information about CCC’s Skilled Trades, visit www.coconino.edu/paths/construction-trades.
Photo by Larry Hendricks: Coconino County Manager Steve Peru, CCC Foundation Board Member Tammy Howell, Lowe’s Foundation Director Betsy Conway, Howe’s Foundation Manager Seb Hale, CCC Construction Technology Management Coordinator Ken Myers, CCC HVAC Faculty Steve Hanson, Lowe’s District Sales Execution Manager Bill Mahoney, Lowe’s Foundation Manager Lauren Norman, Lowe’s Foundation Board Member and Division Merchandising Manager Kyle Guenther, and CCC Foundation Board President Cheryl Blume celebrated the $750,000 boost into the CCC skilled trades program. The Lowe’s Gable Grant will support workforce training to meet local and nationwide shortages.
