Remodelers and other construction trade contractors can look forward to a potential additional boost – in this case, to their future workforce – through aspects of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (the ARRA, best known as the economic stimulus package) that support construction education and training.
Back in February, in his first speech to a joint session of Congress, President Obama asked every American "to commit to at least one year or more of higher education or career training. This can be a community college or a four-year school; vocational training or an apprenticeship."
This emphasis could have positive implications for remodelers, given long-term and ongoing cutbacks in high school career and technical education (CTE) programs. Here are a few examples of programs directly endowed by the ARRA thus far.
(Photos are courtesy of the Boulder [Colo.] Valley School District.)
Community Colleges and Worker Retraining
Unemployment reached a long-time high of 9.4% in May, with workers in automotive and other manufacturing industries taking some of the biggest hits. Some ARRA programs intended to boost job-retraining efforts are focusing on two-year community colleges, where many robust skills training programs remain, and which are experiencing enrollment surges thanks to their relative affordability compared to four-year colleges.
Community colleges are also attracting growing numbers of adult professionals seeking to retool for new careers. More than a third of U.S. college students, 6.4 million adults, are over age 24.
Examples of these programs include one announced in early June, when Education Secretary Arne Duncan visited the Milwaukee Area Technical College "to announce a $7 million special competitive grant to establish innovative and sustainable community college programs that prepare displaced workers for second careers," according to a press release from the Department.
Many similar grants are reaching community colleges, such as an estimated $58 million that the U.S. Department of Education is funneling to 14 community-college districts in Arizona, which has suffered from significant job losses and housing deflation. The goal is to retrain displaced workers for jobs in growth industries such as retrofitting older buildings to be more energy efficient.
