Applications introduce San Francisco North Bay high-schoolers to development careers
Santa Rosa Junior College’s plan to open a $ 8.1 million construction training center on the Petaluma campus in the fall of 2023 would mark an expanded next step for a growing number of students preparing for careers in construction.
The college already offers adult education in construction, both for those switching to courses in other institutions and for those looking for certificates of professional competence necessary to get and maintain jobs. The SRJC Construction Center is designed to offer expanded facilities, tools and courses.
But the construction industry and educators have tried to encourage more workers to choose the craft, starting in high school. Here’s what happened to programs that have been ripped out of the ground in recent years.
Rick Wells, CEO of the Marin Builders Association, said he had heard of the high demand for motivated, trained and reliable workers at all job levels.
“The higher the skill level, the higher the demand,” Wells told the Business Journal. “This trend has continued throughout the pandemic and is likely to continue as more skilled workers withdraw from the industry.”
Wells said there is an opportunity to deepen existing high school construction education programs with the upcoming SRJC Construction Center.
The Marin County Office of Education’s decade-long regional occupation program has trained several hundred high schools in construction, including over 100 through two new programs in the past four years: North Bay Construction Corps and E2c Construction Academy to Wells. Pandemic protocols have limited current class sizes, he said.
The ROP currently has eight students enrolled. You will be completing the program early next month. An indefinite number will be looking for internships with local construction companies this summer.
The Building Corps currently has 10 students enrolled in its Marin County chapter, sponsored by the Mario Ghilotti Family Foundation, and plans to place half in two-week internships over the next month.
The academy, developed in collaboration with the College of Marin and the Canal Alliance, has 22 enrolled students, half of whom are expected to take part in an online recruitment program in just a few weeks at the end of the six-week cohort. The next cohort starts at the end of this month.
Robin Bartholow, who oversees programs for the North Coast Builders Exchange, said a survey of members mid-last year found the vast majority are looking for journeyman and entry-level workers, and nearly 80% said they are planning on hiring in the US next 12 months.
“Our students graduate from the program with knowledge of the various occupations so they can make an informed decision about the career path they want to pursue and basic skills so they can start strong in any position,” she said. “(The i) industry benefits from the program in that it can meet and teach the students and then hire newcomers who have demonstrated their work ethic over the duration of the program.”
North Coast Builders Exchange was funded by the Sonoma County’s CTE Foundation and supported by the Sonoma County Department of Education. Several years ago, the North Bay Builders Exchange formed the county’s North Bay Construction Corps and has expanded to include more than a dozen high schools. Programs are now in place in Napa, Mendocino, and Lake counties.
Although the pandemic canceled the program last year and many students dropped out of the program, 32 graduated and 19 were offered paid internships with local construction companies last summer, Bartholow said.
There are 62 students enrolled this year, and the two-week graduate boot camp will take place next month. Those over 18 get paid summer internships, and the younger ones work on community projects like a senior center in Guerneville, tenant improvements for a nonprofit, and repairing the Corps Tiny Shelter that was stolen, damaged but recovered.
Builders are swapping member firms in the fields of plumbing, electrics, solar, painting, carpentry and framing, masonry and landscaping and are offering paid internships to graduates this summer, said Bartholow.
According to Letitia Hanke, founder of the foundation, the LIME Foundation has passed 185 students through its Nextgen Trades Academy since it started a few years ago. The program is currently running at a school in Sonoma County as well as other nonprofits serving local youth at risk and owners of the owner of ARS Roofing, Gutters & Solar in Santa Rosa.
“I have a hard time finding people with roofing skills,” she said of her business. She tried to get some students out of the SRJC roofing training program.
Jeff Quackenbush covers wine, construction, and real estate. Prior to the Business Journal, he wrote for the Bay City News Service in San Francisco. He graduated from Walla Walla University. Reach him at jquackenbush@busjrnl.com or 707-521-4256.
