Workforce Development

​In my role as Executive Director of Construction Career Collaborative (C3), I make many presentations each year to building owners, general contractors, specialty contractors, design professionals and industry trade groups as I evangelize the important work we do.  Nearly everyone with whom I meet recognizes that C3’s mission of achieving a safe, skilled and sustainable […]

​I have always been a no-nonsense girl and have rarely taken ‘no’ for an answer in my career. The idea of not being allowed to do something simply because I am a woman is difficult for me to tolerate.  But this has been a reality for women in the workplace for generations.  Although much has

Nearly ten years ago, a group of leaders in the Houston commercial construction industry met to discuss its biggest future challenge, an aging and diminishing craft workforce.  Baby Boomers were (and still are) reaching retirement age at the rate of 10,000 people each day, and the construction trades were not attracting young talent to replenish

Nearly ten years ago, a group of leaders in the Houston commercial construction industry met to discuss its biggest future challenge, an aging and diminishing craft workforce.  Baby Boomers were (and still are) reaching retirement age at the rate of 10,000 people each day, and the construction trades were not attracting young talent to replenish

As the 2018-2019 school year closes and we watch the first wave of craft workers hired from a  C3 Career Fair enter the workforce as they move beyond graduation, I am reminded how life is full of milestones and moments that mark our progress. These milestones are important. They mark the significant achievements along our

Back in January, C3 hosted a meeting with members of its board of directors and other interested parties to establish new strategic goals.  One of the primary themes that emerged was the importance of identifying and collecting metric data that validates the business case of C3. ​Since that meeting, C3 has formed a metrics committee

​April 4th was a big day for us at C3. We launched our first annual career fair for graduating high school seniors around Houston. School guidance counselors and the C3 People Development team put a lot of effort into preparing the students to meet hiring companies.  Arriving at Wheeler Field House, resumes in hand and

​Recently, C3 board member Tom Vaughn of Vaughn Construction emailed me a scan of an article that he cut out of the March 4/11, 2019 edition of ENR Magazine on the subject of Workforce Development entitled CURT Rolls Out Program to Grade Contractors on Training.  The article tells the story of the utility Southern Company

Someone asked me to write a blog that would focus on how a lack of training would hurt your business and how a skills training program would make your business more robust and make your life easier.  I began to think about what that means.  Sometimes training is put forth as the magic elixir to

​Recently, Construction Career Collaborative (C3) board chairman, Mike Holland, COO of Marek, board members Jerry Lea, Executive Vice President of Hines, Jim Stevenson, immediate past board chair of C3 and President of the Houston Division of McCarthy Building Companies, and I, traveled to Atlanta at the invitation of the Construction Education Foundation of Georgia (CEFGA)