Workforce Development

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)

Recently, Cardinal DiNardo of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, recognized the outstanding work of Westfall Constructors on St. Theresa Catholic Church and School, a C3 project. You can read Cardinal DiNardo’s letter to Westfall Constructors as well as download the letter below. Congratulations, Westfall Constructors! Westfall Letter of Appreciation from Cardinal DiNardo File Size: 881 kb

In C3’s endeavors to create a safe, skilled and sustainable craft workforce, we encounter outstanding workforce programs that frequently fly under the radar of construction employers.  One of those is United Way of Greater Houston’s THRIVE, which administers a construction workforce initiative entitled Women in Construction. Before getting into the details of Women in Construction,