North Bay Construction Corps graduates 26 ready-to-train workers

North Bay Construction Corps

Companies at Hiring Fair

Five minutes after the graduation ceremony, 22 companies and organizations participated in an onsite hiring fair.

They included:

ABA Custom Homes

Midstate Construction Co.

Safety Pride

Vulcan/Shamrock Materials

Plum Electric

Jim Murphy & Associates

Pure Power Solutions

Ghilotti Bros.

Larry Richmond Construction

Oak Grove Construction

Aaction Rents

LeDuc & Dexter Plumbing

Northgate Ready Mix

Ace Insulation

Miller & Elwood Concrete

Gentry Construction Co., Inc.

Local 551 Electrical

Acapella Craftsmen

Ahlborn Fence

Haskins Contracting

Petersen Mechanical

Habitat for Humanity

2018 NBBC Graduates

Brandon Contreras

Sire Clark

Karen Ramirez Robles

Antonio Serrano Gomez

Miles Kintz

Guillermo (Danny) Lino-Valazquez

Seth Bowers

Danté Johnson

Luis Maldonado

Joe Ruch

Delon Altizen

Bryan Rodriguez

Nayeli Garcia

Fernando Alducin

Efrain Camacho

Oscar Moreno

Jesus Garcia Peña

Antonio Moya Arreola

Dennis Arriaga

Caleb Berrios

Saul Hernandez

Johnathan Mendoza Carlino

Samantha Moore

Juan Valdez

Ryan Schoen

Alexander Hernandez.

With construction workers in high demand following last October’s wildfires, 26 students from the 2018 North Bay Construction Corps program, and two-week boot camp, graduated June 22 in a ceremony held at the Healdsburg High School.

Participants get an opportunity to experience first hand, the day-to-day life on a construction site while earning academic credit from Santa Rosa Junior College’s work experience program and receiving a $750 stipend per person for their work.

The graduates completed a five-month career exploration and training program along with a two-week intensive Boot Camp where they practiced newly acquired construction stills while building four micro-homes in eight and a half days. Of the 26 graduates, there were 23 were men and three women. Several already have jobs or job offers in construction and one was accepted into a heavy equipment operator’s program.

MICROHOME FEATURES

Each 140 square foot micro-home is finished with three dual pane windows, a locking metal door, loft sleeping area, electric outlets, steel roof, classical wood siding, R-13 insulated walls and a small entry porch mounted on a mobile trailer ready for sale this summer. The asking price for each micro-home is about $6,500-$7,000 each. Program managers say there is a waiting list of buyers who want to use them as shelters for temporary vineyard workers, the homeless, or families displaced by last fall’s fire storm.

Kathy Goodacre is executive director of the Career Technical Education Foundation which sponsors the program. CTE’s goal is to work to expand and enhance career technical training and work readiness for Sonoma County students.

Goodacre acknowledged two other entities responsible for organizing the construction corps program, the North Bay Builders Exchange and Sonoma County Office of Education.

“We don’t ask students for anything. There are no course fees or costs for safety equipment, tools or materials,” said Goodacre. “Students also worked one night per week and one Saturday each month as part of the training. This is a great way for students to get a taste of working in construction.”

HONORING KEY SUPPORTERS

Goodacre thanked industry partners Doug Hamilton, from Oak Grove Construction, Jim Persons from Safety Pride, and Dominic Nuccio, vice president of operations at Ghilotti Bros. Construction, for helping to make this program a success. CTE pays student stipends from monies received through its own fundraising efforts.

Terry Pagni, a teacher at the Healdsburg High School Construction Sustainability Academy (the northern cohort), and Bill Hartman, coordinator of a similar program in Rohnert Park (the south-central cohort), were the two key instructors throughout the Friday program.

“The work ethic among these students was amazing and off the charts,” said Pagni. “This group is the cream of the crop. They caught on immediately to what had to be done, and how to do it. There were never any disciplinary issues.”

Showing their commitment to the program, immediately after the post-graduation job fair, all of the students returned to work to put the finishing touches on the four microhomes.

EXPANDING THE MODEL

Hartman said, “What started as an experiment has evolved into a new model for both student training as well as for producing a viable living space in record time. Next year this program will be replicated and expanded to include four North Bay counties.”

He said each graduate is an ambassador for the program. “The students are intelligent, mature workers with high attention to detail and with a heart for what they do. They see building homes as vitally important for people in the North Bay – as well as for their future.”

Industry champions and advisers were also honored at the graduation ceremony as major drivers for this program. They include Larry Richmond, with Richmond Homes, who is an adult education construction teacher, Persons and Hamilton, a member of the steering committee and a builder’s exchange board member.

Graduates each received a certification of completion from the builder’s exchange, 10 letters of recommendation, a $100 gift card from Simpson Sheet Metal and Friedman’s Home Improvement, along with the $750 stipend.

EMPLOYER GRANTS AVAILABLE

As a benefit for employers, Renee Pierce, marketing and economic development manager with the state of California Employment Training Panel, invited those hiring employees to apply for grants to help offset training costs for existing as well as new workers. She said a $1.3 million fund is available starting July 1, 2018 for such expenses. She invited employers to contract with the training panel to obtain funds through this program.

Reyna Brown, with Sonoma County Workforce Investment Board and Job Link, said a $3.2 million grant is also available in Sonoma County for construction and trades industry tools, work clothes, and on-the-job instruction as an employer incentive to help those who need supplemental training. The county pays 50 percent of a worker’s wage up to six months, capped at $10,000 with this plan.

North Bay Construction Corps

Companies at Hiring Fair

Five minutes after the graduation ceremony, 22 companies and organizations participated in an onsite hiring fair.

They included:

ABA Custom Homes

Midstate Construction Co.

Safety Pride

Vulcan/Shamrock Materials

Plum Electric

Jim Murphy & Associates

Pure Power Solutions

Ghilotti Bros.

Larry Richmond Construction

Oak Grove Construction

Aaction Rents

LeDuc & Dexter Plumbing

Northgate Ready Mix

Ace Insulation

Miller & Elwood Concrete

Gentry Construction Co., Inc.

Local 551 Electrical

Acapella Craftsmen

Ahlborn Fence

Haskins Contracting

Petersen Mechanical

Habitat for Humanity

2018 NBBC Graduates

Brandon Contreras

Sire Clark

Karen Ramirez Robles

Antonio Serrano Gomez

Miles Kintz

Guillermo (Danny) Lino-Valazquez

Seth Bowers

Danté Johnson

Luis Maldonado

Joe Ruch

Delon Altizen

Bryan Rodriguez

Nayeli Garcia

Fernando Alducin

Efrain Camacho

Oscar Moreno

Jesus Garcia Peña

Antonio Moya Arreola

Dennis Arriaga

Caleb Berrios

Saul Hernandez

Johnathan Mendoza Carlino

Samantha Moore

Juan Valdez

Ryan Schoen

Alexander Hernandez.

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