As the 2018-2019 school year closes and we watch the first wave of craft workers hired from the 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 path.
C3 (Construction Career Collaborative), with its mission of creating a safe, skilled and sustainable craft workforce, has reached some major milestones and has a few more on the horizon. Twenty C3 projects have been successfully completed. Twenty more are under construction, or about to begin, with several more in the pipeline. We are closing in on 400 participating construction companies. June will mark a milestone with 50 construction companies that have earned a valuable C3 Craft Training Endorsement, a number that we expect to reach 100 by year-end and well before C3 reaches its 10-year anniversary in 2020. These are some great milestones because together we are doing great things.
Milestones also serve to remind us the C3 mission isn’t yet complete. “Even after implementing training and raising the bottom line (through return on training investment), we still get value from C3. We are not finished. We’re still growing.”, remarks Art Canales, President, Chamberlin Roofing & Waterproofing. Art is right. We are not finished, and we are still growing, but there is still much more work to do.
You might be wondering what is next for C3. We are rapidly deploying to meet the need of a rising population of companies seeking to create new and better training programs for craft professionals. We are partnering with schools, community-based organizations and local and state workforce boards to educate potential skilled workers on the benefits of a career as a craft professional in commercial construction. We are leveraging C3 programs and creating new ones to change the perception of construction as a sustainable career choice to provide a quality lifestyle for craft professionals and their families.
C3 is growing and chances are your business is as well. Join us on this next chapter of C3’s journey. Engage with us to create stronger on-the-job competency-based training programs. Share our complimentary safety programs with your workforce and peers. Play golf with us at our annual tournament in October. Partner with like-minded companies to educate students and parents about the myriad of opportunities a career in the skilled trades offers. Join us as we move forward to elevate the playing field and create a sustainable craft workforce driven to be the safest and most skilled for Houston’s future. We are changing the commercial construction industry.