Go Build Georgia launches without funding

By Christopher Quinn

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Gov. Nathan Deal  kicked off a campaign to draft a new generation of skilled tradesmen as hundreds of students, teachers and businesspeople looked on Tuesday.

He said there will be 16,500 openings in Georgia this year for workers such as pipe fitters and plumbers, electricians and boiler makers.

Deal promoted the Go Build Georgia campaign as one prescription to cure Georgia's economic ills in his State of the State address Jan. 10, but offered no details. The program has been compared to one in Alabama, where companies that hire skilled tradesman pay a fee that raises more than $1 million yearly for advertising and events such as educational programs for 8th graders.

Georgia's program got an $850,000 federal grant for the kickoff and a state tour, but it contains no funding to carry out the work of the program.

In Georgia, industries that hire tradesmen can kick in donations to pay for Go Build Georgia, but they have not decided when or how much they will give, said Georgia Power President and CEO Paul Bowers, who attended Tuesday's kick-off at the Capitol.

The first step will be a 13-stop tour of the state to promote the program, said Tricia Pridemore, director of the Governor's Office of Workforce Development. After that it will be up to industry to fund it. She said Deal did not want to see industries have to pay new fees during tough economic times.

The state will help by asking school counselors to emphasize skilled trades, and it has a Web site GoBuildGeorgia.com. It also can help coordinate advertising or programming, she said.

Skilled workers make better-than-average salaries. For example, a pipe fitter makes about $22 an hour, and projections show demand is growing as older workers age out faster than new ones join the workforce.

Tim Alford, director of the Alabama Construction Recruitment Institute, which runs Go Build Alabama, believes his program is successful in changing attitudes about going into trades and recruiting a new generation of workers. But money for promotion is key to making it work.

Builders who hire tradesmen pay $90 to Go Build Alabama for every $100,000 in skilled salaries they pay.

Scott Shelar of the nonprofit Construction Education Foundation of Georgia, a supporter of Go Build Georgia, said, "Obviously, we will need funding, and to be honest I am still unclear on exactly how it will be funded."

He thinks the industries helped by the program should pay for it, and he believes they will step up.

"I believe industry is seriously enough concerned that they will be willing to invest," Shelar said.