In the past three years, the nonprofit Construction Education Foundation of Georgia has trained hundreds of previously unemployed workers and placed them in jobs working on billions of dollars in Atlanta construction projects, including Mercedes-Benz Stadium and SunTrust Park.
At the sixth annual Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) America meeting during June in Atlanta, CEFGA made a Commitment to Action to expand its Construction Ready program south of Atlanta, which will equip and place hundreds more workers in jobs.
The commitment will focus on projects south of Interstate 20, including the planned $6 billion refurbishment of Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and the Turner Field renovation initiated by Georgia State University.
"We announced that over the next three years, we'd place 250 more residents into full-time construction jobs on the south side," said Scott Shelar, president and CEO of CEFGA. "There are a lot of upcoming projects on the south side and our model is to find people who need a good career, get them trained quickly and then help them find employment."
'Tough love' work program
Described as a boot camp-style program where potential employees receive extensive training over a four-week period, Construction Ready has enjoyed a placement rate of 95 percent.
CEFGA already has put nearly 220 previously unemployed folks to work on building projects on the west side, highlighted by the Atlanta Falcons' new home, Mercedes-Benz Stadium. It also expanded Construction Ready into Cobb County to recruit and train workers for construction projects including SunTrust Park, the new home of the Atlanta Braves.
"At the end of four weeks, our goal is to put potential employees in a full-time job in the construction industry," Shelar said. "On the west side, we've had great success. If you get through the program and stick with it, there's a very good chance you'll get a full-time job in construction. That's really our focus. Fortunately the construction industry in Atlanta is so busy right now that we're able to do that."
CEFGA tracks employees – who can amass as many as eight different certifications recognized by employers through the program – for a year after they're hired. It showed a 71 percent retention rate over the first year, and most graduates earn between $25,000 and $65,000 per year, Shelar said.
CEFGA will work in an area of Atlanta where more than 20 percent of the population is unemployed and face sizable barriers to employment. Of the 250 potential employees, Construction Ready on the south side seeks to recruit 150 formerly incarcerated individuals.
"It's a tough-love kind of program," Shelar said. "We hold (trainees) to high standards and basically replicate the work environment. We do background checks, but we're very background-friendly. For example, 80 percent of our graduates on the west side have a criminal background. We're very welcoming in that regard and fortunately our employers are very welcoming and open to folks from all backgrounds."
Helping hands in the building boom
Shelar agrees that providing work for 250 people is an ambitious challenge, but he's confident the next three years will be very productive ones.
"I would say we will knock it out of the park," he said. "There will be thousands of jobs coming online south of I-20. We'll crush that goal over the next three years. It's a big number but we have a proven model that works on the west side and it's worked in Cobb County. So we're confident that with all the construction activity, there will be a need for workers."
CEFGA expects to implement 14 of the 20-day Construction Ready programs and 10 of the 40-day ready-mix driver training programs (known as Driver Ready) by June 2019.
One of the keys to the success of Construction Ready has been the partnerships CEFGA has formed with community organizations – as well as with Lawrenceville-based HB Next, which handles all the training – to identify and recruit training candidates.
On the west side, CEFGA worked with the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation and Integrity CDC. In Cobb County partnerships were forged with CobbWorks and the Collective at Cumberland. On the south side, CEFGA is paired with the Atlanta Workforce Development Agency, the Center for Working Families and Atlanta Career Rise.
The workforce development initiative couldn't have come at a better time, Shelar said.
"This is the right time for this to happen," he said. "For the next three to five years in Atlanta, I believe there's going to be continued expansion and opportunity for people who want to work in construction. This is the busiest time we've ever seen in the construction industry in Atlanta. There's tremendous opportunity in our industry."
