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The construction industry is facing a major labor shortage, but programs and people across the country are working locally to solve the problem. This series highlights efforts that help recruit the next generation of construction professionals. Read previous posts here.
Do you know of any groups that help attract workers to the construction industry? Let us know.
“Growing up, my biggest dream was to become a mechanical engineer,” Nathan Evans said.
Evans, 19, has long had his eye on a career in the construction industry. Now, the Sacramento, Calif., area resident is pursuing his dream after completing Kitchell’s Hard Hat Scholars program.
“It was amazing,” Evans said of the experience. After spending time as a student, Evans returned as a teaching assistant, in part because he landed an internship in Kitchell’s Sacramento office in Phoenix.
Evans said not all of the high school students in the program, housed in Kitchell’s office in Northern California, knew about the construction before he did, but they were just as excited as he was about the opportunity.
Hard Hat Scholars has evolved since its inception in 2020, but the core idea has remained the same: to open doors to careers in construction for those who may not know such pathways exist, especially young people in urban areas.
“The big picture of the program is for communities that don’t necessarily have these resources, how can we give them the information?” said Kristoffer Bridges, Kitchell’s project manager. “When you think of construction you always think of dirt, grime, labor, that kind of thing. We wanted to show the trades, the technical training and other aspects.”
Beginnings of the program
Kitchell CEO Wendy Cohen told Construction Dive that she began “toying with the idea” of developing a program for inner-city schools in Northern California that lack vocational technical education programs in 2020 and spent the better part of a year formulating ideas.
The result was a partnership with Northern California school districts and other stakeholders, including the STEM nonprofit Square Root Academy, which introduced Evans to Hard Hat Scholars, to create a program that would take place over 16 Saturdays in the summer
At first, Cohen said, they were concerned that the students would sacrifice one of their weekend days for the program, but Kitchell soon saw that the kids were excited about the trades. Even more surprising? The parents were also excited.
“When we started the first program, we heard that parents would come to drop off their children. But what happened is the parents came and sat in the room,” Cohen said. Adults had the opportunity to learn about trades as careers for their children, he added.
The first cohort was 20 high school students enrolled in four four-week sections on architecture, engineering, construction and some site visits, Bridges said. The second year, the camp was extended to 18 weeks. Each week, professionals talked to students about the specifics of their work, and students also received hands-on experience.
The first two camps culminated in a $2,000 scholarship for each student. After the first two cohorts, Kitchell extended an internship offer to one student, which Evans took in his first year.
moving forward
Now preparing for the program’s third year, Bridges said Kitchell is figuring out how to streamline it and make it easier to replicate.
Instead of four months of Saturdays, Kitchell has converted to a camp-style format, with a week of full days focusing on different aspects of the trades. In lieu of scholarships, Bridges said the program gives fellows a free laptop and a $100 gift card.
Eventually, Cohen hopes to have Hard Hat Scholar camps at various Kitchell locations.
“My goal is that starting next year, we start bringing this program to our other offices in the Southwest,” Cohen told Construction Dive. “And then my long-term goal is to bring the program national. In my opinion, in construction, there’s a real need for more people interested in the industry.”
And small cohorts may be a drop in the bucket, but they are a place to start.
“I’m a firm believer that you look for what you’re exposed to,” Bridges said, saying many construction professionals have family in the industry and noting how Hard Hat Scholars look for new groups to feed into industry pipelines.
Evans, who is taking college classes before hoping to study engineering at a local university, said she enjoyed the hands-on part of the Scholars program, as did her classmates. While they enjoyed visiting job sites, there was another aspect of the experience that got him and his colleagues excited about the industry.
“I need money,” Evans said. “Showing the salary that project managers can earn, that’s a way to get people excited.”
Whatever methods are needed, Cohen said construction needs a game plan.
“The industry will continue to have labor shortages. I can see that especially here in Phoenix,” Cohen said. “But as the U.S. really starts — or continues — to invest in manufacturing, that’s competition for our workforce. And if we’re not careful and thinking about how we grow a diverse workforce, we’re going to have a shortage worse.”
