Tuesday afternoon Renee Hough (Director of Career and Technical Education) introduced Eddie Parcher as the instructor for the new program, Building Construction and Technology at Interlachen Jr. Sr. High School.
According to Amanda Burney and Mrs. Hough, several construction-related businesses in our community came together and brought in NCCER, a leader in training for construction training.
It is projected that the job market is expected to grow by 6% nationally by the year 2030.Regionally, for Northeast Florida, construction trades are expected to grow by 4.7% by 2029. * There is a clear need for students to be trained in this industry.
We were approached by the Northeast Florida Community Foundation representatives Charles Smith and Joyce Oliver, who encouraged us to apply for a grant to get the program started. We applied and were awarded a $100,000 grant. This grant has allowed us to get the program started.
We also applied for an appropriation from the state of Florida for $523,000 which has been approved by legislation. We continue to work through their processes and procedures to finalize access to these funds.
*Information from CareerSource North Florida and US Bureau of Labor & Statistics