NEFBA to hold ribbon cutting for new Workforce Center amid industry-wide workforce shortages (Courtesy of the Jacksonville Business Journal) — Amid labor shortages and other factors weighing on the region’s construction industry, the Northeast Florida Builders Association’s new campus will unite over 550 apprentices across four disciplines under one roof for the first full year of classes later this month.
A ribbon cutting for the campus, located at 4932 Sunbeam Rd. (pictured above), was held on Aug. 13. Classes for the apprenticeship program’s more than 550 apprentices started on Aug. 17.
Last May, NEFBA celebrated its largest class of graduating apprentices, a class of 93 graduates.
NEFBA relocated its operations for its approximately 1,350 members to the 43,000-square-foot facility in March.
Scott Brannock, president of NEFBA, said to the Business Journal this has been years in the making and the project has spanned across four NEFBA presidencies, including his. NEFBA is one of a few builders associations across the country to offer an in-house apprenticeship program like this, and Brannock said he is constantly giving tours to other chapters across the country and other groups.
“They’re coming to Jacksonville to see what we’re doing now, and it’s really cool to plant that flag on the map of builder associations,” he said.
Brannock also said that the homebuilding industry is in a “very difficult” place, in part due to immigration policy which he said affects legal workers who have become afraid to go to work and be detained.
“The biggest issue that we’re facing right now —which honestly ties into workforce development — is we’re having a huge disruption in our workforce right now due to immigration and immigration enforcement. And I say that not talking about illegal immigration. I say that to talk about legal immigrants who are here, who are being detained and ultimately being profiled by the color of their skin and they’re being held when there’s no reason for them to be held,” he said.
Brannock said that immigration enforcement has led the region to lose approximately more than half of its framing crews. Legal workers, he noted, are staying home from job sites because “they can’t risk being held for 30 to 45 days waiting on a judge judgment about whether or not their papers are fake or real.”
“We have a lot of production builders that are struggling to get houses framed to the point where they’re having to discuss throwing framing packages away because they sat too long on a job site,” he said. “We have other suppliers that are holding large amounts of inventory because they can’t ship it here locally to the job sites because a house isn’t framed or a house isn’t done with drywall yet because we have a labor shortage.”
At the same time, the NEFBA apprenticeship program will begin its first full year under one roof, instead of scattered across the region in borrowed classrooms, amid its steady growth over the years. The program’s enrollment has grown by 45% over the past five years.
Brannock said that for four nights a week the facility will see 200 to over 250 apprentices fill its classrooms, which will be outfitted with “state-of-the-art” technology and equipment from DeWalt and other local suppliers.
The program also allows apprentices — studying either carpentry, electrical, plumbing or HVAC — to be “ultimately” debt-free through state programs, sponsoring employers (which also provide hourly wages to the apprentices) and scholarships NEFBA provides for transportation to its campus. Brannock said that these apprentices are able to inject about $23 million back into the region’s economy.
“It’s given us a home,” he said. “It was a long-term vision that’s now become reality.”