Posts in Category: Workforce Development

Building During a Water Crisis

Building During a Water Crisis
The United States continues to deal with water scarcity and shortages across the country, affecting homeowners and builders. Sustainable building practices have predominantly been focused on energy efficiency to reduce household carbon footprints and financial burdens, however, with the ongoing drought in the US and the increased demand for housing, the need for water-efficient homes is necessary for the future of the industry. As city populations increase, builders, developers, and politicians are faced with the significant challenge of supplying millions of people with potable water. Dry regions such as the West and Southwest parts of the US are struggling as more people migrate to already overpopulated cities with further depleting water sources. Builders are having trouble finding water reliable areas to build which in turn adds to the increased housing demand. State and federal governments in these areas are strategizing how to distribute and protect major water... read more
 

The House That She Built

Utah Women Prove that Homebuilding is Women's Work

We built this home to educate everybody in the construction industry that there is a place for women to work making a good living, teaching a new generation that there are no longer traditional roles in the workplace, and to help eliminate the shortage of labor in our industry which is an ongoing problem. We feel like women can be a part of that solution. --  Jennie Tanner, President of the Utah Professional Women in Building.

 

When you're a little girl, parents don't often think about saying, “Hey, why don't you get a job in construction? Have you thought about being a plumber or an electrician?” Even school counselors don't discuss these options with girls. And so, three years ago, I joined the Utah-based charter of the National Association of Homebuilders and came up with an idea to build the first all-women-built home in the nation.

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The Importance of Recruiting A Diverse Workforce, with Lakisha Ann Woods, President & Chief Executive Officer, National Institute of Building Sciences

Edited Highlights from EEBA Summit presentation, Sept.14, 2021

Today, I will talk about the importance of recruiting a diverse workforce. My goal is to end this conversation with clear, actionable goals for everyone. We want to have a plan in place. I think that's what’s so important. I want to tell you about some of our learning objectives today. Of course, we'll review the data because I always say, "the numbers don't lie." We must look at what statistics tell us, and that will guide us in the direction of where we need to make a change. We really have to increase our awareness of our unconscious bias…how we can move from those biases and find tools to help us be more successful? It's important not just to set an action plan, that your board or your company will say this is our plan and then, four years later, no one's touched that plan. You want something that's a living document that you can continue to focus on, reassess, reinvent, and move the needle.

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