ABC Illinois Community Builders Program Objectives

• To create a talent pipeline to meet the industry demand for skilled craft workers

• To create a more diverse and inclusive construction industry in Illinois

• To create career opportunities for individuals with barriers to unemployment

• To create a model that can be replicated across Illinois and other states

In 2017, Associated Builders & Contractors Illinois Chapter was awarded a grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity to leverage our apprenticeship training program and nationally recognized construction credentials to help create career pathways for individuals with barriers to employment. The Community Builders Program through ASSOCIATED BUILDERS & CONTRACTORS - ILLINOIS CHAPTER (ABCIL) was implemented, when the crime, violence and poverty rates in Chicago were at an all-time high. Our grant-funded training program (which has most recently continued through private foundation grants) gives individuals the opportunity to learn an in-demand construction craft and follows through with career placements.

Participants can enter our program with no experience in the industry and leave with a career pathway in construction making better than average wages along with opportunities for upward mobility. In an effort to reduce the strain on struggling communities and simultaneously create a talent pipeline for the waning construction workforce, this training is a crucial part of rehabilitating broken communities in the Chicago area and is a model that can be recreated in any city that may be struggling with the same issues.

As an association that is made up of employers, we have the unique opportunity to not only train individuals by providing a positive pathway for their future but also assist in creating a talent pipeline for the construction industry. Upon completion participants are able to move into US DOL registered apprenticeships either through ABC Illinois or the company who hires them if they have their own USDOL apprenticeship program. Additionally, ABC IL has connected with several high schools to provide.

The statistics for the program to date are in the below graph: