Inside Edition: THE ORANGE COUNTY CHAPTER
BIASC & The Building Industry Technology Academy (BITA)
BITA Program Director
The Building Industry Technology Academy (BITA) is a program of the California Homebuilding Foundation (CHF) whose mission is to cultivate a sustainable industry workforce by educating and inspiring high school students to pursue a career in construction.
However, after careful consideration, the summer internship was postponed knowing the quality of the experience would have been significantly impacted by the social distancing requirements in the workplace due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Building Industry Association of Southern California (BIASC) joins CHF in recognizing the need for a well-trained employment pool to meet the demand of home production. The BIASC and its in-house chapters have engaged their members in support of BITA through various fundraisers, competitions, expansion efforts, field trips, career fairs and most recently, a workforce development committee to host internships for students and transitioning graduates.
And while 2021 will still be a year of many unknowns, the Alliance is excited to meet with school district partners this spring to discuss ideas for safe programing (mentorships, virtual speaker series etc.) that can be done over the next few months to gear-up for the 2022 summer internship program.
In 2019, the BIA Orange County Chair, Rick Wood from Wood Consulting and Colin Koch from Brookfield Homes formed a coalition of builders and their trade organizations to increase and sustain the next generation of workforce leadership by creating an industry-focused internship program. The SoCal BITA Alliance, in collaboration with the BIA SC Orange County chapter, raised $62,000 for BITA summer internships throughout 2019 with the intention of accommodating 20 paid internships for high school juniors on active jobsites throughout Orange County in the summer of 2020. Recruitment efforts for these internships, kicked-off in March of 2020, by handing out application packets to junior students from 8 of the local BITA schools at a successful meet-the-builder event designed to highlight trades in the industry.
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Jill Herman
Work-based learning experiences are one of the best ways for young adults to become familiar with the skilled trades. Such experiences can generate motivation for students to continue into the trades after graduation. Companies can use summer internships as a pipeline for recruiting graduates, while young people benefit from the real-life work experience. Now is a crucial time to recruit the next generation of homebuilders, as more than one in six young workers have stopped working due to the pandemic. To join the SoCal BITA Alliance by contributing to its mission or providing employment and internship opportunities for BITA students, please contact Jill Herman at jherman@mychf.org
Southern California
BUILDER |
April 2021
