A photograph on this newspaper's website shows two Hispanic students pointing out to their Howard School principal aspects of wiring and electricity during the grand opening of the Construction Career Center Friday.
The Howard students are two of 80 students from Howard and East Ridge High School enrolled at the center to earn one of five construction certifications that will give them the ability to go to work after graduation or pursue advanced building trade skills.
We have no idea the immigration status of the students, nor does it matter, but it is a fact that many of the illegal immigrants who come into the U.S. pursue work in various building trade industries and are loyal and hard workers. Many of the industries have above-average wage levels; the average construction worker in the U.S. earns about $35 an hour.
The newly opened state-of-the-art center not only will provide a pathway to the next generation of local building trade workers -- 40% of the construction workforce is expected to retire over the next decade -- but should be viewed as an alternative to college for many students who find working with their hands (and minds) much easier and more fulfilling than higher education book learning.
The editorial pages of this paper have been pushing for the local return of robust vocational and technical education for many years, and it's a shame such education locally nearly went away several decades ago before officials realized how much it would be needed and what kind of family wages it would pay.
How the local career center came about is an example of how officials can work together for the good of all.
Three years ago, the Associated General Contractors was looking for a new place to train workers, and City Councilman Chip Henderson, who is in the business himself, had an idea. He suggested the former Mary Ann Garber Elementary School, which had been used as a book depository by the county school district in recent years and was in an area -- East Chattanooga -- where many non-college bound students live and could reach more easily.
"Basically, we recognize the lack of diversity in the construction industry and the lack of construction workers in general, and this is a good way to address it locally," Henderson said in 2020 when firm plans to use the site were announced. "I work in home building, and you're hardly ever working on a project anymore where there's a worker under 45 or 50 ... this will help us get more people into better jobs and help that workforce."
The then-city and and county mayors, the then-schools district superintendent, the state, Chattanooga State Community College, the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce and various private businesses climbed aboard the project. About $8.4 million then was spent to update the 68-year-old, 28,000-square-foot building.
The current 80 students are expected to double to 160 students from several high schools next year, and 40 other adults will be able to gain needed building skills alongside their juniors.
How needed are such skills?
The chief executive officer of Associated General Contractors of America said at the grand opening there are currently 350,000 construction jobs available in the country. Imagine gaining such skills in carpentry, masonry, electrical work and plumbing here and then being able to apply for more than a quarter of a million jobs here or across the country.
Although the then-city and county mayors, the superintendent and the head of the chamber of commerce all have departed since the project began, their replacements are no less enthused. That, fortunately, shows an embracing of the reality not only of the need for building trade jobs but also of the understanding college is not for everybody and the need for more centralized availability of training for students and others who want to go into the industry.
Indeed, both Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly and Hamilton County Weston Wamp seem to understand the importance of building on the career center model to expand local training opportunities for both students and adults.
While we're tired of the overused term The Chattanooga Way, the phrase certainly fits how the center came about amicably with public and private partners and the repurposing of an older building. We hope future projects that offer similar training and skills will have a like amount of collaboration.
"This is just the beginning," Wamp said.
We hope he's right because the proverbial rising tide of success -- with non-college students, immigrants, those looking for improved skills and, yes, contractors -- indeed helps float all boats.