What Building Talent Foundation Does
Building Talent Foundation (BTF) is a national nonprofit organization founded by the Leading Builders of America, with a purpose to address the acute and persistent talent shortage across residential construction. BTF’s mission is to advance the education, training and career progression of young people and people from underrepresented groups, helping them develop into skilled technical workers and business owners in residential construction.
Building Talent Foundation works to bring together resources, and efforts of builders, trade partners, suppliers, and manufacturers, and all their educational partners to rebuild the residential construction workforce. It starts with education training providers and recruiting partners, BTF facilities the engagement of builders and trades with secondary schools, post-secondary schools, colleges, and nonprofit organizations with a workforce focus to promote the construction industry as a career choice. BTF then helps to connect these students to internships, apprenticeships, training, and employment opportunities so they can find the training and jobs to jumpstart their residential construction careers.
Building Talent Foundation’s labor market assessment study identified three clusters of challenges in residential construction:
• The need for more talent entering training
and jobs in the sector
• A disconnect between education,
training programs, and employers
• A high turnover rate of newly hired employees
among trade contractors
BTF is committed to its vision of creating a sustainable workforce in the housing sector by 2030. To achieve its vision, BTF has implemented three distinct programs: Building Talent Pipeline, Building Talent Connections, and Building Talent Engagement.
Pillar 1. Building Talent Pipeline
Promoting homebuilding as a career choice. This program promotes and reframes careers in skilled trades, increases the number of young people and people from underrepresented groups choosing those careers, and improves their vocational skills and employment prospects.
Young people interact with construction professionals, learn about career pathways, get hands-on experience in building projects, and connect with possible future employers. Educators interact with industry partners and enrich their curricula with up-to-date information and practical exercises.
Builders and trades engage with future job candidates, impart their pride and joy of building homes to the next generation, and influence skills taught in CTE courses.
Pillar 2. Building Talent Connections
Linking candidates to employment and career opportunities in the homebuilding sector. This program strengthens and scales employment in the homebuilding sector, while supporting education and training partners in aligning skills development programs with employers’ hiring needs.
BTF connects employers with job seekers by facilitating partnerships with training providers where job seekers are gaining the skills the employers need in their workforce. These talent connections are geared towards building employment and business ownership in our industry, while improving collaboration between employers, educators, and jobseekers.
Pillar 3. Building Talent Engagement
BTF collaborates with trades to enhance their ability to recruit, hire, develop, engage, and retain diverse talent in the housing sector, by leveraging technology and advancing the professional development of people managers.
BTF supports the business growth of its trade partners and the industry’s workforce practices in residential construction while also fostering professional development, entrepreneurship, and career advancement among the industry’s workers and business owners.
BTF’s Vision: Building A Sustainable Workforce
A sustainable workforce is one that is valued by employers, well-trained and supported, engaged with colleagues and the industry at-large, safe and healthy both in and out of work, resilient to changes, diverse and representative of the broader local and national workforce, and treated and compensated fairly by employers. BTF believes that a thriving workforce that reflects all those characteristics can only exist within a well-functioning ecosystem of responsible employers, committed educators, and supportive, growth-oriented policies.
The supply of skilled, career-minded workers must meet employers’ hiring needs, industry leaders must collaborate with educators to consistently raise employees’ and firms’ standards of excellence, and talented individuals must be able to embark on rewarding careers. Building Talent Foundation is committed to creating engaged workers, in thriving, home-building careers, with its network of supportive, creative partners.
BTF’s Results:
Pillar 1. Building Talent Pipeline
In just the past two and a half years, BTF has engaged more than 140,000 job seekers and career explorers through career events, soft skills training and hiring events throughout its 20 markets across the U.S., promoting the idea of making homebuilding a career of choice.
Pillar 2. Building Talent Connections
Since programs launched in 2020, BTF has connected talent with employers, bringing 2,885 people into jobs in the construction industry. And so far in 2024, 1 out of 10 people connected with jobs have been veterans.
Pillar 3. Building Talent Engagement BTF supports the growth of trade partners with diverse talent. So far in 2024, 16.9% of BTF’s placements have been women (compared to the 4% share of women working in front line jobs in construction in the United States), 74.5% of BTF’s placements have been people of color (compared to the 41% share of people of color working in the construction industry), and 71.6% have been people under 30 years old. RB
Join BTF in building a sustainable workforce for the future.
• Follow BTF on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
• Sign up for BTF news at www.buildingtf.org
• Partner with BTF to make a difference.
BTF Changed Yaritza’s Life
From US Navy to Construction House Lead at Habitat of Humanity
Meet Yaritza, a true inspiration. As a US Navy veteran and a devoted mom to her 18-month-old, she knows the value of hard work and dedication. With a passion for building and working with her hands, Yaritza decided to take her skills to the next level and further her education at Home Builders Institute where she was connected with Building Talent Foundation in Houston, TX. BTF helped Yaritza land a job as a Construction House Lead for Habitat for Humanity. She’s using her talent and expertise to help provide affordable housing for those in need, and she’s making a real difference in her community. Yaritza’s strong work ethic, training, and desire to make a positive impact in her community have set her on the path to achieving her dreams of home ownership.
