NAHB Partnership Revives Technical Education Training in Schools

NAHB is spotlighting career and technical education-related stories throughout CTE® month in February.
NAHB members fondly remember shop class or their vocational education, which in recent years has evolved into Career and Technical Education (CTE). CTE encompasses various in-demand careers for the 21st century, including the building trades. A lack of skilled workers is a persistent challenge for the residential construction industry. NAHB’s national partnership with the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) will help address the pressing need for qualified professionals.
“ACTE is providing educational leadership to develop the workforce needed for today and tomorrow. We are so grateful for our partnership with NAHB and other employer-focused organizations,” said LeAnn Curry, executive director of ACTE. “Together, we work side-by-side to ensure America’s future and the future of individuals who will help drive our economy forward.”
ACTE is the nation’s largest not-for-profit association committed to the advancement of education that prepares youth and adults for successful careers. NAHB’s partnership with ACTE will:
- Connect home builders’ associations (HBAs) and member leaders to schools;
- Provide educators with access to industry professionals; and
- Establish relationships between students and educators with all levels of the Federation.
A critical partnership benefit for the Federation is direct access to ACTE’s vast network of school administrators and skilled trades instructors. NAHB’s workforce development team can connect any HBA to contacts at area high schools, community colleges or universities to establish a student chapter and introduce them to the Home Builders Institute’s Skills to Schools grant program and their nationally recognized, patented Pre-Apprenticeship Certificate Training (PACT) curriculum.
Schools that partner with an HBA will be able to expand career exploration opportunities for their students. NAHB members have worked with schools to generously donate their time for job shadowing, internships or apprenticeships, job site visits and guest lecturing, and provide funding for tools and equipment.
Beyond the classroom, schools can raise the visibility of their CTE programs by working with HBAs to prepare and send student teams to the International Builders’ Show to participate in the NAHB Student Competition.
For more information on NAHB’s workforce development national partnership strategy or to establish a connection with a CTE program in your community, contact Greg Zick.
Latest from NAHBNow
Aug 01, 2025
Meet at Home with Your Members of CongressNAHB members across the nation can build on the success of the June Legislative Conference by meeting with their lawmakers in their home districts in August to discuss key issues that affect the home building industry.
Jul 31, 2025
How Home Builders Beat the Labor Crunch with This Fast Financing PlanStruggling to secure labor can force builders to make tough decisions: Do you delay a project? Sacrifice profits? Or turn down new opportunities? But smart builders don’t just react — they adapt their financing strategy to meet labor challenges head-on.
Latest Economic News
Jul 31, 2025
Personal Income Rises 0.3% in JunePersonal income increased by 0.3% in June, following a 0.4% dip in May, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The gains in personal income were largely driven by higher wages and social benefits.
Jul 31, 2025
Housing Share of GDP: Second Quarter 2025Housing’s share of the economy registered 16.3% in the second quarter of 2025, according to the advance estimate of GDP produced by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. This reading is unchanged from a revised level of 16.3% in the first quarter and is the same as the share one year ago.
Jul 30, 2025
Fed Remains on Pause AgainAt the conclusion of its July meeting, the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy committee once again held the federal funds rate constant at a top rate of 4.5%. However, two members of the committee dissented from the decision (Fed Board Governors Waller and Bowman), the largest number of dissenting votes since 1993.