The Greater Michigan Construction Academy, headquartered in Midland MI will join forces with the Industrial Arts Institute (IAI) in Onaway, MI to bring construction, building and contracting skilled trades education to Northern Michigan. “Our collaboration with the GMCA is a great fit for us,” said IAI Board President, Marilyn Kapp Moran. “The GMCA is a premiere construction skilled trades training organization, focused on serving independent builders and contractors and filling their industry talent gaps. Like IAI, GMCA believes in training students to be workforce ready, solve problems and use critical thinking. We are aligned in our approach to education with a hands-on method and instructors with deep industry knowledge and experience.”
The partners are launching with three main focuses for the kickoff. The GMCA will launch a Construction Technology certificate program -a 600 hour FAST TRACK pilot in January 2016 at the IAI location in Onaway, MI. They are expecting to engage with 8-10 members of the Home Builders Association of Northern Michigan for student internships/practicum experience. By summer 2016, IAI & GMCA will host a joint SKILLED TRADES ACADEMY summer camp for 13-17 year olds. The 40-80 hour camp will introduce students to carpentry, electrical, plumbing, HVAC, welding, manual machining & fabrication, shop math and hand tools.
“The intent of the summer camp is to “light the fire” for skilled trades options for youth in a fun and exploratory environment,” said Georgia Abbott, Executive Director of IAI.
“Providing our kids a pathway to a career is an obligation we all share as leaders. The Greater Michigan Construction Academy is thrilled that we have an opportunity to provide Skilled Trades in Construction to Northern Michigan,” Jimmy Greene, President and CEO of the Greater Michigan Construction Academy.
The Home Builders Association of Northern Michigan has endorsed the program. “We are so excited to be a part of this collaboration. These programs will help our members sustain and grow their businesses with a quality skilled workforce and will help to strengthen our Northern Michigan Economy”, said Scott Herceg, Executive Officer of the Home Builders Association of Northern Michigan. Over the next two months, the GMCA & IAI teams are scheduled to present the specifics behind the launch to several industry organizations, private businesses and community organizations. Interested sponsors, donors, school administrations, parents, potential students, builders & contractors and community organizations desiring to learn more about the GMCA/IAI launch should contact Executive Director, Georgia Abbott. Industrial Arts Institute is a division of Moran Iron Works.