March 2016 Partner Spotlight- Colorado Construction Institute
The Urban Land Conservancy celebrates the achievements of its partnerships that create and preserve nonprofit facilities and affordable housing for communities in metro Denver. ULC’s Monthly Partner Spotlight is awarded to partners who demonstrate the value of collaboration, furthering our mission to improve the lives of Denver area residents through our real estate investments and community assets.
Congratulations to our March 2016 Partner Spotlight of the Month: Colorado Construction Institute!
Colorado Construction Institute (CCI) is a nonprofit training organization providing innovative 21st century pre-apprentice and apprentice programs where people learn the soft and hard skills necessary to bridge the middle-skills gap. CCI offers a federally-funded Denver YouthBuild program focused on serving high school dropouts, Building Pathways programming for in-school youth, and industry-supported Construction Bootcamps for unemployed and underemployed adults that lead to careers in construction. CCI’s goal is to train individuals to become builders of their community and their future by providing trade skills, leadership skills, and field work experience that will lead to sustainable employment opportunities earning a living wage.
The CCI Training Center is located within ULC’s warehouse space at our Race Street TOD property in Denver’s Elyria Swansea neighborhood. CCI educates with a hands-on approach; all students spend one-third of training engaged in contextualized classroom lessons, and two-thirds of training engaged in building projects in the construction lab or at real-world projects across the Denver Metro community. This focus upon hands-on skills development ensures that CCI graduates are prepared for immediate post-program employment to meet the Colorado’s growing demand for labor. Every 5 weeks, for example, CCI graduates a Construction Bootcamp cohort of individuals ready and prepared for employment in Construction. Each of these graduates has completed 120 hours of construction training, obtained industry-recognized safety and competency certifications, and has been equipped with the basic skills necessary to start a career.
“CCI is an incredible organization that has proven their commitment to working with disenfranchised communities through educating high schoolers and adults, providing them the construction skills necessary to earn a living wage,” states Aaron Miripol, ULC President and CEO. “Giving people an opportunity for a better quality of life through job training is essential, ULC sees this need as we work in neighborhoods that face challenges of poverty and displacement. CCI is giving people an opportunity to overcome those challenges.”
ULC is honored to partner with CCI in various ways, and has seen much success in providing projects and opportunities for students to get “real life” project experience. CCI students have designed and built a walkway that better connects existing facilities and assets at ULC’s Holly Square, performed numerous tenant improvement projects and building improvements at ULC’s Tramway Nonprofit Center (CCI’s previous location), and assisted in the demolition of a 7,000 square foot space in ULC’s Mountain View Nonprofit Tower. Later this year, students will take part in the activation of ULC’s Thriftway property in Westwood by building seating and shade structures to compliment the futsal court installation and community gardens scheduled to be planted.
CCI also partners with other Nonprofits, Community-Based Organizations, Educators, Businesses, and Government Agencies to create a comprehensive workforce development strategy for the Denver Metro Area. Some of these partners include Workforce Initiative Now, Mile High Connects, Regional Transportation District (RTD), Colorado High School Charter, Emily Griffith Technical College, Home Builders Association of Metro Denver, Home Builders Foundation, and Denver Office of Economic Development, among others.
“Partnerships are the lifeblood of any nonprofit organization,” said Michael Smith, CCI Executive Director. “The opportunities our partners provide allow students to engage in real-world construction projects – this is an invaluable asset to our skills training programming. As an early collaborator, ULC’s projects allowed us to develop the framework for the hands-on field work that has become the hallmark of a CCI program. I cannot overstate how grateful I am for ULC’s support and look forward to deploying CCI students to future projects at ULC properties.”
Looking ahead, CCI is excited to welcome Colorado High School Charter (CHSC), an accredited DPS high school and academic partner for Denver YouthBuild, into 4800 Race Street. Having a CHSC satellite campus in CCI’s building will allow for efficient support and academic enrichment for Denver YouthBuild students.
CCI also continues to increase partnerships to expand Building Pathways training programs for young people engaged in local high schools. Currently, Building Pathways partners include 3 area alternative high schools that are committed to providing pathways for their students to earn a diploma while gaining valuable career skills centered upon residential construction techniques. CCI hopes to double the number of participating public, charter, and alternative high schools by 2017. In addition, CCI is in the final stages of partnering with area community colleges so that Building Pathways students can earn college credit through concurrent enrollment arrangements.
Finally, another major initiative in development is the launch of CCI’s competency-based Registered Apprenticeship. This apprenticeship will focus upon a demographic of low-income individuals with barriers to employment that have historically struggled to succeed in traditional apprentice models. CCI’s apprentice program will provide high-quality wrap around services – a feature often lacking from traditional apprenticeships – in order to help each individual overcome their unique barrier(s) and secure living-wage employment. This apprenticeship will partner with Home Builders Association of Metro Denver and Home Builders Institute.
ULC is excited to celebrate many more success stories with CCI in 2016! To learn more about how you can volunteer, donate or learn about other ways to support this incredible organization, visit ccidenver.org for more information!