A series of Open Houses at the newly opened Southeastern Carpenters’ Charlotte, North Carolina Education Center is succeeding in informing the region’s key decision-makers about the benefits of working with Union Carpenters.

The benefits of this professional carpenter education facility include keeping local hands on these local projects, which then keeps local money circulating in the community.

A recent open house attracted several North Carolina lawmakers and their staff:

U.S. Congresswoman Deborah Ross (NC 2nd)

U.S. Congresswoman Virginia Foxx (NC 5th)

Kyle Bridges, District Director for U.S. Congressman Ted Budd (NC 13th)

Sean Grier, District Staff for U.S. Congresswoman Kathy Manning (NC 6th)

Most recent local leaders attending included Charlotte City Council Member Victoria Watlington (District 3), and Veronica Grantham, Southwest Regional Operations Director from the North Carolina Department of Commerce Workforce Solutions.

“The point of the Open House program is to give political, civic, and workforce leaders an up-close look at the caliber of education being taught to prepare skilled carpenters for Charlotte employers,” said Tom Jenkins, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the Southeastern Carpenters Regional Council (SECRC).

“This education facility prepares men and women for careers in the Charlotte area, which will then funnel more dollars and support long-term residency in the community. Not only is our vision to establish a home base to help local youth develop career skills, but we also have the capability and structure in place to provide job placement for graduates of our apprenticeship program,” Jenkins added.

Open House attendees are encouraged to talk and interact with apprentices and instructors. They are educated about issues that hurt the local workforce, such as Tax Fraud and worker misclassification. They also learn about a program that’s re-introducing carpenter pre-apprenticeship education into area high schools via the Career Connections program.

The Charlotte Education Center includes 2,500 square feet of classrooms, computer labs and instructor offices. The facility is ground zero for helping Charlotte construction employers find and utilize carpenters who are trained in the exact skills they need for any particular jobsite in the region. Based in the Charlotte Education Center, SECRC affiliate Carpenters Local 312 will service the Carolinas and dispatch manpower to partnering contractors 24/7/365.

The next open house is Thursday, November 18 from 10 am to 2 p.m. If you would like to attend our next Open House, please contact Effrain Villatoro at evillatoro@secarpenters.org or 336-249-2239.