Veteran and Transitional Age Youth (TAY) Job Training/Education/Career Program Overview

The challenges of modern housing markets have taken a toll on available resources of affordable housing for middle and lower socio-economic classes. At the same time, the available training programs for Veterans and Transitional Age Youth (TAY) struggle to keep up with market demands of basic skills, required on-site training, education and meaningful career placement. AVMHB has a solution to meet the housing demands as well as establishing a critical partnership of training, qualifying and placing human resources.

Affordable housing throughout Southern California is increasingly difficult to secure and the pressure on available real estate compounds the problem for the future. Even though housing development is extremely face paced, there is a shortage of qualified skilled labor to meet the demands of developers. The entre into training and placement programs to fill these labor needs has been largely unmet through current educational and construction training programs.

American Veteran Mini Home Builders has developed a solution that addresses both issues of affordable housing and training programs through one simple product. AVMHB has developed and delivered on the concept of installing manufactured homes (2 or 3 bedrooms) on a rear lot with an existing primary home throughout Southern California. The concept not only maximizes the real estate by adding more living space and thus reducing housing pressures but gives the opportunity for construction training programs to gain the invaluable experience of on-site training.

The solution to the affordable housing shortage and unmet construction training programs is the development of an internal training program to support and deliver the resources needed for the manufactured housing on available properties. The training program will incorporate screening of applicants, basic job and communication skills, classroom and on-line education of the construction industry, on-site construction training/ Apprentership, preparation for construction certifications and contractors licensing programs, and job/career placements. The primary focus for candidates is Veterans and Transitional Age Youth.

An outline of the training program:

1. Completed Application Review by VOALA/AVMHB 2 weeks
2. Screening of applicants In house staff 2 weeks
3. Basic job and communication In house staff, educational setting 2 weeks
4. Construction education In house, educational setting 2-5 weeks
5. Construction experience In house, field setting, mini homes projects 8 weeks-15wks
6. Certifications and Licenses Educational setting, field experience 2-5 years
7. Job Placements In house staff or apprenticeship program tbd

The current Youth Build programs inherently face challenges that can be overcome through interaction with our internal program. Defining and securing a talented and available General Contractor to oversee the construction training program is problematic due to the high demand on their skill set and the high salaries associated with a General Contractor. Additionally, most General Contractors are not skilled in teaching their trades to Veterans and TAY. We have identified several General Contractors capable of filling this void. Secondly, ensuring a stable and meaningful workload for the trainees for the contractual on-site experience and training has been difficult to deliver. Our program will ensure long term on-site experience for our students. Lastly, it is important to recognize the contract supplies roughly half of the needed funding for construction training thus increasing demand on the hosting agency. AVMHB business model will allow proceeds to go directly into the training program to alleviate the shortfall from the contract. The Construction Apprentership Program for Veterans will entail an 8- week training program at the site of a Manufactured Housing Warehouse. This 6 hour a day, 5 day a week program will address non-skilled labor needs such as painting, drywalling, carpet installation, framing, mud and tape, cabinetry and siding installation to name a few. Once the training program is completed the trainee can apply for a full-time position and within two years become a skilled laborer.

In addition to the construction training program, we have plotted a future path forward in other job training areas to ensure a well-rounded program. In our limited experience, we have been successful in introducing high school students to the field of architecture through available software packages and developing usable projects for our program. We have limited yet successful experience in programs such as CyberPatriot which are largely internet-based training programs that have an amazing future in job opportunities. These two fields and others (e.g., veterinary technicians) are areas of interest to our company because of our ability to connect needed resources to the available resources of Veterans and TAY.

In conclusion, I believe that our construction training program will bring a realistic solution to the “resources available” problems facing our communities. We can help solve the housing crisis while training Veterans and TAY in meaningful careers that will last a lifetime. Our puzzle piece is to bridge the gap between affordable housing and needed training programs through an inventive and bold concept that is sustainable and replicable.