In June, BTF brought three of its longtime partners together to collaborate on a pilot training and hiring event that has already made a lasting impact on the lives its participants and their communities. It also promises to help address the talent shortage in professional painting contractors, one of the key trades for residential construction.
The training portion of the event featured curriculum and trainers from Sherwin-Williams’ HomeWork program, as well as educational video content provided by the Painting Contractors Association, with support from Sherwin-Williams.
The event was attended by 11 San Antonio residents, including San Antonio Housing Authority (SAHA) participants. It culminated in a hiring event that connected students to new job opportunities with various painting contractors referred to the program by BTF, SAHA, PCA, and Lennar, one of BTF’s founding partners.
The event was shown to be an effective way to close the talent gap in professional painting. Based on that success, the four partners will repeat the event in San Antonio, and BTF, Sherwin-Williams, and PCA will replicate it throughout the country.
Collaborative Effort
Sherwin-Williams, a global leader in delivering paint and coatings products to the world, supported the event with its HomeWork training program, providing classroom time and real-world painting curriculum, tools and equipment. The company has trained nearly 8,000 students since they launched the HomeWork program in 2004. Sherwin-Williams supported the event by donating painting supplies to each of the students so after graduation, they would be ready to start new jobs immediately.
The Painting Contractors Association (PCA), which supports more than 300,000 painting contractors in North America, provided video learning content for the training, which is supported by Sherwin-Williams. The PCA also produced a video of the event, which will be used to promote the pilot program in other markets.
SAHA’s mission is to provide low-income residents of San Antonio access to affordable housing and social services, with the ultimate goal of creating thriving communities. The non-profit organization provides housing assistance to more than 57,000 low-income residents, almost half of which are children.
As host of the event, SAHA provided the classroom facility as well as two apartments where students could apply what they learned and paint the interiors. SAHA and BTF worked together to recruit students from among the housing authority’s residents and the greater San Antonio area.
All of the organizations worked together to bring in three San Antonio area painting contractors to interview and hire students into full-time jobs. In addition, Lennar, one of BTF’s founding partners, also referred a painting contractor.
“Having all these companies work together is what made this event a success,” said Jenna Garcia, Engagement Manager for BTF who coordinated the event. “It shows what you can achieve with a collaborative effort.”
An Outstanding Achievement
The program was designed to give participants the basic knowledge they need to start careers as professional painters. It covered everything from the basics of paint, how to apply it efficiently, job site safety, and equipment.
The graduates earned a certificate under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Renovation, Repair and Painting program. The fact that all participants passed is an outstanding achievement, according to Wayne Seymour, Commercial Class Instructor for Sherwin-Williams. “They left the program able to finish a project and make it look better than it did when they went in there,” he said.
Starting Anew
BTF is a longtime partner with SAHA. Prior to this event Garcia worked with SAHA to organize five hiring events to connect their participants – as well as other low-income residents of San Antonio – to job opportunities in the homebuilding trades. To date, Garcia has placed 26 attendees from those events into new jobs.
According to Joel Tabar, Director of Community Development Initiatives for SAHA, the collaborative training and hiring event was a perfect fit because it offered residents a chance to start again with new careers. “When you think about painting, you think about renewal,” Tabar said. “For our residents that is what they're trying to do. They're trying to start anew.”
Students Land Jobs
Students left the event knowing how to paint, but more importantly, they saw the long-term opportunities professional painting holds. “Learning the basics of these skills will allow me to have a better job, better opportunities, and better benefits,” said LuCretia Wilson, a student in the program, adding that she saw even more possibilities, including eventually starting her own business.
According to Garcia, the event has allowed many of the students to land full-time jobs. Of the 11 students, six students were offered jobs with local painting contractors, and another five were interviewed and are awaiting offers.
Garcia was extremely happy with the results of the program. “In just one week, we were able to help these people get the training they needed to start new careers,” she said. “It was extremely exciting to be a part of an event that was the first of its kind, with many more to come.”