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As many companies and organizations throughout the country continue to deal with the repercussions of the COVID-19 Pandemic, many of them find it extremely difficult to find and recruit skilled workers for their workforce. One association working hard to combat these shortages by providing its participants with a strong pathway to employment and a successful career is the Builders Association of North Central Florida’s Apprenticeship Program (BANCF). This program helps businesses recruit, train, and retain skilled workers across the trades providing a better educated, highly skilled, and progressive workforce.
Here at ApprentiScope, we have the amazing opportunity to be able to have The Builders Association of North Central Florida as one of our customers and had the chance to talk with their Executive Officer & Training Director, Sara Emmanuel, about the aspects of their program and the direction its currently heading.
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BANCF was founded in Gainesville, Florida, in 1955 by a group of building pioneers, including Clark Butler, George Gaston, Fred Mason, Walter Stubbs, Harold Walker, and A.W. Fletcher. The first meetings were held in a small sales office owned by several of the builders. BANCF has since grown into a 500-member association with a vision of being the premier association within North Central Florida that positively impacts and provides value to the building industry. Their mission is to engage builders and businesses, advocate on their behalf, and provide resources within the communities they serve.
The BANCF Apprenticeship Program, registered by the Florida Department of Education, is an association-sponsored and employer-driven model that incorporates an “earn to learn” style of combining on-the-job training with related classroom instruction. This allows apprentices to earn wages while learning trade skills to better prepare them for future needs, growth, and enhancing your bottom line.
“When everything shut down during the pandemic, we worked with our local government to deem construction as essential. Construction was able to continue, and employees were able to pay their bills and support their families”.
Sara Emmanuel, Executive Officer & Training Director at Building Association of North Central Florida
The Apprenticeship Program provides programs for electrical, heating, and air conditioning (HVAC), plumbing, and carpentry trades. Each trade is a 4-year program except for carpentry which is only 2 years. Over the span of 4 years, apprentices will receive 8,000 hours of on-the-job training (2,000 for carpentry) and 650 hours of related technical classroom instruction (325 for carpentry).
The program's success relies heavily on the partnerships between employers, BANCF, Santa Fe College, and the Florida Department of Education. As a member of BANCF, employers can participate in the Apprenticeship Program and enroll their employees as apprentices. Employers are responsible for the apprentice’s tuition and providing continuous on-the-job training. Santa Fe College provides the classrooms, labs, curriculum, instructors, and staff to support the program.
Upon completing the program, the apprentices will graduate with a nationally recognized Certificate of Completion from the State of Florida and Santa Fe College. Apprentices will also have the opportunity to take the Journeyman Exam, which is a license recognized locally. Graduates from the electrical, HVAC, and plumbing program will earn 12 college credit hours towards an Associate Degree in Construction Management (14 credit hours for carpentry) to provide an additional career path. Finally, and more importantly, each apprentice will graduate with zero debt.
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After talking with Sara about the ins and outs of BANCF’s Apprenticeship Program, we shifted focus to her vision for the future and what it has taken to get to their level of success. When asked what significant obstacles the program may have experienced previously and if she had any advice for a program just starting, she responded,
“I think one of the biggest challenges for me when I first started was not having a database or software like ApprentiScope. I needed a comprehensive database that could track the progress of the apprentices throughout the program but also be accessible to employers and other staff members. This is a common need among programs like these, so I was extremely excited to find ApprentiScope”.
Sara Emmanuel, Executive Officer & Training Director at Building Association of North Central Florida
With that said, her advice to future programs who are just starting is that it can be a little difficult to get your program off the ground but to take advantage of the other programs and resources within the apprenticeship network. Take advantage of those who have “been there done that” Emmanuel also believes that having a good partnership with your RTI provider is also extremely important, as well as having good instructors who can pass on their industry knowledge.
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Moving into her future goals in aspirations for BANCF’s Apprenticeship Program, Emmanuel wants to be able to expand out in the additional counties her association services. Emmanuel would also like to continue to build more partnerships within the program, not just for funding purposes but to find resources and other organizations that will help start the process of changing the overall mindset around apprenticeships by showing just how important these programs can be. Emmanuel believes that young people are no longer exposed to the trades due to the lack of career technical courses such as shop classes. She also believes that its imperative to get in front of middle and high school students to start educating them about the benefits of apprenticeship and the careers it can create.
We rounded out our time with Sara by asking her how ApprentiScope has helped BANCF achieve its goals,
“ApprentiScope is a game-changer. It’s cut our management time in half, giving us an enormous amount of time back to focus on growing & improving our programs. Our employers, instructors, staff, and apprentices love it.”
Sara Emmanuel, Executive Officer & Training Director at Building Association of North Central Florida
