Existing Training Programs

Job Corps students studying traditional Construction training programs such as Bricklaying; Carpentry; Cement Masonry; Electrical; Facilities Maintenance; Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC); Painting; or Plumbing are benefiting from program improvements that will allow them to enter the workforce with more up-to-date skills.

Beginning with the basics of "Reject, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle," the programs advance to the fundamentals of green building rating systems, such as the National Association of Home Builders Model Green Home Building Guidelines and the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED).

As students learn how buildings achieve LEED-certified status, they are able to apply that knowledge to hands-on training projects on center. For example, since LEED-certified buildings have a certain percentage of recycled content, students learn how to salvage products used during construction and reuse them in another phase of the building process.

At the North Texas Job Corps Center, more than 40 students in six construction training areas worked together to renovate the center's Electrical, Concrete Masonry, and Brick Masonry training buildings.

Former North Texas career technical skills training coordinator Paul Dawson said, "Not only will we have more sustainable facilities that will cut our center's energy usage by at least 30 percent, but our students are receiving valuable, hands-on green training experience as they work on different aspects of the four buildings."

Each Construction training area was responsible for the following projects:

Facilities Maintenance students installed attic exhaust fans, which will lower heating and cooling costs.
Carpentry students installed attic insulation and prepared classroom and office walls for wainscoting and installation upgrades.
Painting students applied radiant barrier paint to the inside of the attic roof and the exterior of the buildings, which will insulate the buildings from the heat of the sun and lower the center's energy bills.
Electrical students redirected wire and added a new split-phase electricity distribution system for the buildings' new energy-efficient HVAC systems.
Cement Masonry students poured concrete platforms for each new HVAC unit.
Bricklaying students removed each building's old window air conditioning units and sealed the holes with brick.
Plumbing students installed energy-efficient water heaters and water-control flush valves in the bathrooms.

At the Cassadaga Job Corps Center, students in the Electrical and Plumbing training areas received hands-on training when the center made energy-efficient upgrades to its lighting, showerheads, toilets, faucets, and plumbing system.

Plumbing instructor Joe Syracuse said, "We have trained the students on all the low-flow fixtures. The showerheads, for instance, have a lower flow because the students learned how to install a disk with a smaller opening to cut down on the water volume. The pressure is still there, but the volume is cut down drastically.

"Duct work is a big thing for our students. Insulating the duct work and sealing up all the joints on the duct connections are both elements of our green training initiatives."

North Texas and Cassadaga are just two of dozens of centers across the country where students are reaping the benefits of Job Corps' commitment to providing training that uses energy-efficient practices.