Growing Training Program Aims to Bolster Vermont’s Workforce

Last summer, 29-year-old Alex Reid found himself at a career crossroads. The St. Albans resident had worked in tree service and as a FedEx delivery driver in the years since he’d graduated from college but he didn’t see a future in either path. He was interested in breaking into construction — an industry expected to offer more than 4,000 openings in Vermont in the next 10 years, according to a recent report by the McClure Foundation and the Vermont Department of Labor.

But because he didn’t have experience in the field, Reid said construction companies weren’t interested in hiring him. When a family member mentioned a Construction 101 training program offered through the nonprofit ReSOURCE, which came with a $500 weekly stipend, Reid eagerly applied.

Over the summer, he spent six weeks getting an overview of the trade — first learning foundational carpentry skills and then applying that knowledge by helping with flood recovery efforts in Barre. During the final two weeks of the session, he worked with Eliot Lothrop of Building Heritage, a small Huntington company that specializes in historic preservation, restoring the East Monitor Barn on the campus of the Vermont Youth Conservation Corps in Richmond.

Reid’s experience was made possible through Serve Learn Earn, a workforce development program that pools the resources of four local nonprofits: ReSOURCE, Vermont Youth Conservation Corps, Vermont Works for Women and Audubon Vermont. Founded in 2021, the program has provided workforce training and community service opportunities in the trades, conservation and sustainable agriculture to more than 1,400 participants.

The program has grown steadily since its inception, with annual funding from the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation. Now, it’s poised to expand even further, thanks to a $1.8 million, three-year grant from the Ascendium Education Group, a national nonprofit focused on helping people achieve their academic and career goals.

“So often, nonprofits are in their silos,” said Kate Gluckman, Serve Learn Earn’s director. “But when we start working together, opportunities bubble up.”

In an aging state, with a large number of workers nearing retirement age and not nearly enough young people poised to replace them, workforce development programs are increasingly viewed as a crucial way of filling the gap, boosting career prospects for workers and the economy as a whole. In 2022, Gov. Phil Scott signed a bill into law that invested around $16 million from the American Rescue Plan Act into training, scholarship and loan-forgiveness programs designed to address Vermont’s workforce shortage.

Serve Learn Earn says its alumni are making a difference, having earned a collective $3.25 million in wages and stipends and 552 work credentials, such as certifications in workplace safety practices, hand- and power-tool skills, and chain saw operation.

Reid was one of the success stories. After his course ended, the conservation corps hired him to continue assisting Lothrop on the barn project, which will eventually provide new teaching and training space for the nonprofit.

Reid’s trajectory — from a young person who wanted to gain expertise in a high-demand field to a skilled worker who’s able to contribute to Vermont’s economy — is a prime example of the program’s potential, Gluckman said: “His experience is what we’re trying to replicate.”

The nonprofits that make up Serve Learn Earn have overlapping missions, but they all provide distinct opportunities.

Audubon Vermont mainly offers programs for teens. Young people can apply to be counselors-in-training at the organization’s summer camps or take part in a Junior Conservation Technician program that teaches them about topics such as bird banding and trail management.

The conservation corps program focuses on trail maintenance and water quality projects, as well as building outdoor structures such as huts and lean-tos. In a separate Food & Farm program, crew members grow organic crops and raise chickens for families who have barriers to getting locally grown produce.

Vermont Works for Women provides training in the trades through its Trailblazers program. And ReSOURCE offers 6-week, intensive sessions in construction, HVAC and weatherization and a 12-month YouthBuild program in which teens and young adults can learn construction skills and earn trade certifications.

Several new programs are also in the works. In late spring, the conservation corps will begin offering a 17-week pre-apprenticeship focused on timber framing, a traditional construction method in which timber is joined together using wooden pegs, without the use of metal fasteners. It’s the technique that Lothrop and Reid are using to restore the East Monitor Barn.

In Vermont, there’s a need for experts in timber framing to restore old structures such as barns and churches, said Breck Knauft, the conservation corps’ executive director. He’s already been contacted by people interested in enrolling, even though the organization has yet to formally advertise the program. Knauft believes there’s an appeal to learning traditional skills that can also be applied to more modern types of construction.

ReSOURCE also has started a new Introduction to Heavy Equipment program. In December, four men took part in a three-week pilot during which they learned to operate a mini excavator, skid steer and all-terrain forklift known as a telehandler. One of their first projects at the conservation corps campus in Richmond was digging a 179-foot trench to run electricity to a small barn.

Jeff Schake, program manager of construction trainings for ReSOURCE, also invited staff from the Vermont Agency of Transportation and Kingsbury, a local construction company, to speak with students about potential career paths.

On the second-to-last day of class, participants wearing neon yellow safety vests took turns in the driver’s seat of a Kubota skid steer, scooping out dirt from a muddy bank to make more space for parking. Instructor Tammy Ellis, a retired VTrans employee who teaches classes for both ReSOURCE and Vermont Works for Women, kept a close eye on the worksite.

“Feather it up!” she yelled over the loud rumble of the machine. The student responded by slowly lifting the bucket on the vehicle as it dug into the dirt bank.

The four students had enrolled for different reasons.

Jake McKenna trained to be a Harley-Davidson motorcycle mechanic after high school but didn’t stick with it. He ultimately found a job running a printing press but wanted to find a line of work that would allow him to spend time outdoors.

Cody Atwood, a maintenance worker at Patrick Leahy Burlington International Airport, wanted to learn how to operate heavy machinery so he could contribute more at his current job.

Both Kevin Mongeon and Hassan Kassim, who is deaf and attended the class with a sign language interpreter, were hoping to learn skills that would make them more employable. A longtime employee for VTrans who just retired was deaf, Schake noted, which showed Kassim that it was a viable career path.

All of the men said they appreciated learning how to use the equipment while also helping to improve the conservation corps’ grounds.

Ciara Fagan had a similarly meaningful experience during her time as a University of Vermont undergrad and in the year after graduation by working as an educator at Audubon Vermont through the Serve Learn Earn program. She now uses the skills she learned — curriculum development, grant writing and volunteer management — in her job as education director for the NYC Plover Project, a Queens-based organization that works to protect endangered shorebirds on city beaches.

Taking part in Serve Earn Learn isn’t always a path to a dream job, Gluckman noted, and not all of those who enroll, such as Fagan, will stay in Vermont. But, Gluckman said, the program offers them a step in the right direction.

For Reid, restoring a century-old barn wasn’t necessarily the type of job he envisioned when he signed up for Serve Learn Earn. But the more he has learned about timber framing, the more fascinated he’s become with the historic construction form. He loves all things old, from vintage bicycles to antiques.

“I kind of ended up here by accident,” Reid said, but “I think this is where I belong, career-wise.”