ABC Receives Pledge to America’s Workers Presidential Award

Associated Builders and Contractors has received the Pledge to America’s Workers Presidential Award, which was presented last month at a White House event. Among nine recipients, ABC was selected based on its achievements in workforce education and fulfilling its 2018 pledge to recruit and upskill at least 500,000 workers by 2023.

In 2019 alone, ABC members invested $1.5 billion to provide more than 1.1 million course attendees with craft, leadership and safety education to build a construction workforce that is safe, skilled and productive. Safety education accounted for nearly half of the total workforce investment, averaging more than $1,100 per employee.

“On behalf of ABC, our 69 chapters and 21,000-plus members, we’re honored to receive this award,” said Greg Sizemore, ABC’s vice president of health, safety, environment and workforce development. “Recruiting, educating and upskilling our workforce is a strategic goal for ABC, and an essential component of supporting our most important asset—our people. We thank President Trump, Presidential Advisor Ivanka Trump, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and the many leaders in this administration who have made career education a top priority, positioning career technical education and apprenticeship programs as a monumental personal achievement that leads to a successful, well-paying career.”

ABC’s all-of-the-above approach to workforce development has produced a network of ABC chapters and affiliates in 1,400 locations across the country that offer more than 800 apprenticeship, craft, safety and management education programs. ABC delivers construction education through innovative and flexible learning models, such as just-in-time task training, competency-based progression, work-based learning and industry-recognized apprenticeships in more than 50 professions—plus more than 300 U.S. Department of Labor-registered apprenticeship programs across 20 different occupations—to build the people who build America.

The inaugural award was created by the Department of Commerce in partnership with the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Baldrige Performance Excellence program and with support from the Department of Labor.