Pictured: Dominique Campbell. Photo courtesy of CareerEdge.

The inaugural class of eight local residents graduated on May 5 from a first-of-its-kind training program in the construction field offered by CareerEdge Funders Collaborative and funded through Marie Selby Botanical Gardens’ Master Plan. Within a week of completing the training, at least two of the graduates had started new jobs with one of the subcontractors working on the Master Plan project at Selby Gardens’ Downtown Sarasota campus. CareerEdge’s new core construction skills training initiative is designed to provide participants with industry-recognized credentials in the construction field, as well as life and career-skills training and financial education through CareerEdge’s “Bridges to Careers” program. Participants receive 80 hours of training at no cost to them. Those who successfully complete the tuition-free training then have an opportunity to be considered for employment with one of the subcontractors working for Willis Smith Construction, the construction management firm for Selby Gardens’ Master Plan. The program is made possible through $100,000 in funding assistance from the Campaign for Selby Gardens’ Master Plan, with additional support from Bank of America. The Master Plan is estimated to have an economic impact of more than $78 million on the region, according to Selby Gardens President & CEO Jennifer Rominiecki. She said the training and job-placement initiative will help keep more of that impact and its future benefits in the local community. Within a week of the May 5 graduation, participant Dominique Campbell had started his first day on the job with Bright Future Electric, a subcontractor on the Selby Gardens project. A second graduate started working with the same company the following day.

Pictured: Dominique Campbell. Photo courtesy of CareerEdge.