The Associated General Contractors of Colorado’s (AGC/C) Future Leaders Forum annual sporting clay event raised $47,500 to support the construction workforce development programs of the Construction Education Foundation of Colorado (CEF Colorado). The donations will fund scholarships for college students in construction management programs and provide support for construction education to high school students and underemployed adults throughout Colorado.
The September 18 event brought together 175 clay shooters at the Kiowa Creek Sporting Club in Bennett, Colorado. One individual earned best score, and two teams finished the morning with top honors. The best shooter of the day was Jordan Jones of Wayne’s Electric, Inc. In the team competition, the first-place team from Fiore & Sons, Inc. included Jeff Saathoff, Jake Logue, Monte Telitz, and Mike Kelly. Members of the second-place team included Earl Webster with ICI, Nick Kadlec from Haselden Construction, Elijah Schutz from GE Johnson Construction Company, and Mike Narum from the CPI Group.
The Future Leaders Forum hosts this annual fundraiser with a focus on construction career pathways. “It is vital to bring new, young talent into the construction industry, both in the field as well as in management positions. The current workforce has struggled to keep up with the demand placed on Colorado construction firms, as construction has remained essential throughout the pandemic,” commented Taylor Mead, director of operations at Tower Electric, Inc., and co-chair of AGC/C’s Future Leaders Forum Clay Shoot Committee.
The proceeds from this sporting clay event will go towards scholarships for college students enrolled in construction management programs at Colorado State University and the University of Colorado. In addition, the donations will also fund the following CEF Colorado workforce development programs: Careers in Construction, High School Construction Connection and Construction Careers Now. These programs provide access to construction pre-apprenticeship training to both high school students and underemployed adults in Colorado.
This focus on construction workforce development is supported by Governor Jared Polis, who declared the month of October as Careers in Construction Month. The proclamation states that “The construction industry needs 1 million new craft professionals by 2023 nationwide; and…we are pleased to honor the construction craft professionals and the essential and critical roles they play in the development of our state of Colorado”
Daniel Moor, estimator at Berg Electric, Inc. and co-chair of AGC/C’s Future Leaders Forum Clay Shoot Committee, emphasized the importance of construction workforce development funding by stating, “Our future and present workforce will always be our industry’s most vital resource; continually investing in it, by raising funds, is the only way to assure healthy outcomes in safety, efficiency, and innovation for the ever-growing field of construction.”
