most often focuses on how employers cannot find the staff to deliver projects.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\nIn the summer of 2024, the opposite was true for Robbie Sharpe. In his case, he had more potential future construction workers than he could train.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\nAs the building construction program director at Midlands Technical College in Columbia, South Carolina, Sharpe said he had to turn away student applicants because he had no more space to train anyone. The program educates students in cohorts by building single-family homes, then sells the structures and uses the funds for future iterations.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\nWhen representatives from the Lowe\u2019s Foundation heard about the demand for Sharpe\u2019s program, they penned a $1 million grant for Sharpe\u2019s program.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\nThat allowed him to hire a fourth full-time instructor and increase enrollment options.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\u201cAt any given semester, we can take in 48 students,\u201d Sharpe told Construction Dive. \u201cWe used to be 24. So we doubled our capacities off of that, and it looks like it’s going to grow even further.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\nMidlands Technical College is one example of outreach by the Lowe\u2019s Foundation, which in 2023 pledged to donate $50 million across five years to reach 50,000 individuals seeking careers in the skilled trades, Foundation Director Betsy Conway told Construction Dive. To date, the nonprofit has donated $43 million to 60 different technical schools, Conway said.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\nCreativity in developing programs has improved immensely, Conway said, with hands-on experiences like those Sharpe provides better preparing workers for the trade workforce.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n