BRATTLEBORO — Beginning Oct. 3, and running through March 2020, The Sustainable Energy Outreach Network and the Windham Regional Career Center will offer late afternoon and evening trainings designed to help working-age adults enter their careers as Level I High Performance Builders.
This is the initial phase of an industry-recognized credential plus SEON's High Performance Certification. Through financial support from the Windham Regional Career Center, the Vermont Department of Labor, the Vermont Student Assistance Corporation, and the Windham County Economic Development Program, SEON is now able to deliver their training program to those who want to enter the “green building” sector.
According to a news release, this is the first certification program of its kind in Vermont for the carpentry industry and is endorsed by the Vermont Homebuilders and Remodelers Association and Vermont Passive House. It focuses not only on basic construction but on the application of higher-order skills addressing energy efficiency, durability, indoor air quality, health, and safety.
The program will encompass classroom learning, hands-on learning in a lab, and job-site learning (apprenticeship-style learning).
SEON says its training program is designed to address the nation's aging housing stock as well as construction methods that ignore energy-efficient building strategies. The group says architects, engineers, and more knowledgeable customers are demanding more of builders, yet the knowledge base within the construction industry is hampered by a lack of training.
They add that, according to Vermont employment data, the most in-demand jobs in the state over the next decade will be for carpenters and builders.