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Build My Future History

The original Build My Future event was created by the workforce group out of Springfield, MO.

The event they put on is for the Construction Industry as a whole. 

CFI was lucky to be invited to attend this extraordinary event to represent the Flooring Sector of the industry, and we were blown away by the amount of engaged young adults that swarmed the area. Their 2018 event welcomed about 1,214 students from 37 different cities, 57 schools and 15 counties!

The Construction and Trade Industry has struggled to find ways to allow the youth to “test drive” careers as they can with many other industries. This is what makes an event such as this so amazing for young adults to be a part of. Most young adults do not recognize a career in a trade as viable for their future, but that is simply because they have not gotten the proper education on it. The Flooring Industry is a career path for young adults that would not only open the opportunity for them to make good money, but it would even allow them to become business owners. The trade itself is hurting so bad that business owners within the industry are paying for young adults to go through training to learn how to become an installer, inspector, sales rep (ect.) just so they can turn around and hire them. The opportunity is now!

Build My Future: Flooring Edition 2019

Certified Flooring Installers Association (CFI) partnered with Informa/The International Surface Event (TISE) to host the first Annual Build My Future: Flooring Edition event in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. The event was held on April 23 at the Plano Event Center and welcomed all high school students from multiple school districts giving them the opportunity to participate in the event.

In January 2018, the Floor Covering Leadership Council (FCLC) commissioned an independent research firm to conduct a multi-phase study to quantify the scope and severity of the lack of installation professionals on the flooring industry’s sustainability and growth. The Blackstone Group Inc. was contracted to conduct the research, whose quantitative component focused on businesses that purchased workers’ services by engaging floor covering installers as direct employees and/or subcontractors in 2017. The study’s findings suggested, not only that the installation labor shortage is real, but that its financial impacts on the manufacturers, distributors and retailers up the flooring supply chain impacts that include lost margins on products and labor, production inefficiencies, higher labor costs and increased claims — are significantly greater than previously understood. According to the results of this research, over the next 10 years, to keep up with moderate growth within the flooring industry, approximately 180,000 installers must be recruited, trained and working in the industry. 

“CFI has been focused on the initiative of reaching the youth for the past 3 years. Not only to let them know that floor covering installation is a viable opportunity for them, but in most cases, it is also a very profitable one without the college debt,” explained Robert Varden, vice president of CFI.

The purpose of the Build My Future: Flooring Edition event was to introduce and educate students to the flooring industry and bring awareness to the different roles, which can be career opportunities as a flooring installation professional. CFI said it was lucky enough to be involved with the original Build My Future program, which takes place in Springfield, Miss. each year. This event consists of the entire construction industry coming together to showcase a career day for local high school students. After participating in this event CFI said it was encouraged to have their own Build My Future: Flooring Edition event in its home town of Dallas. CFI offered hands-on demos, competitions and prizes donated by its sponsors and supporters.

CFI said that with an amazing turn out from local school districts, young male and female students participated, and were blown away by the interactive showcase. “This is the best field trip I have ever been on and lunch hasn’t even been served yet”, exclaimed one of the students. The students came in open-minded and left with a totally new perspective of the flooring positions within their areas, some even left with job applications from local retailers who were in attendance, CFI added. CFI and Informa announced that they will be giving one lucky student, who attended the event, a fully paid 5-week introduction to CFI's residential carpet course which can be taken during summer break.

With the support of sponsors and contributors, CFI said the event was a success. CFI would like to thank Mohawk Industries, Floors To Go Texas, Schluter Systems, Mapei, Dal-Tile, Congoleum, One Source Commercial Floors, Rasa Floors, DDF Commercial, Tools 4 Flooring, Traxx, Fuse Commercial Alliance, iQ Power Tools, Magnetic Building Solutions, World Floor Covering Association (WFCA) and the CFI trainers. Also, CFI would like to give a special thank you to the original Build My Future event staff in Springfield, Miss for offering their guidance and the drive to adopt CFI's very own Build My Future: Flooring Edition.

April 5th, 2023 Springfield, MO

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Reaching The Next Generation

Build My Future: Flooring Edition gives the students the opportunity to have a day to work in the Flooring Industry through an interactive showcase. At this event, students will learn about the education programs and employment opportunities that are available within the Flooring Industry throughout the DFW Metroplex and Worldwide! Come be a part of this extraordinary, one of a kind, hands-on learning career fair event with equipment demonstrations, and educational displays facilitated by industry professionals.

Things To Consider:

  •  After High School Graduation only about 29.4% of students go on to enroll in college. After which only about 27% of college graduates obtain careers that are closely related to their degree. Unfortunately, for many who choose not to attend college after High School Graduation feel that fast-food and retail jobs are the only things that await them, and it’s simply not true!
  • “High schoolers are weighing the benefits of blue-collar trades at a time when well-paying jobs—and no debt—are hard to pass up”.
  • "For all the prestige of the college tradition, it is the profile of the trade school that is rising today. In 2017, the District of Columbia-based College Savings Foundation released its eighth annual "How Youth Plan to Fund College" survey of high school students nationwide. The Foundation reported that 39% of all respondents were considering alternatives to traditional four-year colleges based strictly on the cost factor. Of those, 9% were now considering vocational options in lieu of college. Increasingly, the cost of college is driving prospective college students toward alternatives. Trade school is among the most practical of these alternatives"
  • "For many students, college is their first experience away from home and, without an adequate plan, it’s easy to stray off course. In fact, the Institute of Education Statistics estimates that 40% of attendees at a four-year college drop out before completing their degree. If you find yourself as a part of that 40%, not only have you incurred some of the expense of college, you left without receiving a degree. For the 60% that do complete their degree, a whopping 64% take longer than four years to graduate, costing themselves nearly $70,000 in lost wages and educational expenses per year, according to U.S. News. Most colleges don’t even require students to pick a major until the end of their sophomore year, creating a class of undecided students who may have wasted their time and credits on courses that they chose not to pursue".

 

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