2022 MBI-WORKS Recipients
Kingland Construction Services
Forest City, IA
Award: $76,050
Non-Profit: Forest City YMCA John V. Hanson Career Center
These funds will remodel a storage space into the YSTC to provide a home for after school/summer programs to engage grades K-8 with experience in skilled trades. The programs will be offered at no charge and provide hands-on education in carpentry, mechanics, virtual welding, electrical/plumbing, and more. The YSTC will be used to develop skills that will benefit youth throughout their lives while sparking a passion for activities that may lead then down the skilled trades career path. The John V. Hanson Career Center will assist with curriculum design and provide speakers to ensure our participants get the highest quality education possible and serve as a conduit to higher level programs.
Turner Construction
Pleasant Hill, IA
Award: $30,000
MBI Supporting Members: SME Mechanical, Architectural Arts, The Waldinger Corporation
Non-Profits: Southeast Polk Community High School
Our goal is to expose students to updates and modernized CNC equipment in our Industrial Technology labs. Advanced metal students would have the opportunity to become HAAS certified. Our partnership with Turner Construction and it’s trade partners along with SME Mechanical, The Waldinger Corporation and Architectural Arts will allow us to implement several pieces for student engagement. With our MBI partners, we will engage students with Site Tours, Ask the Expert, Job Shadowing, Educate the Educator, and Leadership Activities.
Portzen Construction
Calmar, IA
Award: $30,000
MBI Supporting Member: Paulson Electric
Non-Profit: Paulson Electric
By utilizing TRANSFR’s VR Career Exploration simulations, NICC will offer a cost-effective solution to accurately portray construction job environments, on-the-job tasks (often prohibited to students for safety reasons) and outline pathways to students grades 7-12. VR headsets are portable with a built-in digital instructor, Simon, who coaches 1-on-1 through 26+ careers including construction, turning any classroom with wi-fi into an industry training facility. This removes the need to purchase industry supplies/equipment, matched academic CTE curriculum, and includes wraparound support such as staff onboarding training, ongoing technical support, and career placement/skills mastery tracking.
McGough
Statewide, IA
Award: $50,000
MBI Supporting Member: Elder Corporation
Non-Profits: iJag (Iowa Jobs for America's Graduates)
This project’s focus is to enhance iJAG’s commercial construction pathway by investing in:
- Relationships: commercial construction representatives will visit iJAG classrooms across the state and share information about the industry including workplace culture, wages, skills required and available training.
- Relevant Understanding: project-based learning will support hands-on skills building for commercial construction careers. Competency demonstrations and job visits will help students see how classroom skills will contribute to commercial construction careers.
- Rigorous Experience: internships, pre-apprenticeships, certifications and on-the-job training will help students acquire critical skills directly related to commercial construction.