The Home Builders Institute (HBI), a part of SkillBridge, a DOD initiative to train service members for the civilian workforce, is now training separating Virginia military members for carpentry trades by linking them with industry, apprenticeships or internships, The Virginian-Pilot reports.
The HBI Military and Veterans Program, launched in 2012 at Fort Stewart, Ga., has grown to seven additional military locations, including expanding to Naval Station Norfolk this spring.
Program participants commit 12 weeks to learning carpentry skills, including framing, flooring and roofing, and upon completion graduates earn professional certifications and receive support finding jobs in carpentry trades. The program anticipates adding an electrical program next year.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Kelsey Peery worked seven years as a Navy mechanic now will be among Norfolk’s first group of graduates in August. After separating in September, she hopes to join her husband in Italy and find a job as a contractor or work in base maintenance.
“I always knew that I was a hands on person,” she says “I didn’t want to stay behind a desk.”
In Norfolk HBI expects to graduate 56 people in 2019 and twice as many in 2020.
More than 21,000 Virginia-based service members are projected to separate from the military in fiscal 2019, SkillBridge  says, including more than 13,000 in the Hampton Roads region.
For additional information about SkillBridge programs, visit: https://dodskillbridge.usalearning.gov/