Report of the MCAA Training Committee

The Training Committee has had a very busy seven months since we last reported at the Annual Meeting in February.

National Masonry Day & National Job Shadow Day
The MCAA has conducted another successful National Masonry Career Day this past February in which hundreds of the country's high schools and middle schools had career day visits from industry representatives. We still have a long way to go with this program, however, according to reports from the U.S. Department of Education, there are over 14,000 high schools in the United States of which we have only hit a fraction. When you begin to factor in the country's middle schools and you will soon realize that our work is still ahead of us. However, we are excited that we have made a good start and applaud those members and industry representatives who have been active in conducting career days in their area. We plan to conduct another career day on February 26, 1999 and hope to again double our efforts at reaching our industry's future workforce. In addition to career days, many community colleges and high school districts have career fairs in which hundreds and even thousands of high school students attend what is a small trade show for careers. We have attended several in the past year and have found strong interest in our trade. The MCAA staff is preparing materials for use in these fairs. Some of the materials will include graphics that can be utilized in conjunction with the two "pop-up" exhibit booth materials that the MCAA owns. These materials can be loaned out to MCAA chapters and members when they conduct a career fair. Finally, the MCAA will be participating with the nation's other associations and with Retired General Colin Powell as we participate in National Job Shadow Day on February 2. Last year, thousands of America's young people went to work with parents and mentors to get a taste of what it's like to work in a particular career. We will encourage our members and their employees to participate in National Job Shadow Day and expose America's future to a career in our industry.

Masonry Training Series
The Spanish edition of volume one of the MCAA Mason Training Series has been printed and is being marketed. Primary interest in the Spanish Edition is coming from southern and western regions although we have been getting some interest in northern states as well. The original print run of volume one of the Training Series has been sold out and sales of the reprints are going strong. In addition, we are nearing a sell-out of volumes two and three as well. We continue to gain acceptance of the books throughout the country, replacing the Wheels of Learning Series. The Georgia Masonry Training Program has switched to the MCAA Training Series. We hope to continue this progress by getting other MCAA members and chapters to push a conversion from the Wheels of Learning to our program in their areas.

Comprehensive Training List Developed
Although we are acting without a Director of Education who was let go back in May, the MCAA staff has picked up the slack and continued the initiatives that have been ongoing. We have given several projects to former Director of Education Connie Kitzinger on a project contractual basis. Currently Connie is developing a comprehensive list of every masonry training program active in the U.S. Included in the list will be the type and length of the program, key contacts for the program and what training materials they are using. As the MCAA revamps its website, we will post a listing of these training programs on the internet. This list will not only assist us in measuring our success of training new masons but it will give the MCAA a marketing direction from which to sell our materials.

Targeted New Training Programs
We have targeted fifteen cities in which to begin a masonry training program that currently does not have one. The fifteen cities are Kansas City, Oklahoma City, Salt Lake City, Little Rock, Houston, Austin, San Antonio, Las Vegas, Cincinnati, Memphis, Hattiesburg, Billings, Syracuse, Albany and Washington D.C. Currently, there are new programs started in Cincinnati, Kansas City and Washington, D.C. working in conjunction with new MCAA chapters. Hattiesburg and Billings are being taken off of the list since the availability of active mason contractors in those areas is virtually non-existent. There previously existed an active training program in Houston through the union. The committee will now focus our efforts on the remaining cities.

VICA Masonry Program
The MCAA has continued its involvement in the VICA masonry program. The MCAA has designed letterhead and envelopes for the VICA Masonry Technical Committee and our Executive Director Mike Adelizzi has been selected as the Vice Chairman for the committee. The VICA Technical Committee held a very successful contest this past June in Kansas City where 47 students completed. I would like to thank the following MCAA members who supported this event. They are Andy Sneed of WASCO, Steven Sechino of WASCO, Carl BonGiovanni of Bon Tool, John VonAhn of Marshalltown Trowel and Rick Gunn of SpecMix.

National Apprenticeship Contest
As the MCAA moves toward holding our own trade show in Las Vegas in February of 2000, we have looked at conducting a national event to spotlight training. We have been working with Bill Kjorlien from the Southern Brick Institute to develop a national version of the successful program being conducted in the southeast. In the southeast, local or state groups send apprentices to compete against apprentices from other parts of the region for the right to be called the regions best! Every year, the contest is called something new. When it was in Florida it was called the "Florida Face-off." When it was in Chattanooga, it was called the "Chattanooga Challenge." Regardless of the name, it heightens masonry training. Bill Kjorlien has agreed to assist the MCAA to conduct a national apprenticeship contest where each MCAA region sends their best to compete for the right to be called the country's best!

The Committee does not need funding for this program in the FY 1998-99 budget. However, we would like the Boards approval to move forward with this program. MCAA would need to announce this effort by January so that the regional apprenticeship contest can be conducted in time to select a regional representative for the national contest in 2000.

National Masonry Manpower Forum
As we did at last years Conference in Charlotte, the committee will host another National Manpower Forum in Orlando. The forum assists those industry members who are active in training and recruiting to share ideas and learn from one another. The Manpower Forum will be held at the Sheraton World Resort in Orlando on February 19th at 3:00 p.m.

Mr. President, officers and MCAA members, thank you for the privilege of serving as the Chairman of the MCAA Training Committee. That is my report.