Oct 12, 2017   SOURCE: BusinessWire

EGIA Foundation Builds the Future of Home Services Industry through Workforce Development, Research and Education

The EGIA Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit public charity committed to building the future of the home services industry, officially announces its launch today. The Foundation facilitates workforce development, education and research in order to improve the escalating shortage of available workforce for home services companies while expanding the benefits the general public receives from the industry.

The EGIA Foundation is committed to closing the skilled labor gap that exists across the home services industry which results in thousands of good jobs that are available today going unfilled. Some estimates indicate that within the HVAC industry alone nearly 120,000 additional technicians, mechanics and equipment installers will be needed by the year 2022, yet education programs graduate only a small fraction of the skilled labor required.

“This skilled labor gap not only puts at risk contractors’ ability to effectively grow their businesses to meet consumer demand for products and services that deliver home comfort and safety, but also stagnates the country’s ability to meet a growing demand for energy efficiency solutions and environmental sustainability,” said Bruce Matulich, chairman of the EGIA Foundation Board of Directors.

Answering the public’s call for more and better jobs and the industry’s need for more and better-trained job candidates, the EGIA Foundation will utilize a scholarship program, comprehensive market research, industry collaboration, workforce development and a focused public awareness campaign to improve the employment market by bringing more qualified and passionate workers into the home services industry. The Foundation will also improve the communication of the industry’s benefits to parents, educators and career counselors – those influential in young people’s lives.

“We need to better inform the public and educators of the tremendous career opportunity that exists within the home services trades,” said Matulich. “These are American jobs that exist in every community in the country; that cannot be outsourced or replaced by automation or robotics; that empower course graduates to immediately move into good paying jobs with abundant growth potential; all without taking on massive student loan debt.”

A cornerstone of EGIA Foundation activity will be its Scholarship Program. Each year, twenty or more scholarships will be awarded to students pursuing academic and trade education at approved private career schools, trade schools and community colleges. Recipients will be selected based on long-term interest and commitment to excelling in the industry, as well as financial need.

“Working in the energy efficiency and sustainability space of postsecondary education for the last three decades, I’ve seen the incredible positive impacts passionate graduates committed to a career in the home services industry can have on companies and communities,” said Dr. Debra Rowe, President of the U.S. Partnership for Education for Sustainable Development and an EGIA Foundation Board member. “The public awareness campaign will help solve this workforce gap, and the EGIA Foundation Scholarship Program will help ensure that money is not a hurdle for enthusiastic people who want to enter the home services industry.”

The Electric & Gas Industries Association, a leading non-profit trade association serving home services contractors, will help fund these efforts with regular donations to the EGIA Foundation. The Association will contribute a minimum of $120 per year for each of its Premium Members – contractors who are growing their businesses and developing employee training and their own leadership skills using EGIA Contractor University. These ongoing contributions come from the Association’s existing monthly membership subscription fees; no cost has been added to members.

“We hope that EGIA’s sustaining contribution to the Foundation will serve as a catalyst to other companies and individuals to contribute or volunteer to help the Foundation achieve its objectives,” said Matulich.

To learn more about the EGIA Foundation and how it’s working to further the home services industry and general public, please visit EGIAFoundation.org.

About the EGIA Foundation

The EGIA Foundation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to expanding the benefits the public receives from the home services industry through education, research and the development of the next generation of qualified workers.