JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 On Thursday, dozens gathered for the grand opening of the Northeast Florida Builders Association\u2019s (NEFBA) new headquarters and Workforce Education Center.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis has been a journey for over 10 years in the making,\u201d NEFBA President Scott Brannock said.<\/p>\n
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<<\/a><\/p>\n Brannock said the building, located 4932 Sunbeam Road, will be used by the hundreds of students taking part in NEFBA\u2019s Apprenticeship program.<\/p>\n \u201cOur apprenticeship program, over 50 years old, never had a home. We used borrowed space throughout Jacksonville. The vision was to create a space where we bring all of our operations under one roof,\u201d Brannock said. \u201cThis building is a game changer.\u201d<\/p>\n NEFBA trains hundreds of construction workers each year through the Apprenticeship program. It\u2019s designed to meet the growing demand for skilled labor and offers the kind of hands-on training that AI cannot replace.<\/p>\n [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/a>]<\/p>\n The 43,000-square foot building has 11 classrooms and four labs for electrical, HVAC, plumbing, and carpentry.<\/p>\n The renovation cost $7.5 million. <\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re getting tools, and more and more tools, each and every single day having that available to the students. It\u2019s just life-changing for them,\u201d Dylan Crounse, a Superintendent in training with Auld & White Constructors and a graduate from NEFBA\u2019s Apprenticeship program, said. <\/p>\n [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/a>] <\/p>\n Crounse oversaw construction on the new building. For him, seeing the building open was a full circle moment.<\/p>\n \u201cIt changed my life,\u201d Crounse said about the Apprenticeship program. \u201cI have two younger daughters. Later on, I\u2019m going to drive them around Jacksonville and say, \u2018Daddy built that.\u2019 And no one can ever take that away from me.\u201d<\/p>\n Students can start utilizing the building on Monday. <\/p>\n Click here<\/a> to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here<\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here<\/a> to stream Action News Jax live.<\/p>\n Action News Jax Top Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 On Thursday, dozens gathered for the grand opening of the Northeast Florida Builders Association\u2019s (NEFBA)…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":373324,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[982,150751,150750,969,116,118,117,634,656,52196,150752,150747,150746,5242,150748,150749],"class_list":["post-373323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-action_news","tag-alden_white_constructors","tag-dylan_krz","tag-jack","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-local","tag-madison_foglio","tag-madison_fuglio","tag-nefa","tag-neffa","tag-northeast_florida_builders_association","tag-president","tag-scott_brannock","tag-workforce_education_center"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=373323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373323\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/373324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=373323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=373323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=373323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}