SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA CO. (WOLF) \u2014 Johnson College has received a major boost for its skilled-trades programs after the Lowe\u2019s Foundation awarded the school a $450,000 Gable Grant, one of only a dozen colleges nationwide to earn the competitive funding this year.<\/p>\n
The Scranton-based institution \u2014 the region\u2019s only two-year career and technical college \u2014 was selected as part of the foundation\u2019s expanding effort to strengthen the trades workforce. Since 2023, Lowe\u2019s has distributed grants to 60 colleges and nonprofits across 28 states to help close the national labor gap, which the National Association of Home Builders estimates costs the housing industry roughly $10 billion annually.<\/p>\n
Johnson College will use the funding to upgrade equipment in its newly expanded HVAC and electrical construction technology lab, as well as its carpentry and cabinetmaking programs on the Scranton campus. The grant will also help purchase additional tools for HVAC and electrical labs at the school\u2019s satellite location in the CAN DO Training Center in Hazle Township.<\/p>\n
Janice Dupr\u00e9, Lowe\u2019s executive vice president of human resources and chair of the Lowe\u2019s Foundation, said the program is creating a network of schools committed to rebuilding the skilled trades pipeline. \u201cThese schools join a community of innovators helping one another recruit, train and employ the people America needs to revitalize our infrastructure,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Walter Wood, who oversees Johnson College\u2019s building trades and technology division, said the investment will directly benefit students preparing to enter the field. \u201cOur students will train on the same technology being used on job sites today,\u201d he said. \u201cIt gives employers confidence in our graduates and strengthens the trades across our region.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Lowe\u2019s Foundation\u2019s Gable Grants are part of a five-year, $50 million initiative aimed at preparing 50,000 people for trades careers, supporting training in carpentry, construction, HVAC, electrical work, plumbing and appliance repair. Since launching the effort, the foundation has awarded $43 million to programs nationwide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA CO. (WOLF) \u2014 Johnson College has received a major boost for its skilled-trades programs after the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50224,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[178,180,179],"class_list":["post-50223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50223\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}