Santa Barbara City College Construction Academy

It has long been the goal of Tradart Foundation to participate in the creation and ongoing success of a construction academy on the South Coast. With the help of the Santa Barbara Contractors’ Association and The Tradart Foundation, Santa Barbara City College has taken the first important steps in this direction.

Construction 110, the first in a series of professional construction classes, has now been taught to four classes.  Pablo Bucklew, Vice President of Adult Education, set out to create a real-life construction experience for the students.  This class was created to prepare the entry-level person for their first construction job. The curriculum was derived from interviews with SBCA members and Tradart’s past experience teaching to prospective construction personnel.

The graduates of this class not only have been exposed to the overall construction process, but have concentrated on the basic first-day-on-the-job skills. They can safely carry lumber and plywood, nail rhythmically and operate a power saw, as well as read a tape measure.  Many of the graduates are now employed by local contractors.

One of the major obstacles of creating a hands-on class like this is the procurement of tools for each student to use in class.  This problem was solved by Jim Rogers of Hayward Lumber, who organized the donation of all the tools required.

SBCC now offers a variety of Construction and Construction-related classes for students in their fully operational Construction Academy. Through the Academy students are able to participate in a Construction Certificate Program which will enable them to gain certification in the construction trades.

Tradart Foundation is looking forward to our continuing involvement with City College and the SBCA. We plan to assist in future classes and monitoring student employment progress.

                 See "Construction Classes" for a complete list of current classes.