Lowe’s rallies over 75 partners to train 1 million tradespeople

The Lowe’s Foundation on Tuesday announced it has pulled together a coalition of more than 75 members to train one million people for skilled trades careers by 2035.

What’s happening: The Building Futures Skilled Trades Coalition, led by Lowe’s nonprofit arm, brings together seven corporate partners — Carrier, DeWalt, Duke Energy, Nvidia, AT&T, Bank of America, and General Motors — plus scores of other businesses, educators, and workforce organizations in what Lowe’s bills as the “largest cross-sector skilled trades coalition in U.S. history.”

• They aim to grow national awareness of skilled trades careers, scale proven training and credentialing solutions, and better measure progress from training to employment.
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What they’re saying: “We’ve seen what works: hands-on training, strong employer connections and programs built around real workforce needs. Now the opportunity is to scale those models so they can reach more people and create more pathways into skilled trades careers,” Betsy Conway, Executive Director of the Lowe’s Foundation, told Homepros via email.

The big picture: An estimated 2.1 million skilled trades jobs could go unfilled by 2030, according to the Department of Education, creating potential economic losses of up to $1 trillion annually. 

• Lowe’s announcement follows a similar, skilled trades-focused alliance formed by BlackRock, Carhartt, Ford, and Google in July.

Zoom out: The Lowe’s Foundation in 2023 launched its Gable Grants program, a commitment to train and develop 50,000 skilled tradespeople by 2028 through a $50 million investment, which in April it expanded to $250 million to train 250,000 people by 2035. 

• It’s developed a network of 73 community colleges and nonprofits that are scaling skilled trades training programs in 30 states. 

Looking ahead: “The next industrial revolution won’t be built by algorithms alone,” Lowe’s CEO Marvin Ellison said in a statement. “It will be built by the millions of skilled trade professionals who power, connect and move this country forward.”