 Well, good afternoon everyone, and thank you for being here as we join other states across the country in recognizing careers in construction month. And we're joined by industry leaders today to talk about the importance of this sector and our everyday lives and the need to promote the industry. As you all know, this is the world I grew up in. I've always had a passion for building things and working with my hands. And my first two years at Spalding High School, I took my first industrial arts courses. During my junior and senior years, I took college prep classes in the morning and then would head off to the machine trades program at the vocational school in the afternoon. After high school, I even studied to become a CTE instructor at UVM. I did my student teaching at U32 and received my teaching certification before eventually going into business instead. For me, personally, the trades was incredibly rewarding. When you build something, you can see the fruits of your labor right before your eyes. It's tangible, it's visible, and to me it's so fulfilling because you can see the progress on a daily basis. I know many of you have heard me say this before, but I'll say it again because it's true. Some of the most successful, smartest people I know never got a four-year degree or even went to college for that matter. They instead chose a path in the trades. And I think as a state we can do a better job promoting the career path, making our kids aware of the opportunities earlier. This year we made significant investments in CTE while Secretary of French will speak about that shortly. We know we have a tremendous need in this state for people with this talent. And I'm sure you're here from industry here today. There are many good-paying jobs available right now, but we simply don't have the people to fill them. As we look to next year and the years ahead, this will be an even bigger challenge, given all the new infrastructure projects in the pipeline. You've heard us talk a lot about the billions we're investing in the coming years in housing, broadband, water sewer and stormwater infrastructure, roads and bridges and more. But no matter how much money we appropriate, the work will need to be done by people, which will be an increasing challenge giving our demographics. But also an opportunity for so many young Vermonters to find a filling lucrative career in the trades. In addition to highlighting career and technical education, my administration is also working on apprenticeship programs, job placement, training and more. Deputy Commissioner and Degree will have more on that shortly. And before I turn it over to Dustin, I just wanted to say that I truly believe that everyone is born with a gift, a unique talent of some sort. But sometimes we don't discover it until we explore and try new things. That's why we need to make sure as many boys and girls are exposed to different opportunities in their educational experiences. It's great to have Ronnie Basin here with us today, Executive Director of Vermont Works for Women, to make clear that trades aren't just for boys, opportunities are there for women and girls as well. So I said in my State of the State address in January, to me it's just as important, valuable and impressive to become an electrician, welder or EMT, or get a CDL as it is to get an Ivy League education. We just need to open more doors for people and show them the options. My team and I will continue to work with stakeholders to do just that. So with that, I'll turn it over to Deputy Commissioner DeGree, and I'll come back to read and sign the proclamation after remarks are given from our guests. Dustin? Thank you, Governor. Good afternoon. And the Department of Labor is incredibly happy to be here with all of you today. We're happy to help celebrate careers in construction here in Vermont, the folks that perform them and the opportunities available in this sector of our economy. Anyone who's needed the service of a skilled contractor in the last few years understands the importance of highlighting and supporting these jobs as well as helping to educate folks, especially students and young people, just how lucrative and rewarding these careers are for those who choose to pursue a job in the trades. In 2001, construction establishments accounted for over 10% of all businesses and provided over 5% of total employment, paying out an average wage of $57,635 a year, exceeding the state average of all wages by nearly 3%. And there's plenty to go around. The Department of Labor estimates that there will be nearly 5,000 openings for carpenters alone in the next 10 years, meaning we need to find new carpenters, each 500 new carpenters each year just to keep the workforce we have now. That's why we're here today to bring awareness to these jobs and the pathways that are available to folks interested in entering the field. Two of the gold standard programs of Vermont are the electrical and plumbing apprenticeship programs operated by VTC in conjunction with the Vermont Department of Labor. These programs are supported by Vermont businesses that value the learn while you earn philosophy and step up year after year to make this a reality for hundreds of students. Apprenticeships across the country are a great way to get into these careers. In 2021, 241,000 new apprentices entered nationally recognized trades training programs, bringing the total number of apprentices across the country that year to nearly 600,000. Here in Vermont, there were roughly 2,000 active apprentices in 2021. And the data shows that roughly 80% of all graduates will still be employed four years from then. And over those four years, their wages are expected to increase at twice the state average. The bottom line is these are good jobs and great careers. Skills that come with the ability to own one's destiny, whether that means working for the same loyal employer for 30 years or starting your own business and becoming the boss yourself. There are real opportunities in construction. They're available right now and the Department of Labor is happy to be here to help highlight them today. With that, I'd like to pass it on to Ronnie Basden, Executive Director of Vermont Works for Women. I want to thank Governor Scott for inviting me here today and for focusing on diversifying the construction and trades industries. At Vermont Works for Women, we promote economic justice by advancing gender equity and supporting women and youth in all stages of their career journeys. Over the past few years, we have seen the demand and interest in training and construction work for women. Our Trailblazers training program, our classes remain full, and we have certified 83 women ages 16 to 65 through this program. Yet nationwide, we continue to see only 11% of women are in construction occupations with only 3% tools in hand and the majority of women holding desk and administrative roles. It is also worth mentioning that over half of women leave these occupations due to discrimination and unsupportive workplace culture. With our growing labor and workplace shortages and with our growing demand for construction needs, women are an untapped resource and the potential workers who are motivated, ready, and able to take on these careers. Vermont Works for Women seeks to provide representation, equity, and access to career pathways. Through our Women Can Do Conference, happening this Thursday, over 300 high school students will use chainsaws, explore welding, and take on flight simulation. We also are one of nine states selected to work with the U.S. Department of Labor Women's Bureau to develop an equity plan that will help Vermont in accessing infrastructure funding opportunities while ensuring that we are increasing job opportunities that construction can provide while meeting the application or meeting the obligation to provide equitable pathways. We are excited to partner with employers, education systems, and industries to ensure that we are providing access, exposure, and representation among these exciting careers. We are proud to partner with many standing here today and we are proud to support the governor's initiatives around increase in construction and trades career pathways and opportunities for Vermont's future. I would now like to turn it over to Joshua Reep, president of the Associated Builders and Contractors of Vermont and New Hampshire. Thank you, Ronnie. You know, for us at the Associated Builders and Contractors, one of the things that are most important to us in the Air and Deer is to help make awareness and bring awareness to the opportunities that are here for in construction. And we want to thank Governor Scott, never in the room today, for supporting our industry and being part of helping to deliver opportunity and pathways into the careers that we have available today. Ten years ago, it was a problem. We didn't have enough workers, but we got by. We made do. Today, that's four or ten years, it's a crisis. And it's a crisis of opportunity for people of all walks of life to come into our trades and get up-skilled, be it as a carpenter or as a welder, as an equipment operator. There's plenty of opportunity and you can make your own pathway with that. And a lot of those opportunities come through registered apprenticeship. So I'm very excited to see that there's some opportunity to come through SB 11 to help promote careers and construction through apprenticeship in other ways and pathways. The ABC for us, apprenticeship is one of those things that's near and dear to our heart. We have about 300 members in our chapter here in New England and majority of them use apprenticeship every day. And that apprenticeship is a great pathway to help up-skill and get people into the careers right away. And we just encourage people to take a look at those opportunities that are out there. There's a number of them and the best way to do that is contact a local contractor, contact a trade association like ours and others to get engaged and get involved. You know, here in Vermont alone we have dozens and dozens of jobs that are available and there's just going to be more and more opportunity as people retire, as opportunity grows as well. This is an excellent opportunity to stay here, to live here, to work here. Opportunity is boundless here in Vermont and we're really excited to be part of that today and just really happy that we can raise awareness by making October the month to bring to attention people the opportunities that there are construction careers today. And I know we have a number of people in the back of the room as well that are contractors that are here. They're here because in part this is an issue that's important to them and we're really happy that they're here to support us in this initiative today as well as the young people that are in the room too. Without further ado, I don't think you want to hear any more from me but I would like to introduce our good friend, Dick Wobby, for the Executive Vice President of Associated General Contractors of Vermont. Thank you. And I as well would like to thank you guys from the Innesburg area for joining us today and point out, Brian Furman, Pete Kelly and Chris Magnan have taken an hour or two off so there might be a project that's a little behind Joe. Workforce. Good afternoon. And thank you all for being here and thank you all for recognizing the importance and fulfilling future that's built with a career in construction. It's good to see you all at the table. I'm happy. We look forward to sharing how AGC Vermont is working to promote the trades as many of you have heard recently AGC Vermont has been recognized nationally as one of the nation's outstanding chapters in part for our work in workforce development and building careers in construction. Governor, I as well attended Spalding. I was also drawn to industrial arts. I took my college prep courses again in the morning and then would head off not to machine trades. It's not just the machinists, the building trades, the diesel mechanics, the engineers. It takes a whole community to build our future and to build Vermont and that's why it's so pleasing to see all of you here today working together so we can accomplish so much more. This year AGC Vermont partnered with deputy degree and the folks at Labor to put on Vermont's largest career fair. Over 120 recruiters attended and over 1400 potential hires searching for a career in Vermont participated. As a result of that and other programs we've collaborated on we have seen an increase of 2,500 people. New folks entering the construction trades this year. That's the good news. The bad news is in that same timeframe we've lost almost 2,000. They've left us. I believe with your recognition today we as a group not just AGC, not just Vermont Works for Women and not just ABC of New Hampshire but we as a group can collaboratively work together to build tomorrow's careers and those communities we all thrive in. As you said earlier Governor when you build something you can see the fruits of your labor right before your eyes. It's tangible, it's visible and oh so fulfilling. Join us today to build a career in construction. I beg you to visit vermontconstructionjobs.com and thank you all in advance for this opportunity to collaborate with each and every one of you all to build Vermont's future today. Thank you all. I'd like to introduce Dan French, Secretary of the Agency of Education. Thank you Mr. Wabi. Vermont's construction trades and CT programs are strong thanks to partnerships with the organizations like yours and those that are here today. I'd also like to welcome our students and instructor from Cole Hollow. Good to see you guys. We're going to talk a lot about programs but all that you know those are problems we can work on and fix but it wasn't for your talent and dedication. We truly be out of luck so really thank you and it's great to see you. I hope you're having a good school year. Our CT programs in the state are very strong and particularly strong despite the challenges of COVID-19. Our CT teachers rose to the occasion to innovate and create ways to ensure students could continue to make progress in their programs despite the pandemic. That hard work and innovation can be seen in the numbers. First I would have talked about some numbers from 2021. 32% of Vermont juniors and seniors participated in CTE so third of our students. 93% in 2021 of our CT graduates were either employed in the military or enrolled in college or post-secondary training by October of that following year. 25% of our CT graduates earned post-secondary credential in their CT program and 36% earned college credits while still in high school so pretty successful. We don't have data yet for this past year but we will later this fall but we do anticipate our CT numbers to continue to show solid growth for a number of reasons. One, for example, we know our CT programs continue to expand the credentials that they were offering in 22. Several of those were not available to be offered in 2021 due to the pandemic so even more credentials were offered this past year and we've also been working at the agency closely with our centers to expand the number of post-secondary credentials that they offer. We anticipate the percentage of CT students leaving high school with college credits will have also increased largely through the efforts of the community college in Vermont. They run a program that's part of our dual enrollment approach in Vermont called the Fast Forward Program. This past year they offered 79 dual enrollment courses in CT centers and the prior year during the first year of the pandemic it was 52 courses so significant increase in the opportunity for our CT students to access college credit courses. CCV also offered a new online course to all CT centers and all CT programs in the areas of business and entrepreneurship which is, I think, critical to all the career fields that are offered for the CT centers. But our construction trade programs in particular are exceedingly strong in the state. We have 22 construction trade programs offered across our 16 centers in their approved programs. I'm going to share some of the highlights of what the students can do in these programs but again the students in here today we want to thank you and you guys are the best of the best so to speak so I really appreciate you being here. Students in construction technology, one of our core programs earn National Center for Construction Education Research Core Certificate also Level 1 Carpentry Certification. So basically they come out of these programs ready to go. Students in HVAC program earn post-secondary credentials EPA 680 Safe Refrigerant Certification and also the Bronze Oil Heat License for the National Oil Heat Research Alliance. Our Electrical Technology Program, as Deputy Commissioner DeGree mentioned is aligned with the Registered Apprenticeship Program. Student participation in the program leads to completion of the first year of the Registered Apprenticeship coursework and students who come back for the second year can take the second year course curriculum from the state's apprenticeship program. So really smooth partnership there. CT programs and particularly the construction trade programs as you've heard mentioned are vital to the success of our economy but as the governor mentioned they also can provide a very lucrative career path for our students. So what's next for CT and Vermont? Basically we're working on three things. One is we're making investments to develop new programs in CTE. Secondly we're working to really reduce the barriers that make it sometimes challenging for students to access these programs. And thirdly we want to do a much better job of promoting the value of CTE across the state. In terms of making new investments Governor Scott has dedicated a significant portion of what we call the Governor's Emergency Education Relief COVID funds, what we sometimes call gear for short to support new innovative CTE programs. About 500,000 will be used to establish or expand programs related to electronic transportation. These funds will be used for electric aviation or electric vehicle programs. $15 million from our Ed Fund surplus will be used to create a new innovative grant program called the Construction Rehabilitation Experiential Learning Program. Under this program CT centers can apply for funds to expand their construction programs to include renovating properties in their communities. This program will do two important things. One is help meet a critical need relative to housing in the state by renovating existing housing stock but it also provides students a very unique opportunity to work from the very beginning on a construction project to get basically exposure to all aspects of housing construction but it also provides an opportunity for them to give back to their communities. The second area of focus for us will be to eliminate barriers to CTE programs. One such barrier we've identified is possibly the CTE funding system itself. We worked with the legislature last year to commission a study of the funding system. Joint fiscal office will be leading that up. They will be producing some models of some changes to that and we hope to bring forward some recommendations in the next legislative session to see what we can do to make the CTE funding system more responsive to the needs of students and basically to have the money follow the students in a more flexible way. Lastly we want to do more to promote the value of CTE programs for all students. Too often CTE is viewed as being relevant for some students or we force students to choose between CTE and other academic programs. CTE has value for all students and it should not be an either or proposition for any student. As I mentioned previously about 32% of our students participate in CTE programs in the prior year but we think more students would benefit and enjoy participating in these programs. Part of the challenge is just getting the word out but it's also about educating people about the quality and the relevance of these programs and how they can be useful for all students not just some. As I mentioned, Governor Scott has directed $1 million in the gear funding to be focused on an ambitious marketing campaign to reintroduce career technical education to all Vermonters. Our goal is to make sure that prospective students, families and all Vermonters understand the value of CTE programs. Our CTE programs offer a tremendous value to our economy and our students and we need to do more to promote these programs in all regions of the state. Thank you and I'll turn it back over to the Governor. It's time to read the proclamation first. I'll sign it. Whereas careers in construction month shall be a month designated to increase public awareness and appreciation of construction craft professionals in the entire construction industry workforce. And whereas during this month employers, associations and schools are encouraged to conduct outreach and hold events to inform young Vermonters of the vast career employment and internship opportunities available throughout the Vermont construction industry. And whereas the construction field is one of our nation's largest industries employing more than 5 million individuals in the United States. And whereas it is estimated that nationally the construction industry will need 1.9 million new workers by the year 2025. And whereas Vermont recognizes construction professionals and the critical role they play in both the development of our industry and making our residential and commercial buildings more energy efficient to reduce the impact on the environment and improve Vermont's quality of life. And whereas the national center for construction education and research was created by the construction industry to standardize training and enhance the industry by promoting the hard work and dedication of our nation's craft professionals. And whereas the mission of the centers build your future initiative will narrow the skills gap by guiding America's youth and displaced workers into opportunities that lead to long-term rewarding careers in construction. And whereas the Vermont Department of Labor has partnered with industry leaders to create VermontConstructionJobs.com and Vermont's largest career fair and career pathways to ensure that Vermont youth are aware of the opportunities that come for the career in construction. And therefore I, as Governor, hereby proclaim October 2022 as Careers in Construction Month and Vermont. With that if you want to gather around we'll just make for a couple of pictures. We're here for these guys? How about we get those guys behind you? Do we have any figures in the technical differences? Figures on if there's a differential between starting, say, for somebody with a CTE coming out of school versus a kid who goes on to college and starts a job fresh out of school. Do we have anything to add to that? I don't know. No. That information is out there. For sure. And it's a very dynamic wage situation as we know it. Maybe that's where you might be able to add to that, Steve. It might depend on the job as well, the position and what the employers need at that point in time. Is there anybody from industry who'd like to answer that? Just something to ask them. Just stump the whole crew. Okay. Yes? Dan? As I mentioned, we're dedicating federal relief dollars on that and we put out a request for proposals and we recently finalized a contract with a vendor or it's about to be finalized to the point where I could mention their name but we'll be getting that information out pretty quickly. So the contract is no process of being finalized. It's a Burlington marketing firm that's closely with them to leverage all our communications assets of the state to promote these programs. Other questions? I'm kind of relating to that. You're on the water, swallowing and U-32 closed yesterday due to short staffing. Are they open today and do you see staffing-related school closures as a widespread long-term problem and what's the state doing about it? Well, again, we've said numerous times during many of these press briefings we have a workforce challenge on our hands in Vermont across every single sector and that holds true for state government as well as in the education community whether that's teachers, bus drivers, maintenance staff and so forth. So it does impact us. So we're razor thin any room for widespread illnesses and so forth. So I don't know whether they're open today and maybe Secretary French. I haven't heard otherwise, Guy. We asked them to send us a courtesy notice when they do close their schools but I haven't heard today that they are close. Soon they're open. And it is cold and flu season is starting and we have to be aware of that. I would advocate and we'll talk more about this next week but everyone getting their flu vaccine as well as their COVID vaccine as well as their booster. We haven't heard anything on those instances as to whether that was COVID related or was it flu related? I think it's all the above is what I heard but maybe you have more information. I haven't had a chance to talk about the very superintendent yesterday and as the governor mentioned I think it's all the above certainly illness and certainly some COVID-19 illness but also you know the razor thin margin if you will with lack of substitute so it doesn't take much for some of our buildings that have a pattern of illness and then complimented by lack of substance to push them over so it was a combination of factors yesterday. Maybe a young member of either of those schools they're all from Unisburg I believe. Correct? Yes sir. Governor there's an international meeting of the Canadians down here this week in Burlington do you see that as a a follow on to your north? Well certainly we enjoy a lot of similarities with our Canadian friends in Quebec in particular and we welcome them here I think we have a lot to gain both sides and we welcome them here to seek out those opportunities so I think it was planned before I went to Quebec but this won't be the last of those trips back and forth across the border and we're very happy that they they did away with the arrive can and making that trip somewhat easier for both Vermonters and our Canadian friends. Do you see that as an opportunity with this here an opportunity for folks to maybe get a leg up as far as employment and the industries that you're hoping to get down here? Well again I think there are a number of companies who I spoke with when I was there that want to have a footprint in the US so they are looking for opportunities in Vermont because we're so close geographically as well as just who we are as people so there will be a lot of opportunity for renovations and new build out and so forth so this is where the future is here there's going to be again with all the ARPA money that we have at our disposal all the investments we want to make the IJA and all the normal everyday the maintenance and so forth that we do on a yearly basis is adding up to a tremendous amount of work over the next few years so there won't be any lack for opportunity for any of these kids that you see here before you today and there's probably some contractors right in the back of the room that are giving them applications as they leave yeah absolutely we are in contact our Agency of Commerce Community Development is in contact with a number of companies who we visited spoke to and the interest is there I'm confident they'll be building in the months and years to come speaking of empowering girls and students to learn parents and members of the Randolph girls volleyball team say a biological male transgender student was watching them dress in a locker room transgender student says no the harassment was coming from the girls any thoughts on how Randolph and other school boards staff, students and parents should move forward on this I don't have all the details on that issue I've read different accounts I will say this we have to be open-minded understanding with empathy and to put ourselves in someone else's shoes and to try and take the hate out of this entire situation so whatever we do is we move forward we need to make sure that we do so without all of the I guess divisiveness that we're seeing because we have to be more understanding so that would be my advice I don't know if there's anything else you want to add to that Secretary French your question Guy certainly I think school districts have the required policies to address these types of issues discrimination in any form is illegal and not to be tolerated in schools particularly I've seen some claims of bullying and harassment districts also have a policy on that that outlines the process or investigation so at this point we need to and expect the school district to work through those administrative procedures they have in their toolbox so to speak to ensure the student rights are protected but also the due process procedures are followed to do the proper investigation of the claims you seem to probably know that some parents might have biological mental watching their daughters change some of them are reacting very strongly to that yeah I totally understand that and again school districts have options on how to implement these kinds of concepts to the governor's point it's not helpful necessarily I know Randolph's feeling this but now this isn't a national media and they're feeling all kinds of outsiders who don't understand the Randolph community let alone the Randolph school and again school districts have the tools in place to process these types of issues and Vermont's blessed to have local control, local school boards where parents can express their concerns so I'm confident and again at the agency we expect the school district to leverage those tools to do what's best for the community but also to ensure student rights are protected I just think we all have an obligation to dial down the rhetoric and listen to the details and the facts yeah well we're doing a lot to try and help out we implemented our 10 point safety plan we are in contact, constant contact we've embedded some of our VSP detectives in that region to help out it's not just Burlington but the whole Chittenden County region in itself and we've joined ATF and the U.S. Attorney and others as well so this isn't going to turn around overnight but we are committed to turning this around I think enough is enough the illicit drug trafficking I think that that's the root of most of the problems that we're seeing and we have to have more of an emphasis on enforcement in this case I think that again reflecting on what was done in Burlington the answer isn't to defund the police I think we need to challenge ourselves to do all we can to the general public that's an obligation of any government the information I'm receiving is that a lot of it is tied they're known to the community to law enforcement and it is tied to illicit drug trafficking I don't know all the details of that either but I will say that any violence of any nature is uncalled for and we shouldn't tolerate it so everyone should be treated equally but I don't know the details of that situation following back up on is the message getting out there to maybe hold off on coming to a moderate concern about that both in Burlington especially your talking students and prospective students tourism obviously we're always concerned about one of our largest industries tourism in particular but we have seen no signs of it slowing down at this point in fact it looks like it's going to be a record year for tourism in Vermont thanks again very much