EGIA Foundation Builds the Future of Home Services Industry through Workforce Development, Research and Education

The EGIA Foundation launches today, a nonprofit organization
dedicated to improving and increasing the home services industry
workforce while expanding the benefits the general public receives from
the industry.

SACRAMENTO, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#ContractorUniversity–The EGIA Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit public charity committed to
building the future of the home services industry, officially announces
its launch today. The Foundation facilitates workforce development,
education and research in order to improve the escalating shortage of
available workforce for home services companies while expanding the
benefits the general public receives from the industry.

The EGIA Foundation is committed to closing the skilled labor gap that
exists across the home services industry which results in thousands of
good jobs that are available today going unfilled. Some estimates
indicate that within the HVAC industry alone nearly 120,000 additional
technicians, mechanics and equipment installers will be needed by the
year 2022, yet education programs graduate only a small fraction of the
skilled labor required.

“This skilled labor gap not only puts at risk contractors’ ability to
effectively grow their businesses to meet consumer demand for products
and services that deliver home comfort and safety, but also stagnates
the country’s ability to meet a growing demand for energy efficiency
solutions and environmental sustainability,” said Bruce Matulich,
chairman of the EGIA Foundation Board of Directors.

Answering the public’s call for more and better jobs and the industry’s
need for more and better-trained job candidates, the EGIA Foundation
will utilize a scholarship program, comprehensive market research,
industry collaboration, workforce development and a focused public
awareness campaign to improve the employment market by bringing more
qualified and passionate workers into the home services industry. The
Foundation will also improve the communication of the industry’s
benefits to parents, educators and career counselors – those influential
in young people’s lives.

“We need to better inform the public and educators of the tremendous
career opportunity that exists within the home services trades,” said
Matulich. “These are American jobs that exist in every community in the
country; that cannot be outsourced or replaced by automation or
robotics; that empower course graduates to immediately move into good
paying jobs with abundant growth potential; all without taking on
massive student loan debt.”

A cornerstone of EGIA Foundation activity will be its Scholarship
Program. Each year, twenty or more scholarships will be awarded to
students pursuing academic and trade education at approved private
career schools, trade schools and community colleges. Recipients will be
selected based on long-term interest and commitment to excelling in the
industry, as well as financial need.

“Working in the energy efficiency and sustainability space of
postsecondary education for the last three decades, I’ve seen
the incredible positive impacts passionate graduates committed to a
career in the home services industry can have on companies and
communities,” said Dr. Debra Rowe, President of the U.S. Partnership for
Education for Sustainable Development and an EGIA Foundation Board
member. “The public awareness campaign will help solve this workforce
gap, and the EGIA Foundation Scholarship Program will help ensure that
money is not a hurdle for enthusiastic people who want to enter the home
services industry.”

The Electric & Gas Industries Association, a leading non-profit trade
association serving home services contractors, will help fund these
efforts with regular donations to the EGIA Foundation. The Association
will contribute a minimum of $120 per year for each of its Premium
Members – contractors who are growing their businesses and developing
employee training and their own leadership skills using EGIA Contractor
University. These ongoing contributions come from the Association’s
existing monthly membership subscription fees; no cost has been added to
members.

“We hope that EGIA’s sustaining contribution to the Foundation will
serve as a catalyst to other companies and individuals to contribute or
volunteer to help the Foundation achieve its objectives,” said Matulich.

To learn more about the EGIA Foundation and how it’s working to further
the home services industry and general public, please visit EGIAFoundation.org.

About the EGIA Foundation

The EGIA Foundation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated
to expanding the benefits the public receives from the home services
industry through education, research and the development of the next
generation of qualified workers.

Contacts

EGIA Foundation
Lucas Ehrbar, 503-780-6045
Communications
Manager
[email protected]