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Reaching America's Youth

Education & Careers

(ARA) - With a labor shortage looming in the not-so-distant future, the need to train, educate and reach out to the youth of America will be essential to growing the work force. The National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC) recognizes this labor shortage as an opportunity to encourage youth, especially young women, to choose construction as a life-long career.

This school year, the organization's Education Foundation will deliver that message to children of all ages through a series of programs specially designed for specific age groups. The Block-Kids building program introduces elementary school-aged children to the construction industry in an effort to create an awareness of and to promote an interest in future careers in one of the many facets of the industry. For sixth through ninth graders, there's the Foundation's Building Design Program, which is structured to introduce construction in a positive and fun manner while presenting challenges in math, communication and design. The third program, which is designed for senior high students, is the CAD/Design Drafting Scholarship Competition. This contest provides recognition to students for creative design, successful problem solving, and craftsmanship in preparing architectural drawings.

Another way America's youth are being introduced into nontraditional trades is through Job Corps. The no-cost education and vocational training program, administered by the U.S. Department of Labor, helps young people ages 16 to 24 get better jobs, make more money and take control of their lives. At Job Corps, students enroll to learn a trade, earn a high school diploma or GED and get help finding a job. Upon joining the program, students are paid a monthly allowance; the longer a student stays with the program, the more the allowance increases. Job Corps supports its students for up to 12 months after they graduate.

The gap between Job Corps' need for high-quality, construction industry partners and the industry's need for trained, entry-level workers has finally been filled. Industry partners include BE&K Construction, Becon Construction Company, Fluor Corp., Granite Construction Inc., The Industrial Company (TIC) and The Shaw Group. These leading industrial, commercial and heavy highway construction companies have joined forces with the National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER) to create a national youth and work force development entity -- the Youth Training and Development Consortium (YTDC).

YTDC is a dynamic bridge between Job Corps and young workers. YTDC benefits Job Corps students by giving them access to higher paying careers and educational opportunities offered though subscribing contractors. The YTDC, through the nationwide job opportunities offered by its members, will work directly with Job Corps to transition students into rewarding careers and opportunities available to them in the construction industry. Job Corps brings YTDC the potential for more than 24,000 new, entry-level craft workers through a national base of 118 Job Corps training centers, strategically located where the demand for new workers seeking construction careers is high.

YTDC and Job Corps can build a powerful bridge between Job Corps' need for construction industry partners and the need of YTDC members for trained, entry-level craftspeople. YTDC is built upon successful contractors that have implemented the standardized training and/or assessment processes developed by NCCER for training and assessing construction, maintenance, heavy highway and pipeline industry craft professionals. NCCER, in cooperation with YTDC, will assist Job Corps in aligning and implementing NCCER's industry-recognized curriculum, assessments and standardized processes with Job Corps' current craft training programs.

YTDC members, working with NCCER, may also participate with Job Corps by assisting current Job Corps instructors in obtaining NCCER craft instructor certification and by supporting local training centers to ensure they meet the standards for NCCER accredited training. As a result, students will leave Job Corps with industry recognized credentials that can qualify them for higher wages, better benefits and the opportunity to continue their training with the support of a progressive industry-leading contractor.

These partnerships between YTDC, the U.S. Job Corps and prominent construction-industry representatives will help continue training and educating young workers for America's future construction needs.

To find out more about NAWIC and its education programs visit www.nawic.org. To find out more about YTDC and its partnerships, visit www.ytdc.org.

Courtesy of ARA Content

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Why It's So Important to Encourage Your Kids to Read When the Family Goes on Vacation

Family/Pets

(ARA) - Fall vacations are just around the corner, and if you'll be staying at a hotel when you travel, what will you do to keep busy? Instead of watching movies and playing video games at night in your hotel room, why not read a book and encourage the kids to do the same.

Why is it so important to keep the kids reading? Because kids who continue to read outside of regular school assignments often elevate their reading skills. Most people learn to read some time between kindergarten and the second grade, but for 15 percent of the population -- or 44 million Americans -- it's a skill that has yet to be learned.

"People who can't read have difficulty finding jobs, their annual health care costs are four times higher, and they are more likely to end up in prison; but teach them to read, and their lives turn around," says Rochelle Cassella, director of corporate communications for ProLiteracy Worldwide, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the mission of helping adults and their families acquire the literacy practices and skills they need to function more effectively in their daily lives. "Once they can read, people gain the ability to read bus schedules, browse the classified ads and fill out job applications, things that used to be off limits for them."

Inspired by the work being done by ProLiteracy, and realizing how prominent reading is among its guests, Country Inns & Suites By Carlson implemented "Book It And Return" to raise money for the organization. The chain established lending libraries in its more than 350 hotels in the United States and Canada, offering guests the opportunity to borrow books with an incentive to return them on their next visit to any Country Inns & Suites hotel. For every book returned, the hotel chain makes a $5.00 donation to ProLiteracy Worldwide.

"The 'return' part of the program is on the honor system, and thanks to the incentive, we get most of them back," says Nancy Johnson, executive vice president of Country Inns & Suites By Carlson.

Since the launch of "Book It And Return" in 2001, $60,000 has been raised to help solve the problem of low level literacy. The money goes towards providing technical assistance to local programs that provide one-on-one and group instruction in literacy skills to adult learners.

"We've received countless letters from guests who want to express their pleasure with the program," says Johnson. "A school teacher from Davenport, Iowa, wrote 'As a teacher of 32 years experience, this is one of the best ideas I've ever heard of and I'm going to share it with my faculty.' We've also heard from our hotel managers that people stop in from time to time, even if they don't have reservations, just to return books because they know doing so will help someone in need."

Throughout the system of Country Inns & Suites hotels, a variety of fiction, nonfiction, children's and self-help books are on hand for guests to borrow. To learn more about "Book It And Return," log on to www.countryinns.com. More information about ProLiteracy Worldwide can be found at www.proliteracy.org.

Courtesy of ARA Content

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Proper Install Improves It All

Home Improvement

(ARA) - Fall's seasonable temperatures offer a great opportunity to help get your home ready for the rigors of winter. Spend a few weekends winterizing your home now and you'll reap the benefits of lower energy bills and a highly efficient home no matter what the season.

Consider this:

Windows and doors conceal every opening in the home so they are critical elements in a cost-conscious home. It's important that your windows and doors perform at peak levels. If you have an older home with drafty, leaking windows or doors, it's time to stop procrastinating and take action. Heating is the single, biggest energy user in the home, so take steps now to lower heating bills and save valuable time and money this winter.

"The number one problem in new residential construction in North America is poor window and door installation," says H. Alan Mooney, president of Criterium Engineers. He bases his comments on a survey of professional engineers involved in new home inspections that found almost one quarter of new home complaints involved poorly installed windows and doors.

Window and door sensibility

Wood, fiberglass and vinyl windows are all best bets when evaluating the energy efficiency of a home. Make sure windows have the proper coating. At a minimum, always choose Low-e glass to help keep your home warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer while reducing harmful ultraviolet rays which can fade interior furnishings. Blinds or shades have insulating values as well and can add to overall energy efficiency of your home. Pella (R) Designer Series (R) windows and doors feature blinds or shades tucked between two or three panes of glass for extraordinary insulating value and added privacy.

Whether you're remodeling an existing home or starting a new construction project, following installation instructions and using the correct materials helps your project and the products featured in it perform. A popular material with contractors and do-it-yourselfers is Pella SmartFlash (TM) installation tape used to help seal out air and moisture around doors and windows installed in new homes. SmartFlash tape performs well in virtually any weather, withstands heat and cold and is easy to work with because it's so thin and pliable. The tape helps minimize the potential for water in the wall cavity by tying the window to a home's weather barrier.

Another installation material that improves energy efficiency is foam sealant, such as GREAT STUFF (TM) Pro Window & Door Insulating Foam Sealant manufactured by The Dow Chemical Company. GREAT STUFF when used as directed along with Pella's installation method, creates an energy-efficient barrier by sealing out air and moisture.

The menace of moisture

Too much moisture in the home can be a menace rather than an advantage. Pets, people and furnishings can all bear the brunt of too much moisture in the air. Condensation may be less of an issue in older homes if conditions allow for more air exchange between indoors and out, often from around aging, loose or poorly installed windows and doors. However, the tradeoff is higher energy bills.

Newer homes, on the other hand, are more airtight and energy efficient. Many have vapor barriers -- plastic within the wall cavity that blocks moisture passage in either direction. With tighter fitting doors and windows, vapor barriers and increased insulation, energy costs are lower, but humidity levels must be monitored more closely.

No matter when your home was built, the key is to strike the right balance when it comes to humidity levels. Air that's too dry can cause furniture to dry out and crack, joints and studs to shrink and twist, and paint and plaster to crack. Excessive moisture in the home can cause paint to peel and insulation to deteriorate, and condensation on windows and doors can damage sills and trim.

Practical advice

Feeling overwhelmed? Noted architect, author and home design expert, Sarah Susanka says the most important strategy to making an existing house more energy efficient is to recognize that every small step adds up.

"A lot of simple improvements are not done because we believe we should be doing more. And so we do nothing at all," says Susanka. "I'd suggest take the list of options, pin it to your bulletin board, and check off the items as you do them. It's not always the big steps that make the most difference."

For more information on how you can improve your home and its energy efficiency, contact a local Pella Window & Door store expert by calling (888) 84-PELLA or logging on to www.pella.com.

Courtesy of ARA Content

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Fluency on the Fly: Language Learning Tips for Business Travelers

Senior Living

(ARA) - When foreign news correspondent Dr. Bob Arnot travels to the world's latest hot spot -- be it Iraq, Sudan, Afghanistan or the Congo -- he needs to learn the country's language, and fast. How does he do it? With the same innovative program used by the U.S. State Department, NASA and millions of individuals in countries around the world.

Dr. Arnot frequently traveled the world as a medical correspondent for NBC and became a foreign journalist after 9/11. Without the luxury of spending arduous hours on conventional language-learning techniques, he sought a faster, easier and more convenient way of learning new languages "on the fly." While on assignment in Iraq he discovered Rosetta Stone, an interactive CD-ROM language-learning program that replicates the way native speakers learn languages as children.

"I began using the Rosetta Stone Arabic program right there in Baghdad and was thrilled with the result," says Arnot. "Since then I've purchased half a dozen languages and am currently studying Pashto for an upcoming trip to Afghanistan." Dr. Arnot also appreciates the confidence gained from the one-on-one interaction and instant feedback he gets with Rosetta Stone programs.

While not everyone covers news in far-away countries, virtually all traveling professionals can benefit from speaking and truly interacting with local populations. Here are some tips for making that "leap to fluency" with a new language.

While translators and tutors can be helpful, having a friend to engage in casual conversations can make the difference with an immediate, direct connection.

Few people learn to speak a new language through reading and memorization. Conversation requires mastery of the spoken language, including pronunciation. Rosetta Stone, using native speakers, develops natural, native pronunciation with immediate feedback every time you speak.

The greatest obstacle to fluency is fear of making mistakes. But mistakes can be a great teacher, often allowing you to make a correction on the spot.

Shorter, regular study periods yield greater results. Rosetta Stone, for example, offers language programs in progressive levels with incremental exercises that can be visited and revisited as busy schedules allow.

Practice in settings and with topics that interest you. For example, rent a foreign movie to hear the sound of a new language.

People fluent in more than one language will tell you that immersion is the key to success. By relying on sounds and images without English translation, Rosetta Stone's programs provide a truly immersive setting.

Sample lessons of Rosetta Stone are available online at www.RosettaStone.com/ind/free_demo and at retail kiosks located in select malls and airports throughout the United States. A complete list of specialty retail locations is posted on the company's Web site. To obtain more information or to purchase the program, call (800) 788-0822 or visit www.RosettaStone.com.

Courtesy of ARA Content

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