The Home Depot Foundation has announced grants totaling $3.7 million to expand skilled-trade opportunities for youth, high school students, underserved communities, and veterans.

Through a partnership with the Home Builders Institute (HBI), Construction Ready, and the SkillPointe Foundation, the funding will be used to support programs with 100 Black Men of America, including the development of trade academy programs in Sacramento and Phoenix and the addition of $300,000 to existing trade school scholarship programs. According to the Home Depot Foundation, there are currently more than 400,000 skilled-trades jobs unfilled in the United States.

The foundation also announced that its Path to Pro skilled trades training program—launched with a $50 million commitment in 2018—had introduced more than 126,000 people to the skilled trades and formally trained more than 29,000, exceeding its 10-year goal of 20,000. The program annually provides training and apprenticeship opportunities for 1,200 active-duty military service members transitioning to civilian life, offers hands-on training to students in more than 270 schools in 33 states, and enables trade certification for diverse adult populations and underserved communities nationally. In addition, more than 125 scholarships have been awarded to students pursuing a trade college or postsecondary program.

“Through its extraordinary commitment, the Home Depot Foundation is maximizing the impact of training and workforce development on thousands of lives,” said HBI president and CEO Ed Brady. “Together we are building the emerging generation of skilled workers in the construction trades.”

“There’s still a great need for skilled tradespeople,” said Home Depot Foundation executive director Shannon Gerber. “[W]e’ll continue to invest in the innovative programs that our best-in-class partners have created.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/TerryJ)