SkillsUSA and Invitation Homes Announce Partnership to Help Close the Skills Gap

SkillsUSA and Invitation Homes (NYSE: INVH) have teamed up for a three-year partnership to help close the skills gap and expand skilled trades education. Invitation Homes’ contribution will support SkillsUSA’s mission to empower its members to become world-class workers, leaders, and responsible American citizens and prepare students for careers in the trade skills industry. Through the partnership, Invitation Homes is addressing a shortage of trained labor across the U.S. that is fueling a widening skills gap.

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Invitation Homes will pilot two locations this upcoming school year in Tampa and Charlotte and plans to expand its support across all company markets by the 2023-24 academic year. As an employer, Invitation Homes will invest in a skilled workforce and create a strong network of students, teachers, and associates across the country who are dedicated to creating pathways to success within the industry. Invitation Homes will work with SkillsUSA by:

• Supporting SkillsUSA Works, a program for students in underserved schools and communities that provides career-readiness training through the SkillsUSA Career Essentials program, along with onramps to employment opportunities in the skilled trades.
• Supporting opportunities for all students at SkillsUSA national workforce development conferences including the annual National Leadership and Skills Conference and Washington Leadership Training Institute.

“Skilled workers are the backbone of our company,” said Invitation Homes President & Chief Executive Officer Dallas Tanner. “We understand the importance of investing in talent to offer and maintain a superior product. At Invitation Homes, our mission is, ‘Together with you, we make a house a home,’ and we couldn’t fulfill that mission without our skilled associates.”

Invitation Homes Chief Human Resources Officer Elizabeth Galloway also notes the connection between the company’s work and SkillsUSA’s mission. “We’ve committed to find, recruit, and educate a future class of students in the middle skills industry because we champion the value of this work every day. Our talent acquisition teams can attest there is a skills gap which can make it difficult to secure talent in each of our markets. We also know that these jobs provide substantial opportunities for growth – including promotion to management positions or the possibility of owning and operating one's own business. That’s why we’ve chosen to step up and lend a hand to uplifting the future talent pool in our industry.”

SkillsUSA Executive Director Chelle Travis echoes the crucial need to recruit and train future skilled trades workers. “We are rolling up our sleeves every day to serve career and technical education, and to forge meaningful partnerships between education and industry that result in a better-trained workforce and an ultimately, shrinking skills gap. Working together with Invitation Homes, we can make this happen.”

About SkillsUSA

SkillsUSA is a nonprofit partnership of education and industry founded in 1965 to strengthen our nation’s skilled workforce. Driven by employer demand, SkillsUSA helps students develop necessary personal and workplace skills along with technical skills grounded in academics. This SkillsUSA Framework empowers every student to succeed at work and in life, while helping to close the skills gap in which millions of positions go unfilled. Through SkillsUSA’s championships program and curricula, employers have long ensured schools are teaching relevant technical skills, and with SkillsUSA’s new credentialing process, they can now assess how ready potential employees are for the job. SkillsUSA has members nationwide in high schools, colleges and middle schools, covering over 130 trade, technical and skilled service occupations, and is recognized by the U.S. departments of Education and Labor as integral to career and technical education. We have served nearly 13.8 million members since 1965. For more information: www.skillsusa.org.

About Invitation Homes

Invitation Homes is the nation's premier single-family home leasing company, meeting changing lifestyle demands by providing access to high-quality, updated homes with valued features such as close proximity to jobs and access to good schools. The company’s mission, “Together with you, we make a house a home,” reflects its commitment to providing homes where individuals and families can thrive and high-touch service that continuously enhances residents’ living experiences. For more information about Invitation Homes, visit: www.invitationhomes.com.

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