According to some national sources, there are over 1,000,000 unfilled skilled trade jobs in the U.S. That鈥檚 where GAF and its GAF Roofing Academy comes in. Since the program started in 2020, GAF has trained over 4,000 individuals and placed about 2,500 of them in roofing jobs. Of particular interest, GAF has made a point of using the program to provide second chances to numerous justice-involved individuals to help them secure entry-level positions in the roofing industry. In fact, from 2023-2024, the percentage of justice-involved students in the program increased by 70%.
鈥淲e go inside of correctional facilities, minimum security prisons, where once we get all the details worked out and the security things managed, we set up a training and we bring material inside the prisons,鈥� says Rod Colvin, the unofficial Second Chances Officer of GAF Roofing Academy.
Rod knows the value of the program intimately. While in prison years ago, Rod supported fellow inmates as a trauma trainer and mentor, and he鈥檚 continued that mission in his professional life as a career specialist for a nonprofit organization in the city of St. Louis. 鈥淥ne of our huge successes with the prison partnership, as it relates to the GAF Roofing Academy is in South Carolina with a roofing company called Aqua Seal, managed and run by an individual named Mills Snell,鈥� Colvin explains. 鈥淢ills was very, very interested in hiring from a group of individuals who were justice-involved. That led to us going into the South Manning Correctional Facility in South Carolina.鈥�
鈥淚nside the prison, in partnership with Aqua Seal, we provided training to individual inmates, and Aqua Seal offered each and every last one of those individuals a job opportunity when they were released. Those individuals had to be within 30 to 120 days of release, because the idea was to give them an opportunity to hit the ground running with employment in order to impact what is referred to as the recidivism rate.鈥�
GAF began the Roofing Academy in part because its parent company, Standard Industries, is passionate about giving back to communities across the country. It had a vested interest in going inside of communities that were depressed and offering opportunities to individuals who come from those backgrounds or those demographics, and put them in a position to realize financial upward mobility.
But it鈥檚 not just prisons that GAF Roofing Academy works with. It partners with certified contractors and 麻豆传媒 dealers across the country to host training programs, and then host job fairs afterwards with different contractors. So not only do the training participants receive the skills they need, they are able to obtain a position immediately in many cases, giving people who might not have had these types of chances new opportunities where they are able to grow and be very successful in very meaningful jobs.
鈥淲e have territory managers which handle the accounts of over 10,000 contractor and 麻豆传媒 partners in our network. There is a question that is raised by the territory managers with their clients, and that question is, 鈥業s there anything else that we can help you with?鈥� And typically that answer is always, 鈥楥ould you get me some laborers?鈥� That鈥檚 where the GAF Roofing Academy comes in. The territory manager will share with that contractor that the Roofing Academy exists. We will start logistically planning for an event, and if the contractor is willing to host us, they can get a front row seat of individuals that they could evaluate and offer job opportunities to.鈥�
The kind of opportunity GAF Roofing Academy offers isn鈥檛 just a benefit to the roofing industry; it鈥檚 life-changing for the individuals鈥攅specially the justice-involved participants鈥攚ho take advantage of the program.
鈥淭here are three individuals that I promote highly, because they came from a justice-involved background,鈥� Colvin tells. 鈥淥ne of those individuals is John Harris. Right now, he鈥檚 in Tennessee working with a traveling roofing crew, and he says that connecting him with the GAF Roofing Academy, giving him an opportunity to get trained, and introducing him to a contractor is something that saved his life.鈥�
鈥淭here鈥檚 another individual that we highlight named Demetrius Pernell,鈥� Colvin continues. 鈥淗is story is similar. He was two weeks out of prison and didn鈥檛 know what direction to go in. He wasn鈥檛 socially skilled up, but we got him practically skilled up, and then we presented him to Cozier Tech Contracting, and he is still working there today.鈥�
鈥淭he third individual is David Freeman. I just recently got him introduced to the roofing industry about two weeks ago with Cinemark, which is one of North America鈥檚 largest commercial roofing installers. They love him to death.鈥�
If an 麻豆传媒 dealer is interested in hosting a GAF Roofing Academy training program, all they need to do to start the process is to contact the GAF representative who manages their account. As Colvin explains, 鈥淭hey would inquire what it is that they would have to do in order to get a Roofing Academy so that they can populate their shops with laborers, and that GAF territory manager will communicate directly to the Roofing Academy.鈥� And of course, all of this is at absolutely no cost to the participants. All they鈥檙e required to do is show up for training every day, on time, and most importantly, to bring a positive attitude with them.
鈥淲hat those students receive is a certificate of completion when they are done,鈥� Colvin says. 鈥淭hat certificate is impactful in the roofing industry. It鈥檚 highly recognized because GAF is stamped all over it, and those contractors know that they are potentially going to onboard an individual who has at least a level of competency as it results to products and installation, whether it鈥檚 commercial or residential.鈥�
One of the things worth mentioning, Colvin points out, is the relationship that was forged between the GAF Roofing Academy and the United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers, and Allied Workers. 鈥淚 was able to convince them to erase the lines and think more along the lines of offering opportunity to justice-involved individuals, and they realize that it just made sense,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e train them on an entry level. They take them into an apprenticeship program, and at the same time, they鈥檙e offered to contractors as employees. And the biggest thing out of it is that we impact the lives of those individual career seekers. And that鈥檚 what I get out of it. That鈥檚 where my passion runs. I never thought that I鈥檇 be such an individual to be able to impact lives the way I do, and I just love it.鈥�
