Lowe’s Gives Grants to Support Local SkillsUSA Chapters in Applying Learnings to Community Projects

LEESBURG, VA. OCTOBER 17, 2017 –– This year, 31 SkillsUSA chapters will receive grants from Lowe’s to enhance schools and communities while building the skills of students learning trades. Lowe’s, the largest corporate donor in SkillsUSA history, has provided a total of $1.5 million this year, bringing Lowe’s and the Lowe’s Charitable and Educational Foundation’s total contributions to SkillsUSA to more than $15 million since 2006.

The school grants strengthen local communities while providing enhanced learning opportunities for students and fostering relationships between local Lowe’s stores and SkillsUSA chapters.

“Lowe’s is one of our finest partners, providing millions of dollars that go directly to enriching local and state SkillsUSA programs,” said Timothy Lawrence, executive director of SkillsUSA. “Schools often struggle to fund new equipment and updated classrooms or school campus enhancements — there are so many demands on their budgets. Communities face the same challenge. As a skills gap solution and verified talent pipeline, SkillsUSA is working to graduate more than 100,000 students each year who are career-ready. These Lowe’s grants enable career and technical education students to hone their knowledge and apply their skills in real-world scenarios while giving back. With the help of Lowe’s, we can truly make a lasting impact in these communities.”

“Our partnership with SkillsUSA is important to helping address the growing demand for skilled workers in the United States,” said James Frison, director of community relations at Lowe’s. “Lowe’s support of the SkillsUSA community service grants program provides students with hands-on experience using their skills to make a difference and helps prepare them for future careers in skilled trades.”

This fall, grants will be awarded in amounts ranging from $2,000 to $25,000. Grant winners are selected based on their project, community engagement and overall strategy. This fall’s grants include:

A&M Consolidated High School, College Station, Texas — $23,900: SkillsUSA students will support Family Promise, a local homeless shelter, by installing and creating networking and security infrastructure in the building. Students will build computers and create and configure the entire network to allow the volunteers to have a working office space. Homeless families will be able to search for and apply for jobs, work on resumes and, for the children, do schoolwork.

Academies of the Antelope Valley, Lancaster, Calif. — $21,000: Students will benefit by adding new virtual reality systems to assist with leadership training, expand technical skill training and increase participation in SkillsUSA. The grant will also allow for a partnership with a local nonprofit organization to increase awareness in their distracted driving campaign by using driving simulators.

Advanced Technology Center, Virginia Beach, Va. — $25,000: The grant will be used to create a community garden and a farmers’ market. The farmers’ market will sell fresh produce, rain barrels and compost bins to families to allow the community to have more affordable access to organic vegetables.

Bartow County College and Career Academy, Cartersville, Ga. — $9,614: The students will build an agility obstacle course to test the local and state SkillsUSA Georgia Championships students in the Public Safety Tactical event.

CATEC/Charlottesville – Albemarle, Charlottesville, Va. — $25,000: The grant will be used to help fund the conversion of a retired school bus into a food truck, which will be run by the culinary arts students. Students will also host a “fill the bus” food drive benefiting the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank.

Chambers County Career Technical Center, Lafayette, Ala. — $25,000: Students will convert a currently unused hangar section of the Shawmut Airport into an outreach park for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). They will use the existing cement pad to build a covered pavilion area, create a space dedicated to remote-control car racing and add a landscaped area for observers.

Corry Career and Technical Center, Corry, Pa. — $2,265: The grant will be used to repair a sidewalk in the outside play area of the school’s preschool and purchase sheds to store the outdoor play equipment. After completion, the project will have an impact on 75-100 a year.

Don Bosco Technical Institute, Rosemead, Calif. — $9,904: Students will purchase two new table saws. An estimated 500 students will benefit annually from having them.

Foshay Learning Center, Los Angeles — $25,000: The grant will be used to model, manufacture and test portable ramps to be used at district school sites.

Francis Tuttle Technology Center, Reno, Okla. — $25,000: Students will use the grant to purchase school supplies, underwear and socks, coats and toys 480 fifth-graders who are in need. There will be three distributions: at the beginning of the school year, during the holiday season and during spring break.

Green County Area Technology Center, Greensburg, Ky. — $19,406.85: The SkillsUSA chapter will use the grant to build a portable track to race both gas and electric remote-control cars. The track and cars will be taken to local schools and surrounding counties to market the opportunities that exist through technical education.

Jefferson County High School, Louisville, Ga. — $25,000: The SkillsUSA chapter and construction class students will construct two dugouts, hitting facilities and replace fencing for the school softball field.

John F. Kennedy Magnet High School, Granada Hills, Calif. — $25,000: Students will create an art gallery on the north side of the campus. It will showcase student career and technical education as well as elementary and middle school work.

Kansas City Kansas Community College, Kansas City, Kan. — $25,000: Students will build a tiny home for a homeless veteran. The home will include a bed, a table, a small kitchen, and a bathroom. The home will be placed in Veterans Village, a veteran’s planned community.

Knox County Career Center, Mount Vernon, Ohio — $23,000: Students will renovate the Ray Richardson Children’s Garden, first dedicated in 1999.

Murray County High School, Chatsworth, Ga. — $4,000: The grant will be used to replace the existing flooring system in the Seaboard Coast Line railroad caboose which has been donated to the Whitfield/Murray Historical Society in Chatsworth.

Norwalk High School, Norwalk, Conn. — $24,800: The grant will be used for creating a larger mobile kitchen. Students will use the grant to purchase a trailer, canopy system, multiple kitchen appliances and food to prepare and cook.

Page Middle School, Gloucester, Va. — $2,256.57: The grant will be used to purchase a greenhouse to be used by the seventh-grade life science classes so students can plant seeds in January for the already existing raised garden beds.

Palestine High School, Palestine, Texas — $25,000: Students will build 16 different mini-marketplace structures to share job market possibilities and the SkillsUSA Framework with younger students.

Rockbridge County High School, Lexington, Va. — $25,000: Students from the building trades, electronics and HVAC programs will benefit by gaining experience in building a Habitat for Humanity house.

Sandy Creek High School, Tyrone, Ga. — $22,500: The grant will be used to fund the creation of an outdoor sensory garden. The garden will be specifically designed to benefit the education and cognitive development of students in the special education program.

Schuylkill Technology Centers, Mar Lin, Pa. — $8,160: Students will renovate and improve the Hillside Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Specific improvements include window replacements, steel chain-link fence and gate replacement, and repairs to the outdoor yard area to alleviate water drainage problems.

Statesboro High School, Statesboro, Ga. — $5,948.38: Students in the construction program and the SkillsUSA chapter will purchase the materials to complete an outdoor classroom being built in a duck habitat and outdoor learning area on campus.

STEM Magnet Academy of Pointe Coupee, Baton Rouge, La. — $5,989.50: The grant will be used to purchase biomedical and crime scene investigation equipment for the STEM lab so students can learn with the latest advances in technology.

Tennessee College of Applied Technology Nashville Campus, Nashville, Tenn. — $25,000: The grant will be used to purchase materials and supplies to renovate the bathroom/shower area and the kitchen at the new location of The Little Pantry That Could, a nonprofit that provides food, showers and other resources to people in need in Nashville.

Tennessee College of Applied Technology, Memphis — $19,500: The SkillsUSA chapter will use the grant to aid the Hagar Center, a homeless shelter for teenage mothers and their babies. The center will be refurbished by making minor repairs and painting, and the grant will provide miscellaneous items for babies and purchase new appliances for the center.

Tennessee College of Applied Technology, Murfreesboro — $25,000: The grant will be used to remodel and update the cosmetology classroom. The new classroom will allow for more people in the community to take advantage of affordable cosmetology services, and it will make education more meaningful impact for students in the program.

University of New Mexico Gallup Campus, Gallup, N.M. — $6,020: Students will renovate the meeting space for the local Veterans Helping Veterans organization, provide landscaping services after a new flagpole is installed at the future site of the state Veterans Cemetery, and conduct veteran interviews and generate a tribute booklet to be presented back to the organization.

Vancouver School of Arts and Academics, Vancouver, Wash. — $2,000: The grant will be used to improve Open House Ministries family shelter, which provides shelter and safety to vulnerable families. The students will create a small community garden where residents can grow their own food, furnish a room and supply other materials like school items and clothing that recipients take with them when they leave the shelter.

Victory Collegiate High School, Brooklyn, N.Y. — $13,700: The grant will be used to create a food garden in the courtyard space of the high school. The fruits and vegetables can be used by the school and distributed throughout the community through a weekly farmer’s market.

Whitewater Career Center, Connersville, Ind. — $23,000: The grant will be used to purchase a portable laser engraving/cutter, ten Mac laptops, two tables and materials for building models. Students and prospective students will benefit by having mobile equipment at community events to offer children an experience in career and technical education.

About SkillsUSA SkillsUSA is a vital solution to the growing U.S. skills gap. This nonprofit partnership of students, instructors and industry ensures America has the skilled workforce it needs to stay competitive. Founded in 1965 and endorsed by the U.S. Department of Education, the association serves more than 335,000 member students and instructors each year in middle schools, high schools and colleges. This diverse talent pipeline covers 130 trade, technical and skilled service occupations, the majority STEM-related. More than 600 corporations, trade associations, businesses and labor unions actively support SkillsUSA at the national level. SkillsUSA programs are integrated into career and technical education through a framework of personal, workplace and technical skills grounded in academics. Local, state and national championships, designed and judged by industry, set relevant standards for career and technical education and provide needed recognition to its students. SkillsUSA also offers technical skill assessments and other workplace credentials. For more information, go to: http://www.SkillsUSA.org.

About Lowe’s in the Community Lowe’s, a FORTUNE® 50 home improvement company, has a 60-year legacy of supporting the communities it serves through programs that focus on K-12 public education and community improvement projects. In the past decade, Lowe’s and the Lowe’s Charitable and Educational Foundation together have contributed nearly $300 million to these efforts, and for more than two decades Lowe’s Heroes volunteers have donated their time to make our communities better places to live. For the latest news, visit corporate.lowes.com/newsroom or follow @LowesMedia on Twitter.