Had an awesome turnout at our Welcome Back & New Student Bowling Night! We are looking forward to getting to know this great new bunch of students who have signed up to be a part of our program this year! Thank you to everyone who came and enjoyed the evening with us! Our first Saturday Academy will be on October 23rd from 10am to 1:30pm at North Tech High School. All are welcome to attend.

Thank you to the CCDI Alumi Students and the construction instructors from North Technical HS and St. Louis Job Corps for coming out to volunteer at the Project Kinloch Clean Up Event. It was great to see so many organizations come out to support the effort and work together to make a big difference in this community.

Thank you again to Kuesel Excavating Co Inc and Concrete Strategies LLC. for giving us a huge head start by filling and hauling away 6 massive dumpsters of trash prior to the event.

A HUGE shout out to 2017 graduate, Arlando Bilal, on journeying out of his apprenticeship with Local 513 Operating Engineers! Arlando has been a part of the Kuesel team for the past 4 years and says he couldn’t have picked a better career and company to work for. Arlando’s former teacher, Patrick Hanneken and CCDI, recognized Arlando at our recent Signing Day event on his big accomplishment and awarded him with a Home Depot gift card and a special hand-crafted trophy! Thank you Kuesel for sponsoring Arlando and supporting him along his journey. We are so proud to see another CCDI grad journey out and extremely thankful to Mr. Steiniger for retaining Arlando through the process. Brandin has big footsteps to follow, but an even bigger support network to help him succeed! It takes a village. #BuildingTheFoundationForChange #Kuesel

Congratulations to 2021 CCDI grad, JaSean Jones, on the purchase of his first vehicle! CCDI is proud to help another trades pathway student with a down payment and financial literacy guidance to ensure reliable transportation for this young man as he begins his career. Thank you to St. Louis Community Credit Union and the Sure Rides program for assisting JaSean with his first loan.

After graduating from McCluer North High School in May, JaSean was selected for Millstone Weber, LLC’s PAVE summer internship program. This experience helped JaSean solidify his passion for carpentry, as well as gain a new interest from his mentor in restoring and renovating old homes. Thank you to Ms. Vivian Martain for helping to provide this learning opportunity for JaSean and connecting him with a mentor! We wish JaSean the best of luck this week as he goes through interviews to determine where he will begin his next chapter as an apprentice carpenter! Keep up the great work!

A big congratulations to 2021 CCDI graduate, Dominick Gatlin, on the purchase of his first vehicle! Dominick is one of our recent construction trades pathway hires at Wies Drywall and Construction Corp. where he has begun his apprenticeship as a carpenter with St. Louis-Kansas City Carpenters Regional Council!

As an active student in our program, Dominick was awarded a vehicle assistance scholarship to go towards a down payment. In partnership with St. Louis Community Credit Union and the “Sure Rides” program, CCDI helped Dominick in navigating the financials in establishing credit and going through the first time loan process. CCDI would like to thank Dominick’s mentor, Scott Rahn, for helping him select the right vehicle at Pundmann Ford! Thank you to everyone who helped connect the dots to get Dominick his first set of wheels!

We had an awesome time last week helping to facilitate and host STL Youth Jobs and Urban League of Metro St. Louis’s Discover You summer camp at Clayco and at the Delmar Divine project!

Discover You is a paid career exploration camp for 9th and 10th graders designed to help narrow down students interests to better match them with job opportunities in coming summers! STL Youth Jobs reached out to the CCDI team to partner and help coordinate a field trip to explore all the career pathways in construction!

Students began the day at Clayco where they learned about the leading technology, architecture and engineering involved in construction, as well as a presentation from The Sandra Marks herself, about the importance of diversity and inclusion in our industry. We then took a field trip over to the Delmar Divine project site where the students got to take a tour of Phase 1 of the project. They had the opportunity to talk with the Project Managers and Superintendent on site who discussed the different pathways on the trades and field side of construction!

Thank you to everyone who helped to make this special experience possible for the students! We are excited to be back in action and engaging with students in person! CCDI is proud to support and partner with Hillary Frey and the STL Youth Jobs team to be a resource and connection for students interested in construction.