The inaugural class of eight local residents graduated on May 5 from a first-of-its-kind training program in the construction field offered by CareerEdge Funders Collaborative and funded through Marie Selby Botanical Gardens’ Master Plan.

CareerEdge’s new core construction skills training initiative is designed to provide participants with industry-recognized credentials in the construction field, as well as life and career-skills training and financial education through CareerEdge’s “Bridges to Careers” program.Participants receive 80 hours of training at no cost to them. Those who successfully complete the tuition-free training then have an opportunity to be considered for employment with one of the subcontractors working for Willis Smith Construction, the construction management firm for Selby Gardens’ Master Plan. Within a week of completing the training, at least two of the graduates had started new jobs with one of the subcontractors working on the Master Plan project at Selby Gardens’ Downtown Sarasota campus.

The next two-month class in the core construction skills training program begins June 14. Overall, the program aims to train about 40 Sarasota city and county residents for careers in construction over two years.