Home Builders Association of Greater Spartanburg

Columbia, S.C. – Be Pro Be Proud SC is a unique workforce development program designed to promote the great wages and benefits of skilled trade jobs across the state in hopes of bringing a new generation of skilled trade professionals to the workforce. The Be Pro Be Proud mobile workshop is equipped with hands-on simulators of a variety of skilled trades including welding, truck driving, and heavy equipment operation. Since its launch in the fall of 2020, the mobile workshop has visited multiple schools, Career and Technical Education centers, and technical colleges statewide. 20,853 students and 1,760 general visitors have attended 258 Be Pro Be Proud events so far in 2022.

“Students are the future of our workforce and Be Pro Be Proud provides them with career options that many of them are not even aware of,” stated S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce Executive Director Dan Ellzey. “We hope to influence more people to pursue these jobs and realize that essential work like transportation and logistics, utilities, construction, and diesel technology, among others, are crucial to our state economy and the demand for these jobs will always be there.”

“There is a difference between hearing about a job and experiencing a job,” said Rick Todd, President and CEO of the South Carolina Trucking Association. “Using a simulator and getting to speak to specialists from these skilled trade fields leave an impact on a young person. By attending these events, students will be in the driver’s seat while they learn that many of these jobs are high-paying, in demand, have long-term career prospects, and getting certified for them costs only a fraction of the cost of a 4-year degree.”

“Be Pro Be Proud is a public-private partnership initiative with a tremendously positive impact,” said South Carolina State Senator Thomas Alexander. “These events allow students, parents, and employers to communicate and collaborate with one another, and that is the kind of engagement that allows our state to develop candidates for in-demand jobs that can pay more than $60,000 per year, such as automation and robotics technicians, commercial truck drivers, and more. The definition of a skilled trade job has evolved and Be Pro Be Proud events educate students on what these jobs are and how important they are to our communities.”

Be Pro Be Proud SC is a great achievement of a public-private partnership in South Carolina. The private partners are the Associated Industries of South Carolina Foundation (AISCF), which includes members like the S.C. Trucking Association, S.C. Chamber of Commerce, Carolinas AGC, the Home Builders Association of South Carolina, and the Forestry Association of South Carolina. These private partners raised the money to build out the Be Pro, Be Proud mobile workshop. The South Carolina Legislature appropriated the money for our agency to operate the mobile workshop.