Free weeklong training helps prepare workers — including those with criminal records — for careers in roofing.

As the construction sector continues to grapple with a severe labor shortage, local programs across the country are stepping up with hands-on solutions. Among them is the GAF Roofing Academy, which offers free training and a shot at stable employment — particularly for individuals who’ve faced incarceration or legal trouble in the past.

One of the academy’s most vocal advocates is Roderick Colvin, who serves as a senior external learning and development relationship specialist for the program. But depending on the audience, Colvin doesn’t always start by listing his title. Sometimes, he opens with a reference to the inmate numbers he carried while in federal prison.

“I introduce myself in such a way because I’m absolutely transparent about who I am, where I’ve been and hopefully serve as an example of what an individual could be,” Colvin told Construction Dive.

Based in Parsippany, New Jersey, roofing manufacturer GAF launched the academy to provide a combination of technical and soft skills training. The weeklong course offers students a certificate of completion along with an OSHA 10-hour safety credential — all at no cost. After graduating, many students are connected with potential job opportunities at commercial roofing firms.

Since the program’s inception in 2020, more than 4,300 individuals have gone through its 365+ classes nationwide, resulting in over 2,500 job placements. Roughly 10% of those participants have been “justice-involved,” meaning they have served time or have criminal charges on their records.

For Colvin, who was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm, the transition from incarceration to a productive career path was not accidental. He took advantage of training programs while incarcerated, earning a teacher’s aide certification through the Department of Labor and later receiving teaching credentials from Kaskaskia College in Centralia, Illinois.

He now channels that experience into helping others find similar success.

“On the justice-involved side of it, I always encourage them that it is never the fact that they are a convicted felon that would prevent them from getting employment. The fact of the matter is that it would be a lack of skills that would prevent you from getting employment,” Colvin said. “So, I would encourage them to take a direction of going toward skilled trades.”

The need for new workers is urgent. According to data from Associated Builders and Contractors, the construction industry must hire roughly 439,000 net new workers this year just to keep pace with demand.

That labor gap has led to partnerships like the one between GAF and Aqua Seal Roofing, a commercial roofing company based in Cayce, South Carolina. Mills Snell, the company’s COO, said the firm first worked with GAF in spring 2021 to offer a five-day training in Columbia, South Carolina. Of the 20 who completed the course, Aqua Seal hired four.

Encouraged by that success, the company expanded its efforts. Snell said they later teamed with the South Carolina Department of Corrections to train 10 parole-eligible inmates. Four of those graduates also earned full-time roles. The company has since repeated the initiative annually.

“Providing opportunities for individuals of all backgrounds to enter the trades is crucial,” Snell said. “Some of our strongest roofers have come from unexpected places; they just needed the chance — or a second chance — to showcase their abilities.”

In addition to technical roofing instruction, the GAF Academy also prioritizes soft skills like conflict resolution and interviewing — tools Colvin believes are just as important as knowing how to shingle a roof.

“It helps make those contractors on the commercial side understand that some of these individuals that we train up come from a justice-involved background or come from a background where educational opportunities were not available to them because of barriers that they encountered,” Colvin said. “If they are equipped with the resources to help them with the soft skills training to be able to transition into a work environment, they could serve as a valuable employee.”

Snell agrees that the impact of the program extends in both directions.

“Finding skilled labor is a big challenge for our industry and this program, from a trusted company, is filling that need, while supporting these communities,” he said.

Originally reported by Zachary Phillips in Construction Dive.