ReCastED

Physical strain and health issues experienced by tradespeople often lead to early retirement before Medicare and Social Security eligibility, leaving families and the workforce in a precarious situation. Additionally, tradespeople are disproportionately disadvantaged communities, reflecting a demographic makeup not representative of national averages. In the US, ~41% of the construction workforce will retire by 2031, leading to a significant loss of tradespeople and institutional knowledge. To meet demand, the industry must add 501,000 workers beyond current hiring trends. 

Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs offer youth trade pathways; unfortunately, filling CTE teaching positions is challenging. School administrators report difficulty filling CTE positions 57% of the time, higher than 39% for academic subjects. 

Aging tradespeople are ideal CTE instructor candidates but often lack qualifications for teaching roles as ~72%, have vocational training rather than a bachelor’s, a teaching prerequisite. Costly certifications, lengthy coursework, and limited support leave many skilled tradespeople unable to transition into teaching. These barriers disproportionately impact underserved and Title 1 schools, where students benefit most from CTE programs that boost high school graduation rates, future earnings, and employment. Without qualified CTE teachers, these essential programs cannot thrive, deepening inequities and workforce gaps.

ReCastED is a free alternative teacher certification program that reskills middle- and late-career tradespeople for CTE teaching positions. The hybrid online instruction and mentorship model addresses traditional teacher certification barriers. The unique blended model approach allows instructors to earn certification through an online, self-paced, user-friendly course, eliminating the need for traditional enrollment in higher ED—similar to the Florida Department of Corrections alternative certification program, designed by MCAA staff, and a CTE instructor mentorship program developed by the North Carolina Masonry Contractors Association(NCMCA).

Program Overview:

• Awareness & Outreach Campaigns:

  • Leverage MCAA, NCMCA, and partner networks raising CTE pathway awareness (emphasizing career benefits) and recruit candidates.

  • K-12 awareness campaigns

• Vetting & Eligibility Assessment: Evaluate candidates’ eligibility, trade experience, and aptitude.

• Geo-Specific Job Market Analysis: Assess candidates' alignment with regional demand, ensuring workforce readiness and local job market compatibility.

• Hybrid Training Program:

  • Asynchronous Online Certification: Covering teaching strategies, classroom management, and pedagogy.

  • CTE Instructor Mentorship: In-classroom apprenticeships fostering skills and real-world application.

• Job Placement & Support: Ongoing mentorship for sustained success

• Pay-It-Forward Network: Empowers graduates to assist future cohorts.

We reskill and support tradespeople to become the next generation of educators.

Our pilot supports middle- and late-career NC tradespeople, particularly women, marginalized, and rural, who face limited career transitions due to SDoH-related disparities. With only ~28% of tradespeople holding bachelor’s degrees, many are sidelined from alternative careers - a Harvard study found that just 0.14% of 2023 hires prioritized skills over formal education.

Most reskilling opportunities are in metropolitan areas, leaving rural and lower-income regions, especially South and Midwest, underserved. Systemic barriers, including limited access to mentorship, workforce development programs, and financial resources, further hinder career transitions for tradespeople.

Our free ReCastEd program addresses these challenges by offering a streamlined pathway to career transition. The asynchronous online CTE certification accommodates tradespeople’s schedules, enhancing learning accessibility. Local in-classroom apprenticeships provide practical, hands-on training, ideal for tradespeople who excel in skills-based environments. According to the U.S. Department of Education, mentoring can reduce first-year teacher attrition rates by up to two-thirds.

Buttressing the hybrid training program includes holistic career support, career awareness, job market alignment assessments, training, job placement, and ongoing mentorship. Ultimately, the program empowers tradespeople to transition into teaching roles, secure sustainable incomes and benefits, address labor shortages, and positively impact generational wealth by passing on their expertise.

Community Voice:

Our team includes educators, tradespeople, and community leaders. Ryan Shaver’s, NCMCA, firsthand experience transitioning from trades to CTE instruction provides unique career transition barrier insight. Since 2018, he has finger-on-the-pulse through mentoring 20+ CTE instructors and driving the creation of 47 masonry programs across 36 NC school districts, enrolling ~2,406 students in Masonry courses in 2024-2025 academic year.

Community-Driven Design:

Feedback from MCAA’s 900 nationwide and NCMCA’s 178 NC members, combined with insights from Apprenticeship NC, the NC Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI), NC Department of Labor (NCDOL), NC School District Leadership, like Stacey White, ED of CTE at Rowan-Salisbury Schools, and the Concrete Masonry Checkoff shaped our solution. Feedback highlighted the challenges tradespeople face transitioning to CTE instructors, such as career awareness, program accessibility, affordability, and certification pathway gaps, ultimately informing the prioritization of launching a CTE awareness campaign and ReCastEd.

Engagement:

Ryan’s mentorship and recruitment efforts have directly engaged +130 CTE instructors, school districts, and program leadership. Additionally, we seek quarterly input through our collective mailing list of 26,792 and in-person meetings to ensure we are meeting all tradespeople's needs, including those of women, rural and underserved. Through this engagement, we understood the need for accessible and alternative certification pathways buttressed with previously mentioned support. 

Shaping the Solution:

From the community’s input, we developed the hybrid model that combines the experiential NCMCA mentoring program and the asynchronous online model that builds on the Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC) alternative teacher certification program. By adapting FDOC’s proven model to K-12, we address accessibility gaps and create a replicable and sustainable program across diverse communities.

Longstanding Community Representatives:

Since 1950, MCAA has supported the masonry industry through education and workforce development. Since 2018, NCMCA has collaborated with the state of NC to develop a robust CTE program.

ReCastED is in its initial working version and is in the prototype stage as its two major components, below, are in varying stages of development.

Online Certification:  

Stage - Concept

Building upon the Florida Department of Corrections alternative teacher certification program the self-paced, user-friendly online course is under development to meet the state’s teaching certification requirements. 

Mentorship:

Stage - Pilot 

Ryan, NCNMA, provides mentorship to teachers. Since 2018, he has mentored 20 teachers transitioning from the field to the classroom through lateral entry, benchmarking the need for an online course and highlighting the critical need for a structured, scalable mentorship program. These programs collectively train approximately 4,750 students annually. 

We are conducting needs assessment that will provide valuable insights into the barriers tradespeople, especially women and communities of color, face which will inform program development. Also, we are gathering additional feedback from our partners such as Apprenticeship NC, NC DPI, NC DOL, NCMCA, and school districts.

The NC pilot will validate a prototype that ensures the needs of aspiring trade instructors and schools. As we transition from testing to a market the program will deliver a scalable, impactful solution for equipping skilled trade educators.

Innovative Approach: Why Our Model is Better

Our mentorship-based solution reimagines how tradespeople transition into teaching by replacing outdated certification pathways with a flexible, hybrid model tailored to state-specific requirements. Traditional pathways often demand bachelor’s degrees, lengthy coursework, and college enrollment, creating costly and inflexible barriers for tradespeople balancing work and family responsibilities. These hurdles disproportionately exclude women and underrepresented groups, preventing skilled professionals from entering classrooms where their expertise is urgently needed.

Our program removes barriers by offering practical, trade-specific teacher certification through self-paced online modules and in-person in-classroom mentorship. This approach emphasizes relevant, hands-on skills, allowing participants to earn certification while accommodating existing commitments. Unlike traditional methods, our program prepares instructors for vocational education’s unique demands, equipping them with the knowledge, confidence, and tools to succeed.

Compared to the typical lengthy coursework and licensure requirements, depending on state requirements, our self-paced model cuts the time required to certification while enabling tradespeople to maintain their jobs. By working with DPI to meet the requirements for teacher certification, our innovative model addresses the CTE teacher shortage, directly linked to onerous licensure requirements. This flexibility ensures tradespeople can transition into teaching roles without sacrificing financially and gain financial stability. 

Distinct Features

• Human-Centered Mentorship: Personalized, trade-specific mentorship ensures ongoing support.

• Hybrid Delivery Model: Self-paced modules paired with in-person apprenticeships align with local certification pathways like North Carolina’s Residency License program.

• Increasing Diversity: The program attracts more women and underrepresented tradespeople, fostering a more inclusive pool of CTE instructors and students.

Broader Impacts and Market Impact

Our solution establishes a replicable standard for teacher preparation, improving accessibility and equity. It bridges industry and education, creating a reliable pipeline of diverse trade educators, addressing workforce shortages, preserving institutional knowledge, and promoting economic mobility in underserved communities.

ReCastED is an innovative, free program that empowers middle- and late-career tradespeople to reskill and transition to impactful second careers as CTE instructors that leverages their expertise, and addresses teacher shortages, fosters economic independence, and increases workforce diversity. ReCastED meets critical labor market needs while advancing UN Sustainable Development Goals 4 (Quality Education) and 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth).

Sample Impact Goals and Measurements:

1. Inclusive Mentorship Network: Establish a diverse multi-level learning and development culture that supports entry-level participants, certified instructors, and veteran educators to foster knowledge-sharing and decrease attrition.

   1. Retiring teacher replacement rate; 3-year new CTE teacher retention rates; participant and mentor satisfaction scores.

2. Reskilling Online Teacher Certification: Develop and implement self-paced, milestone-driven online certification programs tailored to (rural and underserved) participants' unique needs in collaboration with national certifying bodies.

   1.  Completion rates; certification percentages; partnerships with certification bodies.

3. Increased Awareness and Diversity: Launch culturally and linguistically inclusive awareness campaigns promoting CTE teaching pathways (participants and schools), focusing on reskilling tradespeople from diverse backgrounds.

   1. Campaign reach; social media engagement; participant and enrollee demographics; underrepresented awareness growth.

1. Workforce Representation and Job Placement: Increase CTE teacher diversity, ensuring CTE representation reflects community demographics while equipping tradespeople with the skills needed to transition to teaching.

   1. CTE teacher placement rates; percentage increase in women and underrepresented CTE instructors.

2. Financial Stability: Facilitate stable, well-paying CTE careers, promoting long-term economic independence and reduced financial insecurity.

   1. Median income of graduates vs. prior earnings; percentage of participants reporting financial stability/improved QOL; alignment with regional living wage benchmarks.

3. Program Financial Stability: Ensure sustainability with diverse funding, partnerships, and cost-efficient delivery.

   1. Funding diversity, cost per participant, and funding growth and retention.

These goals will be tracked using robust evaluation frameworks to deliver measurable, scalable, and sustainable outcomes.

Our team: 

• 4 full-time staff (3 MCAA, 1 NCMCA), including program managers and outreach coordinators overseeing operations and strategy. 

• 14 (estimate) contractors specializing in instructional design, mentorship coordination, data analysis, marketing, IT support, community outreach, participant support, impact evaluation, and diversity specialists to ensure effective program delivery, outreach, and evaluation. 

As the program scales, contractors can transition to FT/PT, and staff in local markets will grow organically to tailor to local needs, nuances, and demands, ultimately assisting in revitalizing local economies.

This collaborative pathway ensures a program supported by experienced professionals at every level, from development to implementation.

The MCAA and NCMCA collaboration, under MCAA’s 501c3, The Masonry Foundation, has been developing this solution since 2018. Over six years, we have mentored CTE rookies, conducted focus groups, and held interviews to identify barriers such as busy schedules, costly certifications, and the need for financial stability, including access to Social Security benefits. We also developed strategies to make the CTE profession attractive, highlighting benefits like retirement packages, summers off, shaping the next generation, and contributing to workforce development. These efforts refined our approach and confirmed the demand for an accessible, inclusive CTE pathway to reskill trade professionals.

We are committed to changing the demographics of the trades landscape, recognizing that leadership in construction and trades industries has long been male- and white-dominated. For example, over 90% of construction managers are male, and about 85% are white, while much of the workforce comes from underserved communities.

In the words of the famous architect Richard Buckminster Fuller, “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete." 

The time is now due to current and future exponential retirement rates of tradespeople, which provides us a perfect interval change trajectory to build a new representative trades workforce at every level from the trade worker, leadership, and teachers. 

We are taking the first steps by launching the ReCastED program. This is a critical opportunity to diversify the field by transitioning individuals from underrepresented communities—particularly women and people of color—into CTE teaching roles. Research suggests academic benefits when students and teachers share the same race/ethnicity because such teachers can serve as role models, mentors, advocates, or cultural translators. This underscores the transformative impact of increasing diversity among educators for students’ academic success and for fostering more significant equity in career opportunities. By diversifying the educator pipeline, we are building pathways to leadership and advancing equity in education and workforce development. 

As illustrated in our staffing sections, we are recruiting talent for ReCastED from diverse backgrounds to increase representation from underrepresented communities in leadership and advisory roles, reflecting our commitment to dismantling systemic barriers.

By actively diversifying our team and CTE teacher and trades pipeline, we are creating a ripple effect: empowering underrepresented groups to transition into teaching, improving student outcomes, especially those that look like them, and reshaping the industry to better reflect the communities it serves.

We combine accessibility, collaboration, and economic impact through worker-centered innovation, connecting vulnerable tradespeople to stable CTE teaching roles, providing value to tradespeople, schools, and communities by creating accessible pathways to economic stability while addressing labor gaps.

BENEFICIARIES

• Tradespeople: Gain flexible training, mentorship, and hands-on teaching experience, transitioning into stable teaching roles without incurring prohibitive costs.

• Schools: Access a pipeline of qualified instructors, addressing teacher shortages and improving vocational education outcomes.

Secondary:

• Students: Gain access to diverse and experienced instructors, equitable access to apprenticeship opportunities and pathways between education and industry facilitated by an instructor coming from industry. Some develop entrepreneurial bug enabling them to launch small businesses.

• Communities: Strengthened workforce pipelines support critical industries and promote economic mobility, especially in underserved areas.

Products/Services

• Awareness Campaigns: Local and virtual campaigns to recruit tradespeople and promote CTE pathways.

  • Need: Pathway awareness and industry diversity.

• Hybrid Reskilling Training Program:

  • Online Certification: Self-paced courses tailored to busy professionals in rural and underserved areas.

  • CTE Instructor Mentorship: In-classroom apprenticeships.

    • Need: Cost and time-effective reskilling programs in less onerous physical work environment that provides economic security

• Mentorship and Support Network:

  • A local and virtual multi-level support system connecting participants with experienced instructors for knowledge-sharing and retention and subject matter experts to assist with wraparound services.

    • Need: Support to successfully transition and remain in new career

Economic Impact

• Tradespeople: 100 instructors annually generate +$4MIL in salaries transitioning from physically demanding roles into stable careers.

• Students: 95 programs x 50 students = 4,750 students. If 50% secure $50K jobs, economic impact exceeds $119MIL/cohort.

  • Some students will grow the economy by creating businesses and more jobs.

Communities: Bolstered by skilled workers, new businesses, and increased tax revenues, fostering (rural) revitalization, growth, and long-term stability.

Our financial sustainability plan is built on diversified revenue streams and strategic partnerships that align with our mission.

Key Revenue Streams

1. Government and Nonprofit: Workforce development and education state and federal funding streams like Perkins V and the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act will provide critical resources to align our program with local and national workforce priorities. Nonprofits focusing on education and skills development will also be vital. 

2. Industry: Trade organizations and contractors will be vital in underwriting program costs. These stakeholders benefit directly from a pipeline of skilled instructors who produce workforce-ready graduates, making their investment mutually beneficial.

3. Grant Funding: Grants such as the Truist Foundation Inspire Awards, Perkins Innovation and Modernization grants, and state-level CTE enhancement grants provide initial funding to launch and scale the program. Success with these grants demonstrates our capacity to attract financial support and build credibility.

4. Proprietary Online Platform: The online certification will be proprietary to MCAA, ensuring exclusivity and control. As so, ongoing costs will be minimal, limited to platform maintenance and periodic curriculum reviews to align with evolving standards. This approach minimizes recurring expenses while ensuring the program remains high-quality, up-to-date, and cost-effective.

5. Future Revenue Opportunities: As the program grows, we will explore opportunities for revenue generation, such as offering specialized workshops or consultations to industries seeking to implement similar mentorship models.

Evidence of Success

The NC pilot program has garnered interest and feedback from educators, administrators, and trade organizations, affirming its feasibility, need, and potential for financial collaboration. Early support from educational institutions and conversations with industry leaders and local governments highlight strong alignment with workforce development goals.

By leveraging these funding sources and innovative strategies, our program creates a self-sustaining model that addresses critical educational and workforce challenges while ensuring scalability and long-term impact.

Our program aligns closely with the Awards, as our target beneficiaries are tradespeople seeking new careers, often from underserved populations, rural areas, or economically depressed regions. The guidance, in-kind, and funding provided would enable us to swiftly expand our reach and deepen our impact, particularly in underserved communities within Truist’s footprint, such NC and FL. These regions, where masonry is essential for natural disaster resiliency, rely on a robust trades pipeline to support workforce development and rebuild communities affected by the latest hurricanes.

The Value-Add:

• Access to Expertise: Collaboration would help us find aligned SMEs that our industry lacks access that could help assist in fine-tuning our model and scalability strategy.

• Partnership Development: The Inspire network, and networking at the Truist Leadership Retreat, will facilitate coalition building with nonprofits, educational institutions, and industry stakeholders essential for creating sustainable pathways to scale.

1. Truist Partnership:

1. Truist expertise in financial literacy could benefit program participants, equipping them with skills to manage income and transition into teaching careers.

1. Opportunities for small business loans from could support students launching businesses, fostering economic growth in their communities.

• Capacity Building: The mentorship, workshops, and insights offered through the program would strengthen our ability to track impact metrics, improve program design, and ensure long-term sustainability.

• Financial Assistance: Support program enhancements, including mentorship network expansion, outreach efforts, and scaling our online certification platform.

If we are awarded it would accelerate the implementation and expansion of our program, all while addressing workforce challenges in meaningful and measurable ways.