Construction industry associations kicked off a new statewide skilled trades education and recruitment initiative, Go Build Tennessee.

The effort will address skilled labor shortages through targeted education and image enhancement to try and persuade youth to become the next generation of skilled construction workers. Go Build Tennessee president David Stansell, who's also president of Stansell Electric Co, notes in Tennessee, the average age of a construction worker is over 50, and for every five workers who leave the industry, only one replaces them. Pictured: Gov. Bill Haslam and the Go Build Tennessee board of directors.

"Our outreach efforts will extend throughout the state to better engage and educate students—and their ‘influencers’—about career and training opportunities in the construction industry," David says. Go Build isn't specific to Tennessee; the initiative was also launched in in Alabama in 2010 and Georgia in 2012, and shown to have a positive impact on apprenticeship applications and first-year career technical education enrollments.