SAHBA NEWS ADVISORY
August 14 , 2007
SAHBA Projects Garner 3 National Honors
The Southern Arizona Home Builders Association (SAHBA) has been honored with three national awards for program excellence. At last week's National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Executive Officers Conference in Long Beach, Calif., SAHBA President Ed Taczanowsky and Vice President Roger Yohem received the honors on behalf of the 750-member trade association.
These SAHBA programs were named best in the nation:
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Best Community Service Project: Builders Give Owls New“Digs”
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Best Workforce Development Program: The Renaissance of Vocational Education
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Best Partnership/Coalition: The RTA Coalition: A $2.1 Billion Community Partnership
“This is our first year competing with the nation's largest home builder associations, such as those in New York, Chicago, California, Texas and Florida. Most of them have memberships and budgets that are three to four times larger than ours. Coming from our peers, this is a great honor to be recognized among them,” said Taczanowsky.
For Best Community Service , SAHBA won for its collaboration with Wild At Heart to relocate and repopulate burrowing owls. SAHBA members have built over 500 artificial burrows for the Federally protected bird. This is the program's second major award. In 2006, the Metropolitan Pima Alliance awarded SAHBA its Common Ground Award for Best Open Space Program.
For Workforce Development , SAHBA won for it's three-tier approach to building a skilled workforce for the future. The first major step occurred when SAHBA formed its own, self-funded trade school called The SAHBA Institute of Construction. Next, SAHBA members provided students at the Fred G. Acosta Job Corps with valuable hands-on experience, in conjunction with the Home Builders Institute in Washington, D.C.
And third, w ith SAHBA's help, Catalina Magnet High School received a $750,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Labor to establish a construction trades program. For over a year, SAHBA member volunteers have been working to remodel a 4,700 square-foot vocational training center at the school that will be named after the Association. Completion is expected later this year.
“Rebuilding a community-wide curriculum in Southern Arizona is the first step to creating a new generation of construction workers. SAHBA took the lead, SAHBA began the renaissance of vocational education in Tucson,” said Robert Rivinius of NAHB.
In the Best Partnership/Coalition category, the unique coalition of governments and private business won for the 2006 marketing campaign for Pima County's regional transportation initiative. To ensure success for a grassroots $1 million marketing campaign, SAHBA agreed to help the RTA voter education campaign called, “YES! On Regional Transportation.”
SAHBA helped raise marketing funds and helped develop the marketing program's messages and materials, with Vice President Roger Yohem serving on the Executive Committee.
The coalition, that featured a transportation plan for the entire region, was assembled under the RTA banner. It included all governmental jurisdictions: The City of Tucson, Pima County, the towns of Marana, Oro Valley, South Tucson and Sahuarita; and the Pascua Yaqui Tribe and the Tohono O'odham Nation. Plus, it had the support of over 100 community leaders, organizations, businesses and advocacy groups.
Since SAHBA's reorganization in 2003, the Association also has won NAHB national awards for: Best Newsletter, Best Magazine, Best Public Relations Program, Best Government Affairs Program, Best Fund-Raising Program, and Best Political Action Committee Program.
SAHBA represents about 750 member businesses and 40,000 jobs serving the residential construction industry in Pima and Cochise counties.
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