MCAA Regional Report, Region A

Words: Joe BonifateConnecticut - John Duffy
Delaware - Gregg Furtaw
Maine - No State Chairman
Massachusetts - Paul Cantarella
New Hampshire - Kerry Gagnon
New Jersey - No State Chairman
New York - No State Chairman
Pennsylvania - Christopher Shirley
Rhode Island - No State Chairman
Vermont - Guy Tedesco

Workforce Development

Pennsylvania

Currently in Pennsylvania there are 30 Career and Technology Centers and three Post-secondary institutions that offer Masonry as a training program.

As an organized committee of the Pennsylvania Concrete Masonry Association (PCMA), the Masonry Instructors Association (MIA) has membership from 46 instructors from PA and Maryland (MD) at the secondary and post-secondary level. It is free standing with their own President (Christopher Shirley), Vice President (Mike Campanile) and Treasurer (Josh Boettner) and their own financials. Jan Boyer, PA Concrete Masonry Association (PCMA) and Mid-Atlantic Masonry Association (MAMA) Executive Director runs this group as well. They meet in Spring each year to discuss issues of common concern and then in the Fall for the Masonry Instructors Workshop for a full day. At the Workshop we bring in speakers on cutting edge topics and generally have participation from the PA Department of Education. We have held this workshop for 12 years with the 13th scheduled for October 2018. This committee provides a forum for communication within the Secondary and Post-secondary masonry instructors throughout the State of PA and the Mid-Atlantic region. Masonry Instructors Association members have a voice to advocate for masonry through the PA Department of Education and with the individual Career and Technical Centers statewide. The input of this group is important to the agenda for the Masonry Instructors Workshop and other initiatives related to Workforce Development efforts by the PCMA.

The PCMA and MAMA also provide tool bag awards for the top students of these masonry programs, a subscription to Masonry Magazine, supports the PA and MD SkillsUSA Masonry contests, attends PA Career and Technical Education Administrators seminar to encourage support of Masonry programs at Career and Technical Centers.

The Pennsylvania Builders Association (PBA) endorses 17 Secondary and Post-secondary schools. This PBA is committed to a viable, high-quality construction industry and the workforce to support it. The PBA collaborates with schools throughout PA to provide students with industry-recognized certification to strengthen their skills and qualifications.

The PBA creates a network of ties between PBA members, local student chapters and the community, which provides a level of assurance that students completing their training have received the instruction they need to begin a successful career.

Economic Conditions/Forecasts

Pennsylvania

According to the Center for Workforce Information and Analysis, Masons are one of the top 50 emerging occupations through 2024. The PA Department of Labor and Industry projects employment through 2024 is expected to increase for Brick masons and Block masons by 18.2%, Stonemasons by 17.6%, Cement masons and Concrete finishers by 15.4%, Mason helpers by 24.2%, and construction supervisors by 10.5%

Masonry Marketing Activities

Pennsylvania

The PCMA coordinated the update of the Initial cost comparison study for multi-residential structures (townhouses, dorms, apartments, small hotels, etc… are in this category). The results of this independent study are finalized and we did a member training on this on October 25. The information is very positive for masonry over steel and wood! I have placed the study on the PCMA website — from home page go to initial cost study — to read the report. We are working on a new website www.buildingstudies.org that will house the study and make it not look as though it came from the masonry industry (which it did not). Jan Boyer was and remains the point person for this study and we will be promoting the results (which includes the 3 original cities and 10 additional cities to date including Pittsburgh, Lehigh Valley and Philadelphia) into next year in a variety of ways.

The PCMA & MAMA continued our series of webinars for the design professionals that were extremely successful. The topics of these webinars are to train the new designers and give new information to the seasoned designers about masonry. We had 143 in October, 114 in November and 104 in December for attendance at these — and really good firms and entities

The PCMA is still working with the Penn State University in the Architecture Department with the Masonry Design Competition which is a major part of the curriculum. The students have to learn about masonry, do a hands-on day (at Penn College of Technology) and then design for a specific location. It is funded through the NCMA Foundation. For the last six years, we also provide in classroom and hands on training for the Penn State Engineering Department as they have a Masonry class in their curriculum that is very well attended (usually 60 students). Christopher Shirley is the instructor for this program that is held on campus at Penn State.

The PCMA and MAMA send out Masonry Tip Postcards to architects and engineers in PA, MD, Washington DC and Northern Virginia — about 4,000 total each mailing. The topics on these range from new masonry codes, standards, and late breaking masonry news to the webinar series. These are very successful and bring in many attendees for the webinars.

The PCMA also works with the Delaware Valley Masonry Institute to provide education to architects in their offices presented by Dr. Hamid from Drexel University.

Through the efforts of Jan Boyer (PCMA) connecting with the BIM-M program, we were able to facilitate having Integrus Architecture produce a one hour webinar for designers on the current status of the BIM for Masonry project and mostly three case studies where they are using BIM modules. This was a pilot program and will be presented elsewhere across the country.

Competitors/Trends

Pennsylvania

Nothing to report at this time.
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