Building anything from the ground up is a challenge. Building a home or a commercial building has blueprints and experienced professionals to guide the process. Building an antique car has shop manuals and veteran mechanics to put each piece together into the finished product. But what does it take to build a basic flooring installation program, implement it in local colleges and ultimately, secure a direct pipeline to high school students?
In January 2020, the Floor Covering Education Foundation (FCEF), a 501(c)(3) non-profit program was established in Dalton, Georgia, to carry out a three-fold mission: 1) recruitment, 2) scholarships and 3) job placement. Before any of that could happen, the FCEF and its partners—the National Wood Flooring Association (NWFA), International Certified Flooring Installers (CFI) association, and the Ceramic Tile Education Foundation (CTEF)—were required to build a program and develop curriculum with no blueprints, no shop manuals and certainly no professionals to call on for guidance as nothing like this has ever been done in the flooring industry.