IFMA Atlanta Members:
As many of you know, I have been on the Board of Directors of FMPipeline since early 2020. It has been a real privilege to work with several IFMA Fellows and other IFMA members from around the country to promote FM as a profession of choice to young people. FMPipeline was awarded an Innovation Award by IFMA International in 2021 for these efforts.
FMPipeline is the Non-profit organization that developed FACILITHON – a competition that high school and post secondary students can participate in that introduces them to the field of Facility Management. This directly supports the IFMA Foundation Global Workforce Initiative. It also provides a partial solution to our findings from the meeting that IFMA Atlanta held at Georgia Tech where we learned that students are not flocking to our local FM ADP programs in part because they have not heard of the profession. Participation can provide prizes like scholarships for those who do well in the competition.
FMPipeline promotes the FM profession primarily through SkillsUSA and their Career Technical Education programs. SkillsUSA holds contests at the Regional, State and National levels. FACILITHON has been or will be conducted in multiple states in 2022. FACILITHON will be run as a Demonstration Contest at the SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference this year for the first time. This conference is being held in Atlanta on June 20-24, 2022 at the Georgia World Congress Center. FMPipeline will have a booth at the TECHSPO (expo) and will be demonstrating the FACILITHON and promoting FM at this location.This booth will provide an opportunity to introduce Facility Management to the 6,500 high school students who will be in attendance in addition to their advisors and instructors.
This is where all of IFMA Atlanta comes in. The IFMA Atlanta ADP committee has been working to bring students into the FM Profession for many years. DJ Hammond and I have been tasked to recruit volunteers to man/woman the booth on 6/21 – 6/23 from 10 AM to 5 PM. So mark your calendars for these dates and plan to join us to promote Facility Management to the “Next Gen of FM.” See the link below for more information about the SkillsUSA conference and watch for a sign up sheet to come out in the coming weeks.
https://www.skillsusa.org/events-training/national-leadership-and-skills-conference/
Ken Stephenson, CFM
