From Service to the Trades: Lowe’s Foundation Makes Largest-Ever Grant to Expand Hiring Our Heroes Skilled Trades Academy
On Capitol Hill this week, business leaders, military advocates, and lawmakers gathered for “Ready to Build: Investing in America’s Skilled Trades Future,” a national forum focused on one of the country’s most urgent workforce challenges: the growing shortage of skilled trades workers.
A Historic Investment
At the event, Lowe’s Foundation announced its largest Gable Grant in history, $1.5M to Hiring Our Heroes, expanding the Skilled Trades Academy to three new locations: the National Capital Region, Baltimore, and San Antonio. The investment builds on a pilot launched in 2025 near Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, and creates new pathways for veterans, transitioning service members, and military spouses to build careers in high-demand trades.
The results from that pilot speak for themselves: more than 88% of graduates secured employment within three months of completing the six-week, hands-on program, which covers carpentry, HVAC, electrical, and plumbing alongside professional development and small business fundamentals.
“This is not just an investment in a program. It is an investment in the people who raised their hands to serve this country and are now ready to build it,” said Eric Eversole, president of Hiring Our Heroes, a program of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation. “With Lowe’s Foundation’s support, we are scaling a model that delivers results, in communities where the demand for skilled trades talent is urgent and the military talent pipeline is strong.”
Expanding the Mission
The three new locations were selected specifically for their high concentration of transitioning service members and acute regional demand for trades professionals, a deliberate alignment designed to accelerate the path from military service to civilian career while addressing critical labor gaps.
The expansion is part of Lowe’s Foundation’s broader $250 million commitment to train and develop 250,000 skilled tradespeople by 2035.
“The workforce is ready—the talent is right in front of us,” said Joe McFarland, executive vice president of stores at Lowe’s and a Marine Corps veteran. “This investment allows us to connect transitioning service members and military spouses to in-demand skilled trades careers while helping solve a critical workforce shortage.”
Real Impact for Military Communities
For the veterans and military spouses who go through the program, the impact is personal. David Steltzner, a veteran and Skilled Trades Academy graduate now working as a restoration technician in Swansboro, North Carolina, said the program refreshed existing skills and ultimately led to a new job.
He credited the program’s breadth for making him more versatile on the job site. “Since the program covers a wide range of material, it helped me become more multifunctional in the workspace. I feel more comfortable stepping into different roles and handling a variety of tasks when needed.”
For those on the fence about whether the trades are right for them, his advice is straightforward: “Don’t give up. It’s easier than you might think, and there are a lot of opportunities once you get started.”
Building America’s Future
Those outcomes reflect the program’s core design. The Skilled Trades Academy is built not only to develop technical skills, but to equip participants with the confidence, professional networks, and real-world experience needed to succeed in a civilian workforce, at no cost to participants.
The U.S. faces a severe shortage of skilled trades workers, with an estimated 20 job openings for every one new worker entering the field over the next decade. Meanwhile, younger veterans (ages 18-34) face persistently higher unemployment rates than their civilian peers, and military spouses face an estimated 20% unemployment rate, challenges the Skilled Trades Academy is directly designed to address.
As the nation approaches its 250th anniversary, the expansion of the Skilled Trades Academy represents a fitting investment: in the people who served the country, and in the workforce that will continue to build it.
