SACRAMENTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The California Homebuilding Foundation has been awarded a $2.5 million grant by the Donald and Carole Chaiken Foundation. The generous gift, presented to help support the Building Industry Technology Academy (BITA), a high school construction industry hands-on training program of the California Homebuilding Foundation, will offer expanded resources needed for construction training, along with the capacity to provide more opportunities for mentorships, internships and ultimately employment opportunities within the building and construction industry.
The Chaiken Foundation grant will be dispersed to the Foundation over a five-year period and will exclusively support various hands-on and instructional training, scholarship, building industry workforce development programs and related activities of the BITA program.
“I feel very fortunate to have spent 50 years of my life in homebuilding, a business I love,” said Donald Chaiken. “By contributing to the BITA program, I hope to generate the interest of young adults in our industry and help them develop the skills needed for success. It's one of the best ways I know to say thank you to our industry for the many good things it has brought my family and me over the years.”
In honor of the grant, the California Homebuilding Foundation is pleased to announce that the Building Industry Technology Academy high school construction training program has been renamed The Donald Chaiken Building Industry Technology Academy. “We are so grateful to have received such a generous gift from the Chaiken Family,” said Terri Brunson, Executive Director of the California Homebuilding Foundation. “The funds will be allocated exclusively to further educational opportunities for youth in California during this historic time for the entire homebuilding industry.”
Donald Chaiken is a native of New York City and grew up in Miami, Florida. He is a graduate of the University of Florida. A California resident since 1960, Don holds CPA certificates in Florida and California. He is the president and founder of Davidon Homes, founded in Walnut Creek, California in 1982. Donald was inducted into the California Homebuilding Foundation Hall of Fame in 2007.
About the California Homebuilding Foundation
The California Homebuilding Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Across four decades, our mission has sought to advance human achievement through training high school students for a career in construction, providing scholarships to college and high school students in homebuilding related programs to help reduce student debt and to strengthen impactful industry research that supports building in California. To learn more, visit www.mychf.org.