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Acme Brick Company is providing funding for the new Brick Block
Masonry Certificate course offered through the University of Texas at
Arlington, at facilities in Grand Prairie and Houston.
Acme Brick has donated $50,000 to start the schools. Additionally Acme
has offered to match another $10,000 for scholarships that the university
hopes to raise from other businesses and corporations. Contractors and
manufacturers from across the state, along with the Waco-based Texas
Masonry Council, have donated money and in-kind contributions including
Acme’s investment totaling more than $225,000 to kick-start the schools
The Brick & Block Masonry Certificate course is the first comprehensive,
hands-on training program to be offered by the new UT Arlington Trade
Education Center. The Brick & Block Certificate course consists of a single,
8-week course that runs from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Courses are now underway. Brick & Block courses will run in both Houston
and Grand Prairie simultaneously and are taught by bilingual instructors.
The curriculum was developed with the assistance of the Texas Masonry
Council to address a critical shortage of skilled masons that now exists
in the industry. With only 11 students per course, masons-in-training will
receive personalized help with course tasks and projects from a mason
instructor with years of contracting, construction, and teaching experience.
In recent years the lack of skilled masons and other builder trades workers
has become an acute problem as these workers have left the construction
industry during the severe housing downturn. Dennis Knautz, President and
CEO of Acme Brick Company said, “as the industry leader,Acme believed it
needed to help initiate a program to provide the training necessary to move
interested job-seekers into a career in masonry. The staff at UT Arlington
has been extraordinarily receptive, helpful and creative in putting together
this program that should help ease our industry’s shortage of masons by
developing candidates who will be qualified for these good-paying jobs.
We are excited about partnering with UTA, and we hope others in our
industry will follow our lead and help support this effort.”
Students who successfully complete the program will graduate as Level
1 Masons accredited by the Texas Masonry Council. “Graduates of this
program should have no trouble finding a number of companies eager to
put their skills to work”, said Knautz. The TMC has also collected letters
from industry members and potential employers confirming starting
wages of $14-$16 per hour for students that complete the course.
Acme Brick Company, founded in 1891, is the nation’s largest brickmaker.Acme
owns 26 brick plants and has 70 company-owned sales offices across 15 states, plus
a nationwide network of independent distributors. Other Acme operations include
American Tile & Stone; Featherlite Building Products; Innovative Building Products;
and Texas Quarries.Acme Brick Company has been a wholly-owned subsidiary of
Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. since 2000. For more information visit
www.brick.com.Acme Brick Company Backs New Masonry
Schools in Grand Prairie and Houston