LETTER FROM THE CEO


Let’s Talk About Workforce


AS IT’S BECOME A TRADITION AT THIS TIME OF YEAR, I WANT to fill you in on NALP’s efforts to help our industry grow its workforce. We have some familiar things to talk about, as well as some new things that I think you will be interested in. While much of this is being done by NALP, the association, I believe there are some great efforts being put forth by the NALP Foundation that I need to make sure you are aware of. So, let’s get started.


NEW TO THE SCENE As NALP looked at its priorities, we realized that we need more resources dedicated to developing the workforce. Solution: Hire a seasoned pro from the industry to bolster the effort that Jenn Myers (another former industry pro) has been doing on her own. Allow me to introduce Darby Gilbert. Darby has 10 years of experience working in recruiting and human resources, including recruiting for Landscape Workshop most recently. Darby has quickly settled into


her role as director of workforce development and is a great resource for NALP members on workforce issues. She has already begun working with our workforce council and will lead the effort to get more colleges involved with NCLC and NALP. I encourage you to reach out to Darby with questions and ideas on workforce issues; she is a pro and will be happy to help.


SOMETHING FAMILIAR The National Collegiate Landscape Competition (NCLC) is an annual rite of early spring in our industry. Now in its 49th year and being hosted by Colorado


State University, NCLC is continuing to grow, as we expect over 700 students to attend this year’s event. The excitement that we get from this event is just fantastic.


Not only is it great to see the students compete, but it’s even better to see how wonderfully talented they are and know that our industry is in really good hands with this next generation of lawn and landscape profes- sionals. If you have never had an opportunity to attend an NCLC, you should make plans now to join us for the 50th iteration of the event at Michigan State University next March!


THE NEXT GENERATION WORK- FORCE


One of the things we have learned over time is that our NCLC program is unique and very high-level. NALP does a very good job with college students through NCLC and through the NALP Foundation’s scholarship program. Where we had an opportunity to get better is with high school students. Knowing this, our Foundation has stepped up in a major way through its involvement with SkillsUSA. SkillsUSA hosts an annual


event composed of competitions in dozens of industries designed for high school students. While we do not have a national competition yet, we are on the precipice of having competitions in 15 states, which is required to host a national competition. We believe that hosting a national competition will be a huge leap forward to getting more stu- dents involved in the industry. So, we are almost covered with the high schoolers, but here’s where our Foundation took an even bigger leap. Let’s start working on kids before they even get to high school. And how do you do that? We meet them where they are through the online gaming platform, Roblox. If you have children between the ages of 5-12, you are likely fa- miliar with Roblox and hopefully, you are familiar with the NALP Foundation’s Landscape Design Empire game. When this column was written, Landscape Design Empire had attracted over 81,000 unique visitors, 88% of which are between the ages of 5-12. The best part is this number is con- tinually growing. Did I mention it attracted that many in less than a year? Pretty impressive stuff. That is what we have going


on in workforce development and rest assured, we will not be stopping there. Look for NALP and the NALP Foundation to keep pushing hard to grow this great industry’s workforce!


6 The Edge //March/April 2025


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