On October 31st, the National Association of Landscape Professionals (NALP), along with five other associations, attended the Our Pledge to America’s Workers event at the White House. NALP was chosen to attend the exclusive event with President Donald Trump to reiterate its commitment to grow the lawn and landscape industry and expand training opportunities for more than 150,000 people over the next five years. The association was represented by NALP President Jeff Buhler of Massey Services, CEO Sabeena Hickman, Vice President of Public Affairs Missy Henriksen, and Reynaldo Valle, field manager, and Jillian Gottlieb, assistant field manager of member company Ruppert Landscape.
Under the direction of the President’s executive order, the Pledge to America’s Workers focuses on expanding programs that educate, train, and reskill American workers. The event, which was held in celebration of reaching the Administration’s goal to expand training opportunities for 6 million American workers under the pledge, was also attended by Larry Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council, Ivanka Trump, who leads the National Council for the American Worker, and key members of the Cabinet and U.S. Congress.
Pictured left to right: Reynaldo Valle, Ruppert Landscape Field Manager; Missy Henriksen, NALP VP of Public Affairs; Jeff Buhler, NALP President; Sabeena Hickman, NALP CEO; Jillian Gottlieb, Ruppert Landscape Assistant Field Manager.
“We were honored to be invited to the White House to make our commitment to expanding employment opportunities for American workers known,” says Henriksen. “There is a misperception that jobs in this industry are all seasonal labor positions. While those roles are absolutely critical to the important work that lawn and landscape companies do every day, the truth is, our $82 billion industry offers a wide array of lucrative opportunities and career pathways, including many management and executive roles, across the country. We hope this event will shine a spotlight on industries like ours which have committed to not just filling jobs, but to providing lifelong careers for hardworking Americans.”
Under the pledge, NALP will continue their efforts to attract employees to the landscaping industry and expand employment opportunities through enhanced technical training, certification and accreditation programs and apprenticeship training.