NAHB’s fourth annual HBCU Student Leadership program brought students to Washington, D.C., for three days of residential construction jobsite exposure, career planning, leadership development and networking. The gathering introduced participants to parts of the industry and opportunities to prepare for future work; it does not establish hiring or long-term career outcomes.
What the 2026 cohort did
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) published its account of the October 2026 gathering on Oct. 5. Activities combined a visit to a home-building jobsite in Woodbridge, Virginia, with career and leadership sessions, industry perspectives and time to connect with peers. Students also toured the National Museum of African American History and Culture. NAHB’s cohort account describes the three-day program.
Career planning and leadership
Dr. Charner Rodgers, a member of NAHB’s Student Chapter Advisory Board, led a session on making actionable career plans. The program also included discussion of how to lead and inspire a team, and a conversation about Myers-Briggs Type Indicator results led by Donna Franza, a senior consultant in NAHB Advisory Services.
Industry perspectives and professional connections
MiTek professionals Rachel Seward and Lisa Tyree joined a panel on identity, representation and working as a woman in construction. A separate NAHB staff panel discussed student resources, association networks and the International Builders’ Show (IBS). Doug Higgins of America’s Home Place and Sherman McCoy of Builders Mutual participated in a panel on industry trends.
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For students, these sessions offered ways to hear how people in different roles approach the industry and to begin building professional connections. They are exposure and preparation, not evidence that participants have secured jobs or that the program has produced a particular career outcome.
How many students participated?
NAHB’s Oct. 5 story reports 21 students from 12 schools, but its school list repeats Southern University A&M College. NAHB’s current overview of the 2026–27 Cohort 4 instead says 20 students from 11 HBCUs. The two official pages therefore give conflicting counts, and the available information does not resolve which is correct. NAHB’s current program overview provides the alternate figure.
What comes next: preparation for the 2027 IBS competition
NAHB’s account says many cohort members are preparing for the student competition at the 2027 International Builders’ Show in Las Vegas, scheduled for Feb. 1–3. NAHB describes the competition as a chance to apply classroom skills to real-world project-management proposals judged by industry professionals. The account says National Housing Endowment scholarships will support travel. These are plans and details reported ahead of the event; schedules and support arrangements can change.
The program has also included jobsite safety instruction: NAHB’s 2025 cohort coverage says students learned proper use of personal protective equipment (PPE) and how it helps protect against common jobsite hazards. That account does not identify a particular product or brand. NAHB’s 2025 account describes the safety instruction.
What the program is designed to provide—and what is known about results
NAHB says its HBCU Student Leadership program began in 2023 and offers year-round seminars and networking opportunities to help prepare the next generation of residential construction professionals. A 2025 NAHB retrospective said the program had welcomed 37 HBCU students over its first two years. That is a dated participation total, not a measure of employment, wages or program impact. NAHB’s 2025 retrospective recounts that earlier period.
Students described personal aims rather than measured results. Tuskegee University student Jaina Dotson said she wanted to take knowledge from the experience back to her classmates. Prairie View A&M University student Kyla Houston said she was excited about connections and networking and described an interest in giving back through low-income housing development, according to NAHB. Those comments show what two participants hoped to gain or pursue; they are not an independent evaluation of the program.
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The available NAHB accounts do not report a 2026 cohort employment rate, graduation outcomes, wages or a measured long-term career effect. The documented value of this gathering is its mix of jobsite exposure, career preparation, industry conversations and access to professional networks.
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