Bring Back The Trades America Is Calling You

Help Wanted Signs In Every Town

Walk down any street in America and you’ll see it: Help Wanted signs in almost every window. Restaurants, shops, contractors, garages — everyone’s short-staffed. Meanwhile, some of our most experienced tradespeople are retiring, taking decades of hard-earned skill with them. Who’s stepping up to fill their shoes?

Song: Bring Back The Trades: America Is Calling You

That question inspired a new song, Bring Back the Trades. It’s about a simple truth: the trades were quietly pushed out of schools for years, and now the whole country is feeling it. But here’s the good news — this is one of the biggest opportunities of our time.

Earn While You Learn

You don’t need to spend four years and a mountain of debt chasing a degree everyone else is chasing too. As the song puts it, you can earn while you learn, picking up real skills taught by people who’ve spent a lifetime mastering them. Plumbers, electricians, carpenters, welders, mechanics, machinists, chefs, farmers — the list goes on, and every single one of them is in demand right now.

You Are Never To Old To Learn A New Trade

And it’s never too late to start. Whether you’re 18 or 48, a trade doesn’t care how old you are — it only asks that you’re willing to learn. Some of the best tradespeople out there found their calling as a second, third, or even fourth career.

That’s the heart of the song: no boxing you in. You get to take your pick. Choices abound. Whatever makes you tick — there’s a trade waiting for you to master it.

So ask yourself: what do you want to do? The world really is your oyster, and America is calling. It’s time to bring back the trades — one curious, capable person at a time.

Bring Back the Trades: The Case for Skilled Work in America

Bring Back the Trades_ The Case for Skilled Work in America.docx

$10 Million Funds Awarded To Mike Rowe To Train Americans

For High Paying Jobs In The Defense Sector

The Department of War is teaming up with skilled trades advocate Mike Rowe to pour $10 million into training Americans for hundreds of thousands of open, high-paying jobs in the defense sector.

The investment launches BuildFreedom.US, a national workforce initiative designed to connect students, veterans, and young adults with what the department calls “AI-proof” careers.

To jumpstart the effort, the $10 million will directly fund the mikeroweWORKS Foundation Scholarship program, targeting critical talent shortages across the defense industrial base.

“Closing America’s skills gap is a matter of national security,” said Rowe, CEO of the foundation. He added that every penny will go toward training the next generation for a long list of essential, open roles. “I’m looking forward to helping thousands of Americans get the training they need to start a meaningful career in the skilled trades.”

Under Secretary of War for Acquisition and Sustainment Michael P. Duffey, who presented the investment to Rowe, noted that America’s strength has always been forged by people who build, manufacture, and innovate.

BuildFreedom.US aims to bridge the gap between untapped talent and specialized industry needs, uniting government, educational institutions, and private industry to bolster the nation’s manufacturing capacity and economic resilience.

Press Release To The Department Of War