Baton Rouge Community College partnered with Lowe’s Foundation to build the BRCC Capital City Construction Lab
September 2, 2026
BATON ROUGE –Baton Rouge Community College is a founding member of the nation’s largest skilled trades coalition launched this week by the Lowe’s Foundation. The Building Futures Skilled Trades Coalition has set out to train and develop 1 million people for America’s workforce by 2035.
The announcement comes less than two weeks after cutting the ribbon to open the BRCC Capital City Construction Lab on the Mid City campus, an endeavor funded in part by an $850,000 Gable Grant from
the Lowe’s Foundation.
In addition to funding the Capital City Construction Lab, the Lowe’s Foundation Gable Grant also established the BRCC Plumbing Program that welcomed its first group of students in January.
The Capital City Construction Lab is designed to feel more like a real construction site than a traditional classroom. The lab is a hands-on, open-air learning environment where students gain practical skills in carpentry, electrical, HVAC, construction management and plumbing.
The lab features a waterproof canopy, making it usable in most weather conditions, and wide entryways to allow heavy equipment and machinery to move in and out for students to learn on actual job-site equipment.
The lab also strengthens BRCC’s nationally recognized Construction Management program. The BRCC Construction Management (CM) degree program is the only two-year degree program accredited by the American Council for Construction Education (ACCE) in Louisiana and one of only 15 ACCE-accredited two-year programs in the nation.
Through the Capital City Construction Lab, BRCC is helping students turn classroom lessons into real-world skills and giving them a clear pathway to high-demand, high-wage careers in the Capital Region and beyond.
BRCC proudly serves as a founding member of the Lowe’s Foundation Building Futures Skilled Trades coalition that includes a cross-sector group of over 75 educators, businesses, workforce organizations, industry vendors and stakeholders, including the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), The National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER) and SkillsUSA.