Last summer, 29-year-old Alex Reid found himself at a career crossroads. The St. Albans resident had worked in tree service and as a FedEx delivery driver in the years since he'd graduated from college but he didn't see a future in either path. He was interested in breaking into construction — an industry expected to offer more than 4,000 openings in Vermont in the next 10 years, according to a recent report by the McClure Foundation and the Vermont Department of Labor. But because he didn't have experience in the field, Reid said construction companies weren't interested in hiring him. When a family member mentioned a Construction 101 training program offered through the nonprofit ReSOURCE, which came with a $500 weekly stipend, Reid eagerly applied. Over the summer, he spent six weeks getting an overview of the trade — first learning foundational carpentry skills and then applying that knowledge by helping with flood recovery efforts in Barre. During the final two weeks of the session, he worked with Eliot Lothrop of Building Heritage, a small Huntington company that specializes in historic preservation, restoring the East Monitor Barn on the campus of the Vermont Youth Conservation Corps in Richmond. Reid's experience was made possible through Serve Learn Earn, a workforce development program that pools the resources of four local nonprofits: ReSOURCE, Vermont Youth Conservation Corps, Vermont Works for Women and Audubon Vermont. Founded in 2021, the program has provided workforce training and community service opportunities in the trades, conservation and sustainable agriculture to more than 1,400 participants. The program has grown steadily since its inception, with annual funding from the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation. Now, it's poised to expand even further, thanks to a $1.8 million, three-year grant from the Ascendium Education Group, a national nonprofit focused on helping people achieve their academic and career goals. "So often, nonprofits are in their silos," said Kate Gluckman, Serve Learn Earn's director. "But when we start working together, opportunities bubble up." In an aging state, with a large number of workers nearing retirement age and not nearly enough young people poised to replace them, workforce development programs are increasingly viewed as a crucial way of filling the gap, boosting career prospects for workers and the economy as a whole. In 2022, Gov. Phil Scott signed a bill into law that invested around $16 million from the American…