Building Futures, a growing non-profit founded by Frank and Gay Lorberbaum, is proud to announce that Gabrielle Fields has joined the organization as Interim Executive Director. Gabrielle will work alongside Frank and Gay with the intention of assuming full responsibilities of Executive Director of Building Futures within the year.
Gabrielle, born and raised in St. Louis, is a proud graduate of the AGC sponsored Charter High School, Construction Careers Center, a high school known to many as Triple C. She went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication and Public Relations from Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville. She has spent the past two years working in higher education in Delaware, Ohio and is excited to return to the St. Louis area.
Founded in 2012, Building Futures: Design & Build Workshop began as a year-round Saturday workshop with the goal of supplementing education of under-served youth in the St. Louis area. Today, Building Futures serves over 1,500 students in weekday in-school classes, after school programs, and summer programming. The classes currently taught are for K-8 students, although expansion of their teaching in-school classes for high school students will take place soon.
The current mission of Building Futures is “to help disadvantaged young people obtain the skills needed to excel in the 21st century.” They conduct this mission by teaching the kids concepts of design and construction. The organization works out of a spacious 5,000+ SF warehouse in the North City area at the corner of 13th Street and St. Louis Avenue. The non-profit is supported by grants, corporate and private donations and fees earned from teaching in the various city and public schools. The Kranzberg Arts Foundation and the Opus Group Foundation have been instrumental in the success of Building Futures.
“We are excited to have Gabrielle join us and help lead the way into the future,” says Frank Lorberbaum, founder, and current Executive Director, “her youthful excitement and passion for helping kids fits in perfectly with our mission.”
“It is especially satisfying for me that Gabrielle was a graduate of Construction Careers Center as I also served on the board of this former charter high school and greatly believed in the mission and purpose of the school,” commented Ron Unterreiner of PEOPLE of Construction, current board chair of Building Futures. “What a great story for our industry, the Associated General Contractors of Missouri, and for all the good people that participated in the founding and the managing of Construction Careers Center.”