Hello and welcome to living in the Lehigh Valley, where our focus is your health and wellness.

I'm your host, Brittany Sweeney.

A new partnership in the Lehigh Valley aims to strengthen the health and well-being of entrepreneurs, especially those in the black and Brown communities.

The Watson-Batts School of Construction and St Luke's University Health Network are launching a program aimed at getting minority contractors more representation in health care construction projects.

321 okay.

With a snip of a ribbon.

Students from the Watson- Batts school of construction are on their way to building a better business.

I really want to grow my company to the next level.

Nicole Gerhardt is the owner of C.C.

visions LLC, a construction business in Whitehall Township that she built from the ground up.

I'd like to take on higher bid.

Getting certified and actually being able to bid for those contracts is predominantly my, reason.

Gerhardt grew up in the Lehigh Valley and is part of one of the first classes in the Watson Math School.

This is a great opportunity for the people in the community because we don't often get these opportunities, you know, given to us.

So we have to work for them.

The eight week program has two paths, one for young adults under 28 years old interested in the professional side of the construction business.

And the other is for small business owners.

It's an opportunity for small business owners to learn to scale their businesses so that we can get involved in construction sites that are going up and youth in the community to see that their place in the community, to have hope and to know that all of this development can include them.

Hassan Batts, who heads the nonprofit Promise Neighborhoods of the Lehigh Valley, is the co-founder of this school.

When people feel a sense of hopelessness and they don't see opportunities, they fall into diseases of despair and they fall to support decision making.

He says they partnered with Saint Luke's to offer their students a chance at better health outcomes through employment and business ownership.

Saint Luke's came along as a partner and recognized that they said, we're here to to to fight for for healthy outcomes and healthy life.

And health outcomes.

And, this collaboration is doing just that.

The program is based out of the health providers Careerlink center at the Sacred Heart campus in Allentown.

So when we look at our community health needs assessment.

Workforce development was one of the key issues in there.

And in terms of helping people secure training and creating a pathway to employment, and that pathway to employment and securing employment is really essential in in someone's overall health.

Bill Moyer, a Saint Luke's West Region president.

This is a continuation of our commitment to the community to ensure that we have those pathways for career development.

The Watson That School of Construction was co-founded by the president of Watson Organization, Ivan Watson.

He started the Philadelphia based company more than a decade ago with no prior business knowledge.

We didn't understand the business.

We didn't have any mentors to really guide us through, and we learned the hard lesson, and we learned that hard lesson in a lot of ways.

He's now using his years of experience to mentor a new generation.

We were cautious about that not happening to other businesses, particularly diverse businesses, because they were already at a disadvantage.

They're already lacking opportunities.

They're already lacking confidence.

Students like Gerhardt, it's about building a stronger business so families can have a healthy and financially sound future ahead.

I always wanted to create something for them that, you know, would leave a legacy so that they, you know, to create that generational wealth so that they are able to, take this business to the next level.

Currently, the program has 21 students, but the plan is to expand.

Students are accepted based on what community they live in, what income level they hold, whether they are a disadvantaged business, and what their goals are, according to Batts.

He says the partnership with Saint Luke's not only helps career growth, but also builds relationships between large companies like the health care provider and small business owners in the community.

And it works with students on how to make sure that their businesses qualify for large scale contracts so that things like bonding, that things like insurance, things like walking a job site, putting forth a bid, making sure that it's really a level of professionalism that can take them from residential construction, like, maybe redoing someone's bathroom or basement to building towers.

The first class of the Watson Batts School of Construction is getting ready to graduate soon.

That will do it for this edition of living in the Lehigh Valley.

I'm Brittany Sweeney, hoping you stay happy and healthy.