In 1995, Concert established the Concert Properties Endowment Fund for British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) students who enrol in eligible trades and technology programs related to the construction industry. Concert's endowment now exceeds $379,000 and some 110 students have received bursaries, totalling more than $93,000. Concert continues to add further funds to this endowment by hosting its annual golf tournament, which last year raised $39,000 for BCIT trades and technology students.
Established in 2002 by Concert and its industry partners, the Concert Properties & Industry Partners Trades Discovery Program provides financial support to help students enrolled in BCIT's Trades Discovery Program train for a career in one of 18 different trades. As part of this program, 253 students have received Graduation Grants of $200 each towards recovering the cost of enrolment. In addition, 86 students have earned either $1,000 or $2,000 Trades Discovery Graduates Entrance Grants, also funded by Concert and its industry partners. This year $60,400, of which Concert provides 50 per cent, was contributed to the program - bringing total dollars raised for the program to more than $315,000 in the past four years.
Two $1,000 Concert Properties' Founders Endowment bursaries in honour of former Telecommunications Workers' Union president Bill Clark are also awarded each year to two deserving BCIT students enrolled in the school's telecommunications technician, wireless communications or computer networks program. Bill Clark was hugely influential in convincing 29 pension funds and 26 private investors to pool $27 million together to form Concert. His union, the TWU, was one of the founding pension funds and continues to be the largest single shareholder of the Company. A legendary and respected figure in BC's trade union movement, Clark was elected president of the TWU in 1980, a position he held until his retirement in 1987.
Concert also supports training programs such as the BladeRunners Partnership and the Tradeworks Training Society, which teach life and work skills on work sites to disadvantaged youths and adults, and has contributed to the Youth Employment Program, one of Victoria's most successful job-training programs for street youth.
