Sunbelt Rentals Fabric Structures has been inducted into the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City Hall of Fame and honored on the Inner City 100 Businesses List for the seventh year in a row for our hometown, Memphis, TN. Sunbelt Rentals was chosen for its commitment to Memphis’ inner city, developing its workforce and growing the economy.
There are 328 cities in the United States with designated inner cities and those represent nearly a quarter of the nation’s poverty. Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC) focuses on a strategy to drive economic prosperity through private sector investments. Each year, ICIC compiles a list, ICIC 100, to recognize and celebrate the top 100 businesses who drive success and illuminate the competitive business advantages of being in the inner city.
Sunbelt Rentals' recognition for ICIC 100 was made possible by our forward thinking, innovative, and hard-working team members,” said Sunbelt Rentals' Structures President, William Pretsch. “They are constantly thinking of new ways to do business, the impact our business has on our home in Memphis and how the two work together in tandem. Memphis is our company’s home, our staff’s home and our neighbors’ home and their successes are all co-dependent.”
Acknowledging the need for a skilled workforce in the coming years, Sunbelt Rentals' human resources team member Jermica James and Pretsch developed a work-based learning program for 10 Carver High School students. The work-based learning program is a month-long paid internship in partnership with Carver’s career/college counselor that empowers students who generally may not have access to career development. With this program, they are given the opportunity for hands-on job experience, networking, career mentorship, and job-hunting experience.
“The work-based learning program is a pro-active and robust strategy on Sunbelt Rentals' part to invest in our own home-grown Memphis workforce talent,” said Pretsch. “Not only has it allowed us to empower students from our community, it has created a pipeline of talent for Sunbelt Rentals as we’ve offered many of the students a full or part-time position.”
With over 90 years of experience in innovation and on-demand temporary structures, Sunbelt Rentals' work-based learning program is just one of the many reasons they were picked for ICIC 100 highlighting businesses benefitting from and investing back into their inner city.