GUAM CONTRACTORS ASSOCIATION
RECEIVES $10,000 GRANT FROM FIRST HAWAIIAN BANK FOUNDATION
TO ESTABLISH A TRADES ACADEMY

(Hagåtña, Guam, June 22, 2007) - The Guam Contractors Association (GCA) has been given a grant of $10,000 by the First Hawaiian Bank Foundation, the charitable arm of First Hawaiian Bank, according to an announcement today by Don Horner, president and chief executive officer. The funds will be used to establish a Guam Contractors Association Trades Academy on Guam.

The $10,000 donation was presented to Guam Contractors Association Education Director Bert Johnston by Ed Untalan, First Hawaiian Bank vice president and Maite Banking Center manager.

“With demand for construction in Guam on the rise, this GCA Trades Academy will offer the youth in our community the skills they need to take advantage of the abundance of construction jobs that will be available,” said Untalan. “First Hawaiian is proud to be partnering with Guam Contractors Association to make this apprenticeship training program a reality for the Guam community.”

“After much deliberation, the GCA Board of Directors last year decided to launch a Trades Academy for the purpose of preparing tradesmen for the upcoming surge in military construction activity and the sustainable jobs in operation and maintenance services that will follow. This academy was created to fill a void in the local educational system and to ensure that local men and women with the inclination toward work in the trades can find maximum opportunity for good paying jobs, thus benefiting their families and the local economy,” says Bert Johnston, GCA education director. “Such an endeavor requires lots of funding, most of which has come from the Guam Contractors Association and some of its member firms. We, the Board of Trustees of the GCA Trades Academy, sincerely appreciate the generous contribution of First Hawaiian Bank which will be used in “fitting out” the much-needed training facility. We wish to especially thank the senior officers and the Board of Directors of First Hawaiian Bank for making the decision to assist us in this major way, the founding of the GCA Trades Academy.”

The GCA Trades Academy, a separate non-profit institution of learning, was established in June 2006 and began offering its first classes in October 2006.

First Hawaiian Bank (fhb.com) has three branches on Guam and two branches on Saipan.

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