Building Futures: The Trade School Transforming Morgan County’s Opportunities
I have spent a lot of time this year recruiting membership to our giving circles, Guys Who Give and 100+ Women Who Care. While doing just that one February day, I received a call from a gentleman recruit who asked if I had time for some questions. You bet! I expected some “softball” questions about how to nominate a nonprofit, how to pay, others he wanted invite, but this call was much different and likely changed the course of my leadership of CFMC and the future of countless youth in Morgan County. He asked me to teach him about philanthropy and explained his goal to invest in our youth, explaining “I am buying the former Marsh Supermarket strip mall and want to start a high tech, state-of-the-art trade school and career center.” With the location secured, the All-American Innovation and Career Lab is coming to town.
Justin Clements is a local entrepreneur with a larger-than-life vision for everything he dives into. Dream big doesn’t begin to cover how he thinks. Some will be skeptical but after you hear his story, you may get a little hopeful. In that first phone call, he told me he was raised in a rough part of Indianapolis near 42nd and Post Road where in his words, “there was no hope.” He met his future wife, Jennifer, at church when they were 8 years old. (Yes, his backstory includes an incredible love story too!) Many years later, after his intense pursuit of her, they married and settled in her hometown of Martinsville where they remain today still raising their three boys in Green Township.
Like Jennifer, Justin went to college to be a teacher, but unlike her, he never taught. After working for United HealthCare, he and his boss, Scott Lingle, created Remodel Health, an alternative to traditional employer-sponsored group health insurance. They launched Remodel Health in 2015 in the basement of his Green Township home. Now Remodel Health is out of the basement and located near Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, employing over 200 people. (He wanted to keep that business in Martinsville, but I’ll get to that later.) In late 2024, Justin sold the majority of his shares in Remodel Health and won the prestigious Deal Of the Year Award for Indiana. It was at the Mirror Awards where he received this high honor that he was inspired by a speech given by Indiana Secretary of Education Dr. Katie Jenner. Her moving words pushed him toward his final vision for the school.
As an astute businessman, Justin’s timing for this trade school couldn’t be better. With the exorbitant cost of higher education, universities admissions at historic lows, and limited capacity at other career centers such as Hoosier Hills and Area 31, the All-American Innovation and Career Lab could be the savior for so many students. Don’t mistake the message – college is not a bad option for those aspiring to be physicians, biologists, engineers, journalists, accountants, etc. Encouraging our kids to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree, for example, that won’t necessarily secure a job after graduation is possibly not good advice just so they can have the “college experience.” The debt that will certainly place a financial chokehold on them for many years has to be considered. The Wall Street Journal recently wrote an article highlighting this national trend. Perhaps the negative perception surrounding post-high school education options is turning a corner.
The All-American Innovation and Career Lab will be built out in stages, first offering basic skilled trades like welding, plumbing, machining, masonry, electrician training, HVAC, and other subsets of general construction. This is a collaboration with the MSD of Martinsville but all county students – Monrovia, Eminence, Mooresville and others – will be eligible to attend, and it will be closer and have larger capacity than those career centers currently utilized. These students will also alleviate the workforce problem in our local economy. Local businesses who employ those skilled workers will take interns who can then funnel into their workplaces as trained employees. This is exciting stuff!
Justin’s vision for this project goes beyond what skills students will learn. He is also committed to including the inspiration of hometown hero John R. Wooden. Justin is in discussions with the CEO of The John R. Wooden Course LLC, Lynn Guerin, to include something special at the facility to honor Wooden, inspire students, and attract visitors. This could be a destination! Annoyed by the negative perception some have of Morgan County, Justin is determined to take down those stereotypes, and after he does, perhaps his business partners might decide Morgan County can support Remodel Health and others like it.
If you are interested in learning more about the future of the All-American Innovation & Career Lab, please contact me at kcole@cfmconline.org.
