Igniting the Aviation Workforce One Youth at a Time

Written By Beth White

An Outpouring of Support Makes Youth Apprenticeship Possible

Youth and Adult at BETA Technologies’ Maintenance Hangar

The community support of Habitat for Aviation has been overwhelming. To date, we've received over 70 individual donations, each a testament to the belief in our mission. In addition to individual contributions, we are honored to have garnered support from several foundations. A heartfelt thank you goes out to the Big Picture Learning’s Harbor Freight Fellowship Initiative, the Robert and Rhea Brooks Family Fund at the Rhode Island Foundation, Vermont Community Foundation, Green Mountain Power, George W. Mergens Foundation, 100 Women Who Care Franklin County, and the Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation for their generous grants. These foundations have not only bolstered our financial resources but have also become integral partners in the realization of our vision.

As our Habitat for Aviation family continues to grow, both in numbers and impact, we are grateful for the encouragement and endorsement we've received from our community and these esteemed foundations. With support, we are not only building airplanes but also constructing pathways for aspiring aviators to soar to new heights. Join us!

Beth White

Education Possibilitarian, Artist, Writer, Doula, Mentor, Aviatrix, Breast Cancer Survivor, Pilot-in-Command at Habitat for Aviation


In the spring of 2022, Beth White emerged from a 10-month battle with breast cancer with an idea: to create an apprenticeship program at Franklin County State Airport where youth work alongside adult mentors servicing conventional and electric aircraft. A pilot and airplane mechanic apprentice herself, and with family roots in the trades, Habitat for Aviation provides an taxilane for world learning opportunities for youth and adults who love to work with their hands to enter the FAA’s apprenticeship certification track. Each day she puts systems in place that make real John Dewey’s philosophy that we “learn best what we live” – a deep throughline from her time at Antioch University New England and as Regional Director for Big Picture Learning. Each learning experience is grounded in relationships, relevance, and practice. In October, 2023, Habitat for Aviation launched its Women Build Planes program, where an all-female team of Modern Day Rosies is building an airplane at Franklin County Airport, in northwestern Vermont, to show folks everywhere that despite the fact that only 2.6% of airplane mechanics are female, women BUILD, FLY, and FIX airplanes.

Previous

Women Build, Fly, and Fix Airplanes
Next

Meet Our Women Build Planes Team Members