Extra Credit Assignments

Shed and kids

Arrival

Sam barlow at Blanchet shed floor

Building begins

Construction students from Sam Barlow traveled up a winding country road in a school bus, followed by a flatbed truck carrying an assignment they built for HBF. The students brought panels for a shed they had built in their classroom in Gresham to assemble it on site at Blanchet Farms in Carlton. The bus ride took more than an hour, but the kids welcomed the chance to get out of the classroom at the end of the school yard and onto the rural property.  Unloading was easy. But, nailing together their completed shed was a bit tense at times! Students told each other “Be careful! You are going to break it.” Carefully, they joined the four sides, and hammered them into place.

Barlow classroom

Teacher Josh Hardy

Barlow Students Learn

The project started in March, when HBF dropped off lumber with teacher Josh Hardy. For the first time, HBF used Builder’s FirstSource’s “Ready- Frame” which cut the lumber in advance at its Clackamas facility. We used shed plans developed by HBA Member Jon Girod, who hosted a tour of the BFS Clackamas facility this spring for SW Washington high school teachers. Girod is encouraging Vancouver area schools to use Ready-Frame to build sheds as fundraisers for their programs.

For HBF, Ready- Frame might make our school based projects easier, and possibly save time and materials. A challenge we face is the inevitable mistakes by students, which can mean we need to purchase more lumber for projects. For Barlow teacher Hardy, having a quicker process helps because his class periods are just 45 minutes long.

shed building in progress

Build that wall

shed build blanchet farm

All four walls

The field trip created a time crunch as well, as the field trip was a bit too short for the kids to completely finish the roof. But, the reviews from them and their teacher Josh Hardy are positive. As he told us “Thank you for allowing us to come out and be a part of the project. My students all had a great time and an excellent learning experience for them!” Blanchet Farm will use its new shed to house bee houses, some of which HBF helped nearby Yamhill Carlton High build last year.

Pod Summer Challenge for Students

HBF is pleased to partner with P.O.I.C this summer to build a prototype sleeping pod for an innovative new supportive housing village. HBF will provide materials and guidance as the construction program’s students build the pod for a proposed Workforce Village to be operated by Cultivate Initiatives (CI). The students will build the pod on site at the Cultivate Initiatives headquarters office at 146th and SE Stark.

  Cultivate Initiatives is an upstart nonprofit centered in East Multnomah County. Their services include mobile showers and street outreach and operating the Menlo Park Safe Rest Village. In addition, they provide an innovative “Intern” program, which pays people living in transitional housing to work in the community to clean graffiti, pick up trash, and to provide light construction. The CI Workforce program is led by people who have lived experience of living without housing. Cultivate Initiative’s vision is to build up to 20 pods for its Workforce program participants.

St. Johns Tour

Cultivate tour

Kenton Women's Pod

    HBF’s took the Cultivate Initiatives staff on a tour of two of previous pod building projects, Kenton Women’s Village and St. John’s Village, to show them what a successful village can look like. The prototypes built this summer will help CI as it continues to develop plans and seeks funding to develop the infrastructure so the Village can move forward. HBF aims to stay involved to make this innovative housing option for up to 20 people a reality.

   HBF’s support for CI is born out of our mutual recognition of the need for increased workforce development and supportive sheltering opportunities in Portland. Over the 18 months, HBF has supplied picnic tables to Menlo Park to provide better outdoor options for its residents. With the help of students from Sherwood High, Reynolds Learning Academy and Holt Homes, and Glencoe High, we provided furnishings for the outdoor waiting area for CI’s headquarter. The relationship is two way, as CI’s Workforce Program provided us assistance at the 2023 Trap Shoot and will return in 2024. If you or your business would like to be involved with the pod building project, please contact HBF’s Chris McDowell, chrism@hbapdx.org.