Lessons in Caring
Trainees from POIC covered the St. Andrew’s micro-village campus with power tools and paint brushes, finishing a final punch list. The Home Building Foundation asked POIC to help with a myriad of tasks such as mounting desks on the walls of the pods, installing towel racks in bathrooms, and staining the perimeter fence.
Inviting construction pre-apprenticeship programs such as POIC to help on site with our shelter projects has proven to be a winner for HBF, as it grows our volunteer labor pool. POIC Instructor Torre Sathrum tells us the students benefit as well. He says our collaborations are a terrific way to try out new skills, and to provide students with a better idea of potential career paths.
HBF has learned that building meaningful projects for people experiencing homelessness is a joyful experience. Gresham High construction pre-apprenticeship students were all smiles when we picked up hinged wooden benches they built for storage outside of the pods at WeShine’s St. Andrew’s “micro-village”. Students from Beaverton’s Mountainside High and Portland’s Grant High school completed the benches as well. This project-based learning develops carpentry skills and compassion to help other people.
Another need at WeShine were wheeled planter boxes, so the residents will be able to grow their own vegetables or flowers. Students from Reynolds Learning Academy built ten of them during the fall semester, and they now sit ready to be used when the village opens this spring. In addition, the gap year construction and social justice program Tivnu has also sent its students to the site to help as well. WeShine praises these thoughtful projects. “The kids are alright! the future is bright when young people care about social justice and caring for their unhoused community members. “
Each fall, Home Building Foundation reaches out to the nearly 40 high school construction programs in the Portland area, and asks the teachers if they’d like to be a part of our Education Partnership Program. The Program brings our founding mission to support construction education together with our dual goal to build and remodel shelters for unhoused Portlanders.
The Education Partnership Program has involved nearly half of the area high schools since its beginning in the 2021-22 school year. Two of the area adult pre-apprenticeship construction program trainees have also been involved. The program also provides Home Building Association members an opportunity to connect with students. For example, a team from Holt Homes helped Reynolds Learning Academy students build a coffee cart and trash can enclosure for Cultivate Initiative’s work program. Rick’s Custom Fencing taught carpentry techniques to trainees from Constructing Hope while building a wheelchair ramp at Project Homeless Connect.
Tivnu, a Portland gap-year program for Jewish young people also sent their students for several days of work on location at St. Andrew’s. Their program focuses on social justice through construction. NYC native Emma told us working on the village made her optimistic “You might not be able to fight the system, but you can provide them a stable ground to figure things out in the meantime.” Not only is the program a win with students, The Foundation’s Education Partnership Program has also won a Workforce Program award from the National Association of Home Builders last year. HBF pays for the Partnership Program materials from its annual budget. The great news is, for the next two years, HBF will is receiving $50,000 per year for our workforce development efforts thanks to generous grants from the Pat Ritz Foundation, and the Maybelle Clark Macdonald Fund.