WHAT WE DO
1
We Recruit At-Risk, Young Adults
A 2015 study for the Columbus Foundation stated that in Franklin County there are 20,400 young adults between the ages of 16 and 24 who are not in school and are not employed.
We attract youth from this group as well as high school students to help prepare them for great careers in the building trades. Annually we are attracting 15-25 young adults, referrals from high schools, churches, and local organizations.
2
We Mentor, Teach Skills and Build Authentic, Trusting Relationships
For at risk young adults, generating hope for a future that is rarely seen requires trust, especially when there are few positive role models. We provide consistent mentoring, teaching and loving discipline starting in the classroom.
We teach a nationally recognized Introduction to the Building Trades program including OSHA 10; plus, we teach life skills to help prepare our trainees for participating as an adult in the marketplace.
For evening classes, we provide a meal and sometimes transportation. We visit companies to expose trainees to working conditions and requirements plus to learn about business. We expose trainees to Christian principles for life and encourage them to consider their purpose in life.
3
We Purchase Vacant, Blighted Houses
In certain neighborhoods of Franklinton (similar to other neighborhoods in poverty) there are as many as 20+% of houses vacant and a blight to the neighborhood attracting drug and other criminal activity. We seek to purchase or receive as donations such houses to use as training laboratories.
4
We Employ Trainees Part-time
We pay our trainees on a part-time basis, a graduated pay rate for the learning and work they do in our houses under the direction of our Director of Training/Construction and/or partner contractors who desire to “give back” and help mentor, train and work on our houses. Individual trainees, depending upon their background, will work with us on 1-3 houses before being ready for full-time employment.
5
We Restore Old Houses to Better Than New
Our houses (training laboratories) are rebuilt to be new houses, on the footprint of the original house. We are not refurbishing or remodeling, we are gutting these old houses and building a house with 100% new mechanicals, new roofs, exterior and windows, fully insulated, all new drywall/paint, cabinets, and flooring, and complete new plumbing and electrical fixtures.
Interiors are slightly redesigned to modernize them with more open rooms, larger/more closets, new pantries or storage spaces, canned lighting, etc. Each house is equipped with new appliances including washers, dryers, garbage disposals, refrigerators and stoves.
These houses are the best in their neighborhoods but priced for low/moderate incomes. They are attractive, durable, efficient, and they make people feel good about living in them.
6
We Connect Trainees with Employers
When trainees are ready, we promote them to employers and/or full-time apprenticeship programs in the building trades who will help them advance, beginning wonderful careers. These trainees begin their careers with living wages and can advance; most will not require government/social services support.
7
We Advance Neighborhoods
Our former trainees, beginning careers in the building trades are offered houses to rent (likely ones they have helped to rebuild) and then later, to purchase. We intend for these individuals to become productive citizens. We are hoping that they have developed a relationship with the Lord and become a source of strength and effective role models in their neighborhoods.
It is the combination of restored lives and houses that reduces poverty and moves a neighborhood forward!
