Westside Housing Organization is partnering with CoBuild and Emerging Builders to recruit and train 25 young people in construction skills for a 32-hours-per-week, 10-week program. Emerging Builders is a non-profit 501c3 organization.

Emerging Builders will recruit the trainees, provide soft skills training and support the trainees with counseling and social service referrals. CoBuild is a for-profit construction company. CoBuild will hire, train and supervise trainees enrolled in Emerging Builders’ program to work on construction projects, providing tools and supplies and identifying construction tasks that are appropriate for a training context. 

Westside Housing Organization will provide buildings to utilize as training locations, acquiring single family homes and contracting with CoBuild to renovate them. Westside Housing Organization will also provide training stipends to students enrolled in Emerging Builders’ 10-week program.

Westside Housing believes that the young people its serve have untapped potential and that this program can help unlock that potential, by teaching them marketable skills and responsible workplace behavior, then holding them accountable for that behavior, by creating a positive culture and learning environment where they can experience success and accomplishments. In the short run, this experience will draw them away from a pervasive culture of violence. In the long run, this experience will set them up to advance into successful careers.

COMBAT Funding: $32,0000.00