Affordable Housing | Purpose Construction

Over

$17,407,593.00

IN SUCCESSFUL
CONTRACTS COMPLETED

406

people
employed

For every $1 You spent

$4.29

Is returned in
positive social impact

INSTAGRAM

@purpose_construction

purpose_construction

Today is Orange Shirt Day as well as the National

Today is Orange Shirt Day as well as the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. It is a day to recognize the harms that were done by residential schools; to think about what those harms look like in today's society; to honour and listen to survivors; to remember and pay tribute to those who didn’t come home, and to think about what reconciliation looks like today and in the years to come.

Our friends at ParkWest Projects were kind enough

Our friends at ParkWest Projects were kind enough to tour our trainees around their 160 Salter site. It was a great opportunity for them to see how big commercial jobs work and ask questions of ParkWest staff. Not to mention the photo ops were impeccable.

We’re so appreciative of the relationships we have with likeminded companies that can show our folks what post-training can look like.

We left our teeny office on the second floor for t

We left our teeny office on the second floor for the wide open spaces (and amazing wood shop) of the third. There are many good things that have come from the move (hello office space!) but maybe the best is that we can now have horse sized dogs come visit. Say hello to Ringo.

We’re recruiting for our October training cohort

We’re recruiting for our October training cohort. Are you or someone you know looking to make a change or to get your foot in the door in the trades? This could be a great opportunity!

Our program is approximately five months, with the first six-weeks spent in our workshop learning basic carpentry, like hand and power tool safe-use. Folks will take first aid, C.P.R., fall-arrest, and confined spaces safety certification. In the six-week class time we will work with folks to get IDs and a bank account if they need, and we’ll have literacy classes, resume and interview skills, money management workshops, and other life skills stuff. There will also be Indigenous cultural teachings.

After the six-weeks of in class, folks will go work on Purpose Construction builds alongside our staff!

Trainees will be paid $16/hr and have access to our employer paid benefit program after three weeks.

We ask that interested folks be stably housed and have (or can get) a cell phone.

This time last week we were worried about rain but

This time last week we were worried about rain but having fun at our staff bbq. This year, thanks to two intrepid managers, we had sports* and games! Nothing like a little friendly competition between coworkers to build up an appetite. The rain stayed away and we had a great time, complete with our annual tug-o-war which went the way it usually goes (sound up to hear the winning technique). We love what we do and who we get to do it with!

*if bocce and horseshoes are considered a sport.

Out of office, but still working! Our GM Sheri, ED

Out of office, but still working! Our GM Sheri, ED Kalen, and @tessawhitecloud from @siloammission are working at a @habitatforhumanitymb build today! We always love it when we can work with other organizations dedicated to housing.

As June draws to a close we're wrapping up our Pri

As June draws to a close we're wrapping up our Pride month highlights. Pride might be over, but we're queer all year. Working in a queer-centric space is something case manager and communications coordinator Sara doesn't take for granted. It allows her and others team members to really think about what's possible outside of the norm when it comes to what kind of place Purpose can be.

Growing up in a construction family gave our ED Ka

Growing up in a construction family gave our ED Kalen the opportunity to see both the good and the bad of the industry. They got to see completed projects which meant a family got a new home, but they also saw the harassment their mom went through as a woman in the trades. Here they talk about how both those experiences inform how they run Purpose.

The Pride hits keep coming! Here our GM Sheri talk

The Pride hits keep coming! Here our GM Sheri talks about how a positive coming out experience at a former workplace informs the space she helps create at Purpose. That’s the thing about positive queer experiences, they don’t happen in a vacuum and they tend to multiply, leading to a greater benefit for all.

We’re continuing to celebrate Pride month, and t

We’re continuing to celebrate Pride month, and today we’re celebrating National Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Meet Trudy! Maybe you’ve seen her in some of our other posts, but today she has a message we want to share. She talks about opportunities, which is timely because Trudy is starting a new journey with ParkWest Projects next week! While we’re sad to see her go, we’re excited for her future.

We couldn’t let June go by without acknowledging

We couldn’t let June go by without acknowledging Pride! This is an opportunity for us to share some of the queer folks who make our company what it is. Stay tuned for more stories as we wind up the month.

Yesterday was a good day. So many people from our

Yesterday was a good day. So many people from our sector joined together with Ministers and government representatives to celebrate the 100th birthday of the Social Enterprise Centre. As Michael, one of our employees said, this building is more than a building. He talked about his experience first walking through these doors to go to MITT, and how, years later while looking to make a change, he walked through these doors again for an interview for our training program. Yesterday was an opportunity for him to catch up with Rob Loiselle, current MLA for St Boniface and former head of the carpentry/trades program at MITT. It was also an opportunity for Cassie, a trainee in our program, to catch up with Honourable Minister Bernadette Smith. Minister Smith has known Cassie for most of her life, in fact Cassie once lived with Minister Smith. This building is a gathering place, a place for second/third/fourth chances, and a place where people make choices and are brave. It really is a house of courage.

We’re nominated for the NexGen Builders Employer

We’re nominated for the NexGen Builders Employers award in the Canadian Building Diversity Awards! This award recognizes a construction industry employer who “has excelled in supporting the welcome and professional growth and development of diverse workers in the workplace.” There were over 130 applications for the ten categories, and we’re so proud to have been chosen as a nominee.

While some folks work outside, others work inside.

While some folks work outside, others work inside. Here's Barret, Damian, and Lawrence (the other Lawrence, haha) taping and cutting vapour barrier to make sure everything's up to code and getting this project one step closer to completion.

We mentioned our new group of trainees were on job

We mentioned our new group of trainees were on job sites, and one of them is our newest Purpose Home! Our crews are taking care of both the exterior and interior, so our trainees will get a chance to try out a bunch of different skills. Here we see Lawrence and Erika (under the supervision of Michael, former trainee now employee) adding the finishing touches to the siding they've helped install. We know it's what's inside that counts, but a little curb appeal never hurt anyone and this crew is helping to make the outside look crisp.

Say hi to our new cohort of trainees! They started

Say hi to our new cohort of trainees! They started earlier this month, learning carpentry basics in the workshop of our friends @clanmothers.ca. After learning hand tool and power tool basics, they each got to work on their own projects. It’s great to see what they made.

This group went out to our job sites this week to start putting what they learned to practice. We can’t wait to share their journeys with you.

We’re working to build a Winnipeg where all peop

We’re working to build a Winnipeg where all people have access to high quality, affordable housing. Through the renovation of existing social housing stock and the development of new affordable housing, we’re working towards our goal! Have a look at some stats we shared at our AGM that look at work done in 2023 as well as a bit of a look ahead to 2024. In 2023 we completed $2,225,043.00 in contracts. That’s impressive, but we also paid out $1,253,712.00 in wages to our staff. In 2023 we sold our first Purpose Home, and in 2024 we’re going to sell another! Thanks for coming along with us as we keep moving forward.

Today may be Good Friday, but yesterday was Great

Today may be Good Friday, but yesterday was Great Thursday at Purpose. We had our employer meet-and-greet where our trainees met folks from @bockstaelconstruction, @pennco_construction, Park West Projects, Concord Projects, @bob_sledconstruction, and Apprenticeship Manitoba. This was a great opportunity for each company to showcase their projects and what they look for in an employee, and for our trainees to ask questions.
Later in the morning lawyer and Purpose Board member Mark Krause provided information on how to go about getting a pardon (or record suspension), something that’s important to many of our trainees.
We wrapped up our day with a delicious feast provided by @shellysindigenousbistro and we handed out certificates of completion.
We are so proud of the hard work and determination this cohort showed. Two of them couldn’t make the events because they had job interviews, which is a great reason to miss.

Our trainees put down their tools and picked up pe

Our trainees put down their tools and picked up pens (well, they used Chromebooks) to revamp and, in some cases, write their resumes. Learning framing and window installation is all well and good, but how is an employer going to know if it’s not on their resume? We also did some interview skill building, because job interviews can be terrifying! This cohort is almost done their time with us, and it’s working on things like this that will help them in their futures.

We've been introducing many of our trainees, let's

We've been introducing many of our trainees, let's switch it up a bit and introduce you to someone who helps train them. Meet Will! Will's been with us since September, but he was familiar with what we do well before that. In fact, Will helped us build our first Purpose Home at 351 Magnus. While Will was incarcerated, he took the Intro to Construction Trades program and had the chance to come out to our 351 build and install the walls and sheathing for the roof. He liked what we were about, and kept in touch with our project manager. Fast forward to September, and he was able to join our team! Will says he likes the variety of what we do, and he likes that he can see a project through, from start to finish. He likes the training program, and says that while he's showing our trainees how to do things, he's also improving his skills, so it's win-win. Will's big smile, calm demeanour, and life experience all help the trainees to feel ay home, which we're so thankful for.

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