By David Nguyen

Our community partner, Portland Community Reinvestment Initiatives, Inc (PCRI), and the Oregon Tradeswomen are collaborating on The Big 11, a renovation project that will rehabilitate 11 of PCRI's homes for future residents.

This week, a team of students from Oregon Tradeswomen tackled their first carpentry project at a North Portland home, which is part of their Trades and Apprenticeship Career Class.  The class is a free, seven-week pre-apprenticeship training program that helps women prepare for high-wage, high-skill construction careers through hands-on construction experience, classroom instruction, and field trips. The program helps graduates with job searches, applications to apprenticeship training programs, and post-placement support.

The rehabilitation project is funded by the Portland Housing Bureau and by energy-efficient incentives from the Energy Trust of Oregon.

Renovations are expected to be complete by the end of this year.

Click here to learn more information about The Big 11.

Building Partnerships, Building Healthy Homes

Monica Gerber on Pcrihome.org

Photo credit: PCRI