Building Beyond the Walls

Mission

Building Beyond the Walls creates an experience through inclusive hands-on construction skills training that increases confidence and self-reliance. By focusing on projects that give back, we connect individuals more deeply in their communities.

Description

Building Beyond the Walls exists to "build community through service". Hands-on construction training is the conduit we use to connect individuals to each other and their community.
This is achieved by:
Bringing strangers together for a common purpose.
Building a small structure to fill a community need.
Requiring 50 hours of community service in exchange for the free training.
Having community organizations provide lunch on training days.

WHAT MAKES US UNIQUE

•The Flagship Construction Training is a free residential construction training program, designed to give participants basic hands-on construction skills. Offering the training at no cost to the participants allows a broader participant pool to draw from and increases our ability to reach and serve low-income people. Professional training programs are often cost prohibitive and the time commitment is much longer than our 8 to 12 classes.

•Complete Structures. In our Flagship class we build a complete structure. Most professional training programs do not provide the opportunity to build a product that is left whole or built and used by the community.

•Process Not Project. Our Flagship training is driven by the process of learning and not the project itself, unlike other educational institutions who are measured on production. Our class allows all students to learn at a safe pace and results in greater confidence.

•Industry Professionals as Instructors. Our students work alongside industry professionals, ranging from educational institution to business owners. This gives businesses an opportunity to work alongside individuals and has made a deep impact on many of our participants' lives.

•Inclusive Training Program. We allow people with physical disabilities to learn and become empowered to do construction safely by modifying equipment and processes they help create. This is a demographic that is most often excluded from construction training programs, yet it has proven to have a profound effect on their lives. Currently 30% of our participants have been individuals with disabilities.

•Responsible Building Techniques. We are proactive in adapting all projects to incorporate Universal Design concept and sustainable building practices, putting our students ahead of the curve in construction knowledge and increasing the potential success of all of our students and their awareness of responsible building techniques.

•Enriching Our Community through Service. Students agree to give 50 volunteer hours back to the community upon completing our Flagship program. To our knowledge, no other professional training does this. Multiple projects have been built by trainees that are enriching our community. To date, approximately 5,000 hours of volunteer service has been completed equaling a value of over $112,000 based on The Non-Profit Times 2016 article.

•Engages Our Community. Community organization bring lunch on training days where they share a meal with the students, share what they do in the community and how the students can volunteer with them.