The Home Depot Foundation is teaming up with a Bloomington non-profit to help women get the education and training they need.
Leaders said the new space will help women learn how to advance to a job with a living wage and benefits.
“When we found out that this nonprofit was looking to try and do training and get people knowledgeable,” Katie Kurtenbach from the Home Depot Foundation. “Especially women with trades work we definitely wanted to help out with that.”
Twin Cities non-profit, Dreams Are Possible is partnering with the Home Depot Foundation to create an education and training center for women.
Several volunteers gathered Thursday to lay down the foundation for the new space, by installing flooring, removing cement coating and simply cleaning up the place.
“We want to give them their confidence to know that they can not only take care of their families but also their homes and things like that, so they don’t have to wait for someone to wait for someone else to come and do it for them,” Mary Campbell, co-director of the Home Depot Foundation said.
Leaders said helping women learn trades will not only improve their own lives but also the lives of those around them.
“They will be economically stable and then also, the daughters or the sisters, or any one in the community will be encouraged to get into building trades,” Feli Sebastian, Dreams Are Possible co-director said.
When it’s up and running, this center will serve as a platform for apprenticeships and opportunities with Heartland Community College, the Mid-Central Community Action and local and building trade unions.
