Habitat for Humanity partners with Tri-County Career Center

Habitat for Humanity of Southeast Ohio is launching a new partnership with Tri-County Career Center that will provide homes for families in need while providing valuable, unique educational opportunities for students in the Construction Trades programs.

As part of the partnership, students will build a complete home utilizing skills they learn in the classroom. The past few weeks, the Ohio Operating Engineers Apprenticeship and Training Logan Local 18 has excavate the property. The Career Center Carpentry Trades will build the home from the foundation up including students from the Electrical, Plumbing and HVAC Trades. The permanent location for the new partnership home will be in Nelsonville.

“We are very excited to partner with Tri-County Career Center to provide vocational training to high school students in from various counties while building homes for families in need” said Dawn Worley-Sims, community engagement director (Athens, Hocking and Meigs) of Habitat for Humanity of Southeast Ohio. “This partnership adds to our three other Career Center partnerships (Mid-East, Fairfield, and Mid-East Buffalo) throughout Southeast Ohio and will allow us to provide vocational training opportunities for over 500 students this year”.

The process to launch the program began little more than a year ago with a discussion between Habitat and the vocational trade’s instructors and administration at the Career Center.

“It was very obvious that this was going to be a great partnership once we were able to get it launched” says Worley-Sims.

After initial talks, the partnership was proposed to the superintendent and board, who approved the new partnership. Jon Denhart, Senior Construction Trades Instructor, shared “Tri-County Career Center and the Construction Trades program is excited to be building the Nelsonville Habitat for Humanity house. This new partnership between Habitat for Humanity and Tri-County Career Center will allow students from Athens, Hocking, and Perry Counties the opportunity to build a home from the ground up.”

This new partnership would not be possible without the help of several funders within the community.

The Baird Brothers Company Foundation, Snider Family Foundation, Rocky Community Improvement Fund / Osteopathic Heritage Foundation, Stephanie Wood, and OhioHealth O’Bleness have provided significant funding for the Nelsonville build. In addition, Habitat SEO has received ARPA funding from the State of Ohio and a grant from State Farm.

Habitat’s partnership with Career Centers has proven to be beneficial to both organizations. Habitat homes are used as “labs” for the students. Students gain crucial experience in carpentry, electric, plumbing, and other construction trades while building the home.

Habitat homes are built in partnership with families who have a need for housing and it’s a “hand up, not a hand out” model. Families purchase their home and pay a zero-interest mortgage back to Habitat.

Habitat then uses those mortgage payments to build and repair more homes in Athens County.

For information on Habitat, to sign up to volunteer, or to donate online, visit habitatseo.org or contact Dawn Worley-Sims, director of community engagement, 740-592-0032 ext. 102 or dawn@habitatseo@org.