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The school district has developed partnerships with Hennepin Tech College and Anoka Technical College, so that the high school students can earn college credits in this program. Fleetwood has a cabinet vision software program which is enormously valuable in helping student design doors and cabinets. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/675e3bad5b6d587185d12271/f6df954d-9706-40b2-ba73-a6d988cff0b7/AH-house-2022-house-768x503.png Case Studies - Anoka-Hennepin Public Schools As of the 2023-24 school year, Anoka-Hennepin Public Schools students have been building homes for more than 20 years. The case study below describes some of what has happened in the past, and what’s happening during the 2023-24 school year. Students typically spend two hours per day working on this project through the district’s STEP program. Thanks to John Almos, Brian LaMotte, Jessica Lipa and some A-H students who shared information for this case study. Here’s a link to a 90 second video that shows the three-bedroom home that A-H students built during the 2022-23 school year. This house was subsequently sold, like other houses that the students have produced. Here’s an outside view of that house. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/675e3bad5b6d587185d12271/cd7af1fa-6137-48c6-8004-6f7a036dd266/Teacher-1-768x642.jpeg Case Studies - Anoka-Hennepin Public Schools * What background/work experience prepared you to teach/run this program? Two teachers are involved in the Anoka-Hennepin House Construction program. One is a carpentry teacher, the other a teacher helping students learn to build cabinets. John Almos, who specializes in cabinet making, did this for six years through college, and then for six years after college. He also did residential cabinet making from his home for 11 years. His supervisor calls him “a kid magnet” because students like working with him so much. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/675e3bad5b6d587185d12271/231092a3-4448-4870-9419-f73bb22198f1/Students-Inside-house-now-768x612.jpeg Case Studies - Anoka-Hennepin Public Schools A-H students working inside the home they’re building in the 2023-24 school year What are examples of partnerships that have helped make this program work? The school district has developed partnerships with Hennepin Tech College and Anoka Technical College, so that the high school students can earn college credits in this program. Fleetwood has a cabinet vision software program which is enormously valuable in helping students design doors and cabinets. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/675e3bad5b6d587185d12271/fe070762-6281-45fc-9696-b43eec4603ca/Students-outside-house-now-768x621.jpeg Case Studies - Anoka-Hennepin Public Schools A-H students working on a house during the 2023-24 school year. Student Comments: Regan Glasgow, 18 told us: “I wanted to get into plumbing. This program helps me with a lot of fundamentals. I hope to have job stability and want to go straight into plumbing. Another student told us: “The best part of this is the learning experience and actually building a home. I’m definitely interested in the trades but have not yet decided what field I want to concentrate on.” Anything else you’d like educators/community members to know? One of Lipa’s colleagues at Hennepin Tech explained, “The best thing you can teach kids is to love it. Help them have a positive experience.” https://www.catalystforsystemschange.org/case-studies/project-five-748cx-2wnrd monthly 0.5 2025-01-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/675e3bad5b6d587185d12271/bcdbd184-1400-492d-8c87-27ec6823fd9e/Curtis-pix-Framing--768x576.jpeg Case Studies - Wright Technical Center, Buffalo, Minnesota What background/work experience prepared you to teach/run this program? Wright Technical Center has been in operation for 51 years. Curtis is only the 6th teacher over a 51-year period. He has an industry as well as teaching background. He started doing construction in high school with a local contractor. Remodeling became second nature. He earned an AA degree at North Iowa Community College. Then he earned a BS in Career and Technical Education and a minor in construction management at University of Northern Iowa. After completing his BS degree, he hired at Fort Dodge Public Schools to teach construction technology. He and his students worked with Habitat for Humanity on several projects. He also has earned a MS in career & technical education at Bemidji State. He’s earned additional certifications including energy efficiency. This (energy efficiency) is an important focus. Curt inside home being built during 2023-24 school year https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/675e3bad5b6d587185d12271/2f6e84aa-c9c1-4fa9-8354-b43dda94b1fb/W-members--768x576.jpeg Case Studies - Wright Technical Center, Buffalo, Minnesota The following information comes from a visit to Wright Technical Center on December 4, 2023. Information was provided by Brian Koslofsky, Director, Shaun Karson, Principal, and Curtis Tessum, Construction Technology Teacher. This school is a collaboration of eight school districts, listed below. WTC is the only remaining strictly vocational public school collaboration in Minnesota. The building houses a number of programs, as explained below. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/675e3bad5b6d587185d12271/c85ccbad-27f3-4c06-8b32-f204669398b4/Inside-framing--768x576.jpeg Case Studies - Wright Technical Center, Buffalo, Minnesota What are examples of partnerships that have helped make the homes Wright Tech students construct, better? The Local carpenters’ union helps. Carpenter Contractors has provided safety equipment including hard hats. JL Switzer has offered to set up trusses. Advance Volume Metric Alliance have employed graduates. They give students tours to show how modular construction works. There’s a current conversation about the company providing some materials.WTC don’t do the plumbing and we don’t do the electrical. We hire local contractors who explain to students what’s happening. The homes we build are called manufactured homes. Depending on whether the home goes, it can require different kinds of inspections. Interior of the three-bedroom house being constructed during the 2023-24 school year. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/675e3bad5b6d587185d12271/11dc8700-a99d-439c-9e18-1b6889317034/Curtis-classroom-sign-1-665x1024.jpeg Case Studies - Wright Technical Center, Buffalo, Minnesota What advice would you give to other people considering creating a program to teach students construction skills? * Quality has to be emphasized. You may need to redo something more than once. It’s vital that students understand the importance of quality. * The urge is always for the instructor to do the work, but the kids get more out of it when they try, fail and redo. This will cost in time and materials, but the students learn more. * Either build the house on campus or arrange transportation to get students to worksite. * WTC sells homes by secret bidding as the home is being constructed. This allows the person buying the home to have some input. Buyers appreciate this. The person who has bought this year’s house had several suggestions/requests that the school was able to accommodate because the purchase was completed in December, while a lot of work remained to be done. (*Each teacher has a sign outside their classroom, similar to the one below. This reminds students about the preparation each teacher has had. It also provides some personal information about the educator. Students like reading these. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/675e3bad5b6d587185d12271/85e53511-04bf-4252-856e-00a71c3f5fe5/W-inside-framing-768x576.jpeg Case Studies - Wright Technical Center, Buffalo, Minnesota Most of the work is done outside, on the house that is being constructed. This happens immediately outside the school building. However, some preliminary practice takes place inside the building, in the classroom pictured above. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/675e3bad5b6d587185d12271/4c4869a7-2ef6-426f-91c7-39aae8515cfb/W-investors-1-768x1024.jpeg Case Studies - Wright Technical Center, Buffalo, Minnesota What have you done that you strongly encourage others to do? * Get community partners, employers, unions in front of the kids. Students learn different approaches. Recognize and honor your partners. * We have articulated agreements with about 25 post-secondary institutions in Minnesota. This means students can earn free college credits. Students appreciate the opportunity to earn free higher education credits while still in high school. * There has been an increase in the number of students who take on-line courses except they come to WTC. Some students take PSEO courses and then courses at WTC. The school welcomes students who are combining different programs. * Students from eight different high schools attend this and other programs offered at WTC. Most come for about 1.5 hour every day, all year. Some come for two periods (i.e. 3 hours per day) Welcoming students from different high schools is a “win win” for the students, their high schools and the communities being served. Recognize and honor partners. They appreciate this. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/675e3bad5b6d587185d12271/e8e5581d-d8cf-4246-9205-c4f14503136f/Hallway-of-contrbutors-2-768x505.jpeg Case Studies - Wright Technical Center, Buffalo, Minnesota Are there any mistakes or unexpected negative outcomes that, if possible, people should try to avoid? Curtis had some experiences in Iowa where funding for a home fell through and it was not possible for students to complete the house that they had started building. Make sure you have the necessary funding in place before students start building. * Recognizing that costs vary from home to home, what are the approximate budgets for the homebuilding projects? The three-bedroom home we’re currently building sold for about $125,000. We made some money for the next project by selling at this price. The home has 3 bedroom, two bathrooms. It costs about $15.60/square foot. The buyer will have to spend perhaps $20,000 transporting the house to the site where it will be located. The buyer also will have to purchase land on which the house will sit. And buyers have different costs, depending on what kind of foundation and basement they want. In 7 years, the cost of construction has 40% The price of building materials decreased but other costs have increased. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/675e3bad5b6d587185d12271/b6e86d19-5cac-4334-87e4-e0003739b1e6/W-outside-2-768x576.jpeg Case Studies - Wright Technical Center, Buffalo, Minnesota At one point, a person came to Curt when he was teaching in Iowa and asked if someone could build shed. This led Curt to start his own construction company. He employed 6 people for 11 years. Then he moved to Minnesota. Wright Tech had an opening, and he was hired. He has been here four years. He also recently started his own construction company. Principal Shaun Karson also worked in on and off in construction for 10 years. Exterior of home WTC students are building during 2023-24 school year (as of Dec, 2023) https://www.catalystforsystemschange.org/case-studies/project-four-l3zw3-cd4bs monthly 0.5 2025-01-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/675e3bad5b6d587185d12271/83ef0e48-10e7-4472-a140-0721c5b1327d/2nd-building-768x576.jpeg Case Studies - Veteran’s Project, St Paul, Minnesota The project consists of two buildings. The first will have 10, one-bedroom apartments for low-income veterans, and veterans experiencing homelessness. Each unit has its own restroom. Each first-floor apartment is ADA compliant. The building next door will have a washer, dryer, exercise area, meeting room and MACV offices. The goal is for veterans to move to more permanent housing eventually but there is no required timetable for this. The project is unusual because young people are constructing two buildings next to each other. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/675e3bad5b6d587185d12271/279926c5-f84a-4c4a-a60a-29db28189b3d/Becky-Shawn-768x576.jpeg Case Studies - Veteran’s Project, St Paul, Minnesota What background/work experience prepared you to teach/run this program? Sean Hart: Sean serves as project manager/career navigator for GESMN. He has done construction his whole life. He helped build houses from ground up with my father. Sean has been working in construction or as sales manager for 20 years. His father was a carpenter/teacher for 5 years; Sean has a MBA in construction management. He also is also qualified licensed contractor in Minnesota. Becky Brink Ray: Becky serves as Workforce Development Director for GESM’s Career and Training and Education programs. Her whole career has been in workforce development. She has worked for 17 years with GWES. Before that she worked for another non-profit. She develops sector training programs around employers’ needs. She earned a BA in Counseling and a MA in business. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/675e3bad5b6d587185d12271/729e12bb-fa06-445e-8095-4b9184eeda9b/House--768x603.jpeg Case Studies - Veteran’s Project, St Paul, Minnesota This building above will house 10, one-bedroom apartments, 5 on each floor. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/675e3bad5b6d587185d12271/af232333-7dcd-41d2-a3ae-6e7595f73093/Partners-768x503.jpeg Case Studies - Veteran’s Project, St Paul, Minnesota What are examples of partnerships that have make this project possible? Many different groups involved. The project began when the Minnesota Assistance Council for Veterans (MACV) connected with the local carpenters’ union. Together they brought in a number of other groups. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/675e3bad5b6d587185d12271/10c377b2-cf93-467a-9252-5e7335a4dbfc/Studs-inside-768x576.jpeg Case Studies - Veteran’s Project, St Paul, Minnesota Inside the building that will house 10 apartments, as of late November, 2023. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/675e3bad5b6d587185d12271/e855537a-0628-4bdc-8502-173d0f2952dd/Tony-768x1024.jpeg Case Studies - Veteran’s Project, St Paul, Minnesota Tony Zahradke: Tony is the construction teacher at GAP School in St Paul. He has taught for 20 years in St Paul with at-risk and immigrant youth. Worked both in St Paul Public Schools and at GAP (a contract alternative school). Tony also spent five years working in construction – working during college and for two years after college. He noted that GWES/MN is leading this project (Please also see GAP case study. GAP has completed several homes, including one on a lot near the school that will house three additional homes). https://www.catalystforsystemschange.org/case-studies/project-three-sng7y-x24mb monthly 0.5 2025-01-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/675e3bad5b6d587185d12271/9f6a8104-7708-446d-a9df-e2555814adea/Hutch-teacherjpeg-768x948.jpeg Case Studies - Hutchinson High School, Hutchinson Minnesota Students are building “tiny homes” Daryl Lundin: “Part of my background is growing up in a family of carpenters. My dad and brother had a construction company for 30 years. I worked with them on construction projects during the summer 2001-2008. I decided that did not want to work outside in the cold during the winter. So, I earned a teaching degree. I brought up the idea of building tiny houses to our Superintendent. He liked the idea. The city of Hutchinson Economic Development Administration really like the idea too. Superintendent said 0k. They raised $1.5 million to buy initial tools and supplies. We began in 2016.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/675e3bad5b6d587185d12271/f28e04ec-9516-4cab-a2bf-461b6372b4ea/Amanda-768x1024.jpeg Case Studies - Hutchinson High School, Hutchinson Minnesota Students are building “tiny homes” Andrea Moore: Moore is in her sixth year of serving as Tiger Path Coordinator for the district. The district uses the Minnesota Department of Education career cluster. Hutchinson focuses on 4 pathways, A key part of Moore’s job is identifying and developing partnerships between the school and local businesses and community agencies. Four of the years that Andrea has been in this position, a large part of her salary was paid for by a Mn Department of Labor and Industry Youth Skills Training Grant. One year the district paid her entire salary with no funding from specific grants. Then Glencoe-Silver Lake Public Schools applied for the ANI grant, and named Hutchinson as a partner. This currently is paying her salary. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/675e3bad5b6d587185d12271/5109f4b8-7288-46f3-927e-8093c68375cc/Students-current-house-2-768x576.jpeg Case Studies - Hutchinson High School, Hutchinson Minnesota Students are building “tiny homes” Students and house currently under construction https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/675e3bad5b6d587185d12271/255bcbc1-27c8-48fa-a59c-c8e941b16028/Center-for-Technical-Excellence-1024x768.jpeg Case Studies - Hutchinson High School, Hutchinson Minnesota Students are building “tiny homes” This display faces the Hutchinson High School cafeteria. The school has made promoting a variety of career clusters a high priority. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/675e3bad5b6d587185d12271/9dfaa76f-fbd2-4894-aefa-ed017b8fa3f0/Partners-2-1024x719.jpeg Case Studies - Hutchinson High School, Hutchinson Minnesota Students are building “tiny homes” Can you please give examples of partnerships that have helped make the homes Hutchinson students construct better? See picture on wall – 3 M is big contribution. This is a manufacturing town – big need right now is for employees. Pretty easy to convince them. They saw a lot of kids leaving town. The home-building and other career pathways help keep students in town. What advice would you give to other people considering creating a program to teach construction skills as they build for low-income families? Lundin reports: “I like to do things differently. Expect that some things won’t go as expected such as supply chain issues. Don’t give up. Having Andrea with Tiger Paths is a great help. Money from state YST grant helps. She has helped make community connections. As a teacher I would never have time to make connections. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/675e3bad5b6d587185d12271/f6576fcf-e57a-4d19-a2e6-be4d8b7b0cc6/House-for-sale-exterior-1024x768.jpeg Case Studies - Hutchinson High School, Hutchinson Minnesota Students are building “tiny homes” Interior and Exterior of House recently completed and offered for sale as of October, 2023 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/675e3bad5b6d587185d12271/fffe6d9e-0012-489b-b331-6c9737c2119b/House-for-sale--768x1024.jpeg Case Studies - Hutchinson High School, Hutchinson Minnesota Students are building “tiny homes” Suggestions from Andrea: Hire a member of the community. She has lived I the area for 55 years; She graduated from here, my kids graduated from here. Have been a teacher or have a teaching license – more from buy in from teachers, come to sub or teach soft skills. Include teachers from the beginning – show how it’s going to benefit. It can’t be always about the bottom dollar. Someone will buy the home eventually. We have heard that some districts focus explicitly on bottom line, financially. This is not our approach. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/675e3bad5b6d587185d12271/641fa902-ff92-4f82-92c8-9b3e2611c5fa/Previous-houses--768x623.jpeg Case Studies - Hutchinson High School, Hutchinson Minnesota Students are building “tiny homes” Recognizing it varies from home to home, what are the approximate budgets for the homebuilding projects? The district gave me an open checkbook. Worst case costs are about $50,000. Generally, we have been able to construct a tiny house for $27-35,000. This is for the materials. The district covers the teacher cost. We sell the houses to people in the area. https://www.catalystforsystemschange.org/case-studies/project-two-ky966-tcy7a monthly 0.5 2025-01-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/675e3bad5b6d587185d12271/22386b84-959e-4144-8a82-ec6366542045/Light-pounding-768x768.jpeg Case Studies - unCommon Construction at Exploration High School Light working on the house (photo from Spencer Grant) Emmanuel, 17: ” In general, we learned life skills, teamwork and career paths…something to do after high school. I want to be a barber.” Marquis, 17 One thing that I learned that’s useful is team bonding skills. You have to be good at communicating. That’s how you get things done fast. Working in the cold was not fun. It’s much better when we completed the frame (and worked inside) I’m chill. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/675e3bad5b6d587185d12271/559d2fdf-4d9b-44cc-81ed-273a67991559/House-outside-1-768x603.jpeg Case Studies - unCommon Construction at Exploration High School This tiny house (currently on Exploration High school Campus) is the first one we built. We began in fall 2022 just with Exploration High School. In spring 2023, we added Minnesota Internship Center & Henry High School (Community Connection Academy). This 2023-24 school year, more schools are joining: Mn Transitions, and Venture Academy. I became connected with Henry via a former TFA person operating the CCA at Henry. We anticipate that work will be completed by the end of October, 2023. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/675e3bad5b6d587185d12271/545bada8-9847-4006-bf7f-122f7b36c0f5/SG-Full-619x1024.jpeg Case Studies - unCommon Construction at Exploration High School Spencer Grant: “I tinkered and built a lot of things while growing up. I did service trips around state of Mn, painting, landscaping, in high school. I was exposed to emergency home repair. Church community 1 week during summer. Grew up in SW Mpls, graduated from St. Thomas, degree in psychology.” “I left UnCommon in Louisiana in 2018. It was an amazing program. In my heart, I felt it should be available in every city, and stayed connected with founder. ” unCommon Construction secured a micro-grant from the VELA Education Fund. This let us test whether we can engage with students and build homes. We built three little free libraries. unCommon was part of Stand Together Foundation and Curry Foundation that helped support expansion. Nationally, unCommon Construction has been the subject of an article in a national magazine devoted to the construction industry. It also was a finalist, winning a substantial cash award, in the 2022 national YASS Prize competition. Spencer Grant – photo provided by Mr. Grant https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/675e3bad5b6d587185d12271/a29f1ea5-47bd-49a5-b839-0c874106ee8c/Inside-with-ladder-768x1024.jpeg Case Studies - unCommon Construction at Exploration High School Inside – nearly finished as of Oct 2023 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/675e3bad5b6d587185d12271/a023dbba-0d11-4a61-bf04-5cfc4c915a80/Exploration-Team--768x512.jpeg Case Studies - unCommon Construction at Exploration High School Team who completed the first house (Chavi, Ayden and Gabe, all up top; Spencer and Mimi, middle; and Rey, uCC Staff, bottom right. Photo from Spencer Grant https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/675e3bad5b6d587185d12271/be545a9a-7cf3-42b6-9615-85f7a57e7602/2-students-768x576.jpeg Case Studies - unCommon Construction at Exploration High School Two of the Exploration High School Students who worked on the tiny house (Photo by Joe Nathan) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/675e3bad5b6d587185d12271/62420301-6bf5-4a1d-976d-7a58a5841ced/Alycia-768x814.jpeg Case Studies - unCommon Construction at Exploration High School Alycia Monserrate (Exploration Staff) This project helped students look forward. Some of the students who excelled in this project had struggled to get to school. This got them motivation. It really helped them to show up and be present. One of the students participating in the project has continued to build things. We leveraged a position offer for him with unCommon. He just got accepted into Urban Boatbuilders. He’s now being paid to build boats. We really appreciated relationship with UnCommon. https://www.catalystforsystemschange.org/case-studies/project-one-f5w4d-mma9b monthly 0.5 2024-12-31 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/675e3bad5b6d587185d12271/49ff79d6-fce4-49fb-a827-4bfcdf6e6c58/House+%2B%2B%2B.jpeg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/675e3bad5b6d587185d12271/d8c95095-2b76-4074-b05a-bd209381f4f6/Tony-GRADS-REAL-ESTATE-768x625+2.JPG https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/675e3bad5b6d587185d12271/ed1407db-49d0-4e00-91f8-d6b851798641/F9279778-7FB9-4D54-B057-887B0F81658E.jpeg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/675e3bad5b6d587185d12271/75b39f25-bfcd-4062-9b51-33b27d304a95/IMG_2274.JPG