Building Hope Newsletter, April 2022

As you’ll learn in this issue of Building Hope, we kicked off a new project in Winchester this month, renovating two buildings for CCAP to support their clothing shop and food pantry. I love projects like these for so many reasons; the top among them is that we’re the only organization in the area working with nonprofits to build and renovate their facilities, filling a critical need in our community.

Yes, other organizations do similar work for individuals who own homes – and some may even build houses alongside future homeowners – but no one in our region works directly with nonprofits to build, renovate, and modernize spaces that they depend on to serve their clients. It’s an important distinction, because nonprofits don’t just provide shelter or housing; they also provide wrap-around services that help people make real progress. This has become especially critical over the last few years, as needs in our region continue to escalate: It used to be, for example, that people turned to food pantries as a supplemental source of food. Today, food insecurity is so high that many people rely solely on food pantries to put food on the table for their families. Similarly, CCAP’s clothing program is a critical source of resources that would otherwise be out of reach – enabling people to find what they need for work, school, or even job interviews.

And, because we partner with homebuilding professionals – who know building codes and products like the backs of their hands – we can provide sustainable, long-term solutions for our nonprofit partners. That makes a big difference for our nonprofit partners, who often work out of available space that wasn’t necessarily designed for their very-specific needs. The CCAP Clothing House operates out of a former auto parts store, and thanks to our team of professional builders, we can help design and build space that meets their programmatic needs and allows them to run things more efficiently, which not only saves nonprofits money in building costs but also provides significant savings over time.

Thank you to our Builder Captains and volunteers who work alongside us on these projects. Your efforts are changing the trajectory of how nonprofits work and deliver services to their clients, your building capacity, improving efficiencies, and giving people hope.