YWCA YouthBuild Springfield Open House and Tiny Home Unveiling

The YWCA of Western Massachusetts YouthBuild Springfield program recently held an Open House at their site that attracted an overflow crowd of community supporters.  One focal point of the event featured the Tiny Home that students have been building.  This project is part of a statewide effort of the Massachusetts YouthBuild Coalition and will be used to provide housing for a homeless veteran. This project was funded in part by a grant from the Corporation for National and Community Service, as one of only five grants awarded nationally for 911 Remembrance. This is an excellent teaching project because it involves all of the skills needed to construct a full size house, but can be completed more quickly due to the size.  Another part of the project was the education of the students about the events of 911 and the impact that it had on people all over the world because of the events of that fateful day, an event that happened when they were small children.

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Mayor Domenic Sarno, YouthBuild Director Rani Gould and YWCA Executive Director Elizabeth Dineen at the Open House

Mayor Domenic Sarno offered words of encouragement to the students and was also very pleased to see the work that the students performed to help out a fellow citizen in need.  He was especially taken by the words of the YouthBuild students.  During the event, the students welcomed their guests and gave them a guided tour of the facility.  They spoke in glowing terms about the opportunity that YouthBuild provides them. They were happy to talk about how much they had learned since enrolling in the program.

​Listening to them talk about the work on the tiny house revealed an amazing sense of pride in their accomplishment. They readily described the various features of the structure and the role that they played in the construction.  The satisfaction and achievement that the students took from this experience told the story.  The smiles on their faces needed no explanation.

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