2011 Job Training Graduation
& Celebration of Housing

A day to recognize the success of our job trainees and those who have moved from homelessness to housing
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When he started in the Building Maintenance Training Program (BMTP), Peter didn’t know how to use a tape measure. But, as a trainee and member of Boston HandyWorks, a Pine Street social enterprise, Peter learned valuable skills to help him get back to work.

“I found out I really like hands-on work,” he said. “I did a little bit of everything: built closets, stained a deck and did some landscaping. I also learned about integrity, character and responsibility.”

After the 10-week training program, Peter completed a general maintenance internship at the YMCA of Greater Boston.

 

Recently, his training and experience paid off when Peter was hired by the maintenance department of a Boston nonprofit.

Pine Street runs three training programs in building maintenance, food service and housekeeping, which offer homeless individuals the chance to learn marketable skills to help them find and maintain employment.

For Peter and others, the programs open doors. “It’s a way to ease back into the working world,” says Nick Pieri, director of Boston HandyWorks. “It gives them the chance to work, to see that they’re valued employees and to gain some confidence.”