Community Builders and Future North Open office in Sudbury

Community Builders and Future North held an open house Thursday in Sudbury after officially securing a building in the city.

The two organizations will share the space and work together to offer services to youth and individuals who face barriers when it comes to employment.

Community Builders is a social enterprise construction company that hires and trains individuals who face barriers when trying to find a job.

“We take individuals who maybe didn’t finish high school, who have been through corrections, all sorts of different reasons why you can’t just go get a job,” said Carly Gasparini, with Community Builders in Sudbury.

“We bring them into our program, we have them in the classroom for part of the time and then we train them in construction.”

The facility offers a shop that allows people to train and practise skills in a controlled environment before they head to job sites.

“This has really changed everything for us," said Gasparini.

"It really was the next big milestone in expanding from Barrie into Sudbury. But really it’s the big space that’s necessary where we can hold all of our tools, hold all the projects."

Also in the facility is Future North, a network that provides resources to youth in Sudbury as well as Manitoulin.

“The adults of the world, let’s say, are making plans for the youth that might not be in line with what the youth actually want for their futures and for what success looks like for them,” said Kamilah Francis, program director with Future North.

“So making sure that they’re actually a part of actually creating the fabric of what their future is going to look like is very important.”

Francis said the partnership will benefit many in the north.

“Their role with youth and our role with youth really meshes very well and I think it’s a very synergistic relationship between the two of us to make sure that we’re both supporting the same population,” said Francis.

Future North is part of Communities Building Youth Futures Initiative, a five-year project to work with up to 13 communities across Canada to help youth in career development.