{"id":10058,"date":"2025-04-24T14:37:29","date_gmt":"2025-04-24T18:37:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluedoor.ca\/?p=10058"},"modified":"2025-04-28T14:40:16","modified_gmt":"2025-04-28T18:40:16","slug":"blue-door-trades-training-program-expanding-as-far-as-nova-scotia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluedoor.ca\/blue-door-trades-training-program-expanding-as-far-as-nova-scotia\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Door trades training program expanding as far as Nova Scotia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Posted On: April 24, 2025, Posted By: Bailey Moreton, NewmarketToday, Original Article.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blue Door\u2019s Construct trades training program is expanding to new communities and provinces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The program, based out of a workshop space on Earl Stewart Drive in Aurora, is growing, with a new cohort set to start the program at the Employment Help Centre in the western Niagara Region and another group of students starting in Halifax, Nova Scotia in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The eight-week pre-apprenticeship trades course was boosted by $1.1 million from the federal government, as part of a larger $14.3 million funding announcement, through the Future Skills Centre announced March 3<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emma Wood, director of employment and expansion, said the organization is training local partner organizations on how to run the Construct program, while tailoring it to local communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe’re taking the core concepts of this program, and making it unique to their own community because we realized the copy-and-paste method is not going to work. We need to adjust based on how their community operates, the opportunities in their communities, and the partners,\u201d she said, noting program participants in Halifax may receive training more focused on skills needed for working in the shipbuilding industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, the local Construct program continues to work with students, with the first all-female cohort graduating through the program earlier in April, said Wood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTheir attention to detail, the way they approach projects was much more organized, so we’ll see if that continues with the other cohorts,\u201d said Wood. \u201cAnd on their last day, they all wanted to come back right away.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wood said the idea is to help the participants establish a support network, with Blue Door also working on setting up a mentorship program of past program participants. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Trades are typically male-dominated,\u201d said Wood. \u201cSo we wanted to create a women only cohort, to create an environment where they feel comfortable and can create a network, so that when they go out in the trades, they have the support system.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CEO stepping away<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Michael Braithwaite, CEO of Blue Door, who has helmed the organization from six years, is set to step away from his role May 23.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe’ve stepped more out of just reacting and trying to be more proactive,\u201d Braithwaite said of Blue Door during his time at the organization, pointing to programs like Construct, saying they \u201clift people out of poverty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve stepped into the non-profit housing development game, which is very scary as a non-profit,\u201d said Braithwaite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The organization recently broke ground on the redevelopment of Kevin\u2019s Place on Gorham Street in Newmarket on Nov. 29<\/a>, and also set up its Housing for All Land Trust<\/a>, with the goal of building 200 deeply affordable housing units throughout the region over the next decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Braithwaite led Newmarket-Aurora MPP Dawn Gallagher Murphy and Francophone Affairs Minister and Treasury Board President Caroline Mulroney on a tour of the Construct program facility today, April 24, and thanked the province for being early backers of Blue Door, and structuring its funding in a way to allow it to grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Braithwaite pointed to $200,000 in Ontario Trillium Foundation funding that allowed the organization to hire staff who could help the organization fundraise, noting Blue Door has been successful in obtaining a number of grants and private sponsors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt’s very rare that they say, you can use this money to add positions to raise money. And so that was super cool, and you see what happens,\u201d he added. \u201cWe take a $200,000 investment and turn into a $6.5 million.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stepping into Braithwaite\u2019s shoes as interim CEO will be Emmy Kelly, the organization’s current chief operations officer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Posted On: April 24, 2025, Posted By: Bailey Moreton, NewmarketToday, Original Article. Blue Door\u2019s Construct trades training program is expanding to new communities and provinces. The program, based out of a workshop space on Earl Stewart Drive in Aurora, is growing, with a new cohort set to start the program at the Employment Help Centre in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":10059,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-media"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t