Blue Door Support Services (Construct)

Year of inception: 1982
Brand name: Blue Door Support Services (Construct)
Address: 17665 Leslie St Unit 27, Newmarket, ON, Canada
Postal code: L3Y 3E3
Business category: General Contractor

Primary Contact Details
Name: RUDI GENOVESE
Email: rudi.g@bluedoor.ca
Phone: 12897161878
Website: https://www.constructgta.ca
Identifier: SE

Company Description​

As an employment social enterprise, Construct provides in-class training, on-the-job work experience, and wraparound supports to help vulnerable individuals secure long-term, well-paying careers in the construction trades.  By sourcing and bidding on jobs within our community Construct turns job sites into on-the-job learning experiences helping to propel trainees into careers in the trades.

More than a business with a heart, Construct is a real solution to ending homelessness. By connecting people to career paths, breaking down barriers to meaningful employment, and leading them to affordable housing, Construct will lift people out of poverty and into opportunity.

Developed by Blue Door Support Services, a non-profit registered charity working to end homelessness.

Community & Social Impact

Blue Door has extensive experience launching innovative new programs, working in partnership with other organizations to develop, deliver, and monitor projects, and meeting the unique and changing needs of at-risk individuals.

BLUE DOOR’S CONSTRUCT

Construct is an employment social enterprise which launched in September of 2020. Construct provides rapid skills training to prepare participants for employment in general labour construction.

Construct saw instant success in large part due to the extensive planning/collaboration that went into designing/developing the program, including:

Blue Door secured funding from McConnell Foundation to hire Choices for Youth(Newfoundland) to provide coaching support during Construct’s planning/launch. A registered charity, Choices for Youth manages “Impact Construction” a longstanding effective program, which Construct is modeled after, propelling at-risk youth into construction trades

Founding partners LiUNA and YMCA of Greater Toronto’s York Region Employment Services were instrumental in helping to co-design the program and provide ongoing trades training, hire graduates, and employment preparation/coaching

In 2021, Construct expanded into Durham Region, forming partnerships with Ontario Works and the YMCA in Durham. Construct grew from offering two cohorts in 2020 to providing 13 cohorts in 2021 and is proud to report 93% of participants graduated and 86% entered trades careers.

The Construct program was the proud recipient of the 2021 ONPHA Innovation Award for leading the way in providing construction trades training in York Region and the GTA, and for filling gaps in the construction sector.

In 2022, Construct will launch an Online Training Platform in February and with the generous support of the Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development, Construct will expand into Peel Region, offering seventeen cohorts, providing skills training to a total of 144 vulnerable job seekers.