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Glencoe High School students look over plans. Photo courtesy of HBF.

Building a Brighter Future

Home Builders Foundation teams with schools to offer hands-on experience

Home Builders Foundation Project Manager Chris McDowell manned the tractor as it gingerly moved two large sheds into the small backyard behind Project Homeless Connect in Hillsboro. Two Glencoe High students who built the sheds watched their handiwork settle into place.
“It’s really nice, we are helping out people who need our help,” said Junior Rocco Marzilli.

The sheds are the result of the Home Building Foundation’s efforts to grow the residential construction workforce by connecting with high school construction classes.

HBF began asking high school teachers if they wanted to help build projects for shelter providers in the fall of 2021. The result: The Reynolds Learning Academy Trades program team toured the remodel for HomePlate Youth Services, then built cedar planter boxes for the campus. Sam Barlow High students built a shed for the home HBF Builder Captain Jim Standring helped build for Anisa’s Place, a Clackamas facility for young women leaving sex trafficking.

These projects inspired HBF to apply for a National Housing Endowment “Career Connections” grant to start a “Picnic Table Project.” Along with funding from Bank of America, and donations from International Wood Products, HBF brought cedar to schools and an adult training program last year to build tables for shelters. The pilot proved tables were simple to build, and were easy for HBF to bring to nonprofits serving homeless populations. The tables were on display at the 2022 NW Natural Street of Dreams to show the public HBF’s efforts to connect with area classrooms.

HBF now has coordinated projects with nearly half of the local high school construction programs. In June, picnic tables from Cleveland High School were delivered to Portland’s new Reedsway Village, giving HBF bragging rights that its student-built tables are now in use at all of Portland’s Safe Rest Villages, as well as other shelters across the metropolitan area.

HBF’s high school outreach comes at a fortuitous time. Oregon began pumping large amounts of money for school Career Technical Education after the 2016 passage of Measure 98, which created the High School Success Fund. Many construction-related training programs were added, resulting in 38 high school programs in Portland’s Metro region alone. Teachers have welcomed HBF involvement in their classrooms.

Glencoe’s sheds are a perfect example of a successful project. Teacher Todd Patterson and HBF’s McDowell met at Project Homeless Connect to discuss where the sheds were needed. Parr Lumber dropped off supplies at Glencoe. HBF visited the school several times during the semester to see the progress, and brought paint to match the shed to the shelter. Project Homeless Connect staff visited the school to explain to students what an impact they were making. Patterson is eager to work with HBF again.

“Students learn skills that benefit someone, and you combine this with construction skills, it’s a win-win for everyone,” Patterson said. The project garnered local television news coverage as well, to the delight of the students involved.

HBF is seeing a growing interest by the residential industry to become involved. HBA members Taylor Morrison, Holt Homes and Fireside Home Solutions hosted tours for high school students this past year. Builders FirstSource helped provide pre-cut lumber for cedar benches built by students at Sherwood High School. The benches will be in the HBF workforce display at this year’s NW Natural Street of Dreams, and will be donated to a shelter after the show.

HBF will continue to perfect its high school outreach in the 2023-24 school year. It encourages the industry to join its efforts as HBF makes these vital connections. Together, HBF hopes to build a pipeline of new talent to meet Portland’s home building needs of the future.

This article was contributed by the Home Builders Foundation. For more information on HBF, go to and .