Since we started building unCommon Construction, we've thought there might be a chance the model could work in other places, too. Over the years, we've received countless inquiries about it and have learned a lot about what it could look like to scale in that way.
Earlier this year, we received our first six-figure investment toward expansion into a new location - Minneapolis. It doesn't fully fund the effort, but it's a big enough portion of the budget to take more concrete steps forward with programs and partnerships for the 2022-23 school year.
Minneapolis became our first potential expansion site in 2018 when unCommon‘s founding program manager, Spencer, moved back home there. As we've stayed connected and explored the idea since then, we've learned much more about how our unique model fits at so many intersections in Minneapolis' youth, education, and workforce systems. Our strategic planning accelerated throughout 2021 and, this spring, we ran a pilot with a local high school that went through a complete cycle of our program - from student recruitment through selection and hiring, a build project, and follow-ups. One of those student participants added that short experience to their resume and it helped them land a summer job at Ace Hardware - how awesome.
