Hope Renovations helps women succeed personally and professionally

Stephen Jones was watching the CBS Early Show one morning when a story about women in code enforcement caught his eye. The segment — Construction Industry Seeing Women As Equals — introduced viewers to Hope Renovations, a nonprofit from North Carolina that focuses not only on training women but also on construction work for older adults’ homes in the area. Jones, senior regional manager for North Carolina of the International Code Council government relations division, was amazed as he watched the five-minute segment which focused on Hope Renovation’s first year in business. “I called up Dan Dockery, chair of the ICC Building Code Membership Council, and forwarded him the link to the CBS segment,” Jones recalled. “I told him, ‘You have to see this. It’s awesome.’”

Not only does the program address two of the Code Council’s major issues — filling a critical need for more contractors and potential building officials and bringing in more women to the profession — but it also empowers women and benefits grateful homeowners. “These women at the shelter were building self-respect by gaining a marketable trade,” Jones added.

Nora Spencer, a self-taught tradeswoman, said she felt that, too, when she was working on her home. And she wanted other women to feel it as well. She was working in human resources for Lowe’s Home Improvement when she began doing some simple home repairs to save money. She plucked information from YouTube and from contractors she had worked with at Lowe’s. “I had started picking up power tools and getting my hands dirty in my off-time. And as a woman, something about doing it myself was particularly rewarding.” In working with those contractors, she wondered, where are all the women?

Ten years later, she was interning at a homeless shelter while working on her master’s degree in social work. She saw women at the shelter who wanted to work and didn’t know how to get started. “I met many women at the shelter who were completely capable of doing this type of work,” Spencer recalled. “But when I would mention the trades as a potential career path, the answer I often got was, ‘Nobody ever taught me how to do that stuff. I always figured it was a man’s job.’ The wheels started turning.” That sparked Spencer to work with local contractors and the National Association of Home Builders’ (NAHB) nonprofit Home Builders Institute in forming Hope Renovations.

The gears really started turning when she took a class in business school focused on aging and the elderly. According to the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), nearly 90 percent of adults over 65 want to remain in their current homes as they grow older. This necessitates home renovations and updates like a ramp at the front door, grab bars in the tub or shower, nonskid floors, more comfortable handles on doors or faucets, and better insulation, to name just a few. Spencer said she learned there weren’t enough people to do the work necessary to allow seniors to continue living in their homes as they age. “I figured it made a lot of sense to put them all together: Help women get the skills to enter into construction careers and get out of low-wage jobs, narrowing the gender pay gap in the process,” Spencer explained. “Give seniors a dedicated workforce to complete the repairs and renovations that they need to stay in their homes. And, as a bonus, develop a workforce that will help trades employers fill their jobs and get their work done, ultimately helping our economy. It’s a win-win-win. And it didn’t take any convincing to get partners interested. As soon as I began explaining what I wanted to do, they said, ‘We’re in!’”

Hope Renovations relies on donations from corporations and the public to provide free training for its 10-week course supported by NAHB classes and certifications. After completing the 10 weeks successfully, women are certified by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration as well, which Spencer said gives graduates a great leg up when going on to jobs. The first group, or cohort, included only six members, primarily because of COVID-19 restrictions. Since then, they’ve graduated four cohorts for a total of 25. Soon, they’ll start their fifth cohort. Of the 25, Spencer said 14 are working in the industry, including as apprentices in plumbing, electrical and solar. One is training in inspections.

“I am very impressed with the effort by these women,” said Cindy Davis, vice president of the International Code Council Board of Directors and a member of Women in Code Enforcement and Development (WICED). “Learning these lifelong skills can provide excellent wages and career opportunities and provide diversity in a male-dominated industry. Connecting the women’s trade training program with a program for aging-in-place remodeling is genius; obviously a win/win in so many ways! I’ve forwarded information about the Hope Renovations organization to WICED and they will be reaching out to Nora to see if there is an opportunity to provide support.”

Six Hope Renovations graduates are working in Home Renovations’ Community College, where they receive on-site training on projects aiding senior citizens so they can remain in their homes. Those projects are offered on a sliding-scale basis, Spencer added. The program got a big boost in interest from as far as the West Coast after the CBS segment aired and Spencer wants to continue to grow the program, attracting as many women as possible. But she wants to do it slowly, spreading out from the program’s roots in Carrboro, North Carolina, to the surrounding regions and finally statewide in North Carolina.

Mark Matheny, chief building official with the city of Asheville in North Carolina, said the Code Council is ready to help in any way. “We’ve already had Nora do a presentation for one of the Building Membership Council meetings,” he said. “A lot of ICC board members and partners attended. It had a big impact. It’s a fantastic program, and it’s necessary. Women are 50 percent of our workforce, but there are only 10 percent in the trades; 70 percent of those are in administrative roles.”

“Hope Renovations is teaching women skills they will carry with them for the rest of their lives,” Matheny added. “They are empowering women who didn’t have that before.”

Spencer agrees, adding, “There’s nothing more empowering than a woman with power tools.”