Main fundraiser photo

Stopping the pipeline to prison

Jim Gaillard is organizing this fundraiser to benefit Ezekiel Community Development Corporation.  
Tax deductible


Ezekiel Community Development Corporation (“Ezekiel”), founded in 1998, is a 501 (c) (3), a nonprofit organization that trains minority contractors and renovates boarded-up homes to sell them to first-time homebuyers.

 

People want to work, but we have to give them the opportunity.  Ezekiel does that while giving some people a ‘second chance’ to get their lives together.  Studies prove that there is a link between unemployment, homeownership and neighborhood stability.  Ezekiel works to solve these issues in three ways:  1) we train unemployed and underemployed workers in the trades so they can earn family-sustaining wages.  Some of these workers are convicted felons…we give them a second chance; 2) we renovate boarded up houses to put them back on the market, helping to stabilize neighborhood blight and make our communities safer for our children; 3) we sell the renovated homes to first-time homeowners at affordable prices.
 
To date, Ezekiel has completed nine home renovations—successfully selling seven homes at market value—and trained some 45 - 50 workers who were previously unemployed, as well as over 40 incarcerated "work - release- eligible trainees....while using 15 minority contractors to do these renovations.  This approach has proven to be a win-win situation for minority contractors, Black unemployed males, neighborhoods and first time homebuyers. 
 
This effort also helps people

become business owners in the skilled trades, by closing the gap between minority-owned businesses and much needed construction trades.

We're hoping to raise the $125,000 to purchase and rehab 2 more houses while training 10 more work release trainees from the Milwaukee County House of Corrections in a 6 month training program, then reinvest the sale proceeds into more housing and continue training more.

Check on link below
Deconstructing the pipeline to prison while constructing a circle of prosperity

Organizer

Jim Gaillard
Organizer
Milwaukee, WI
Ezekiel Community Development Corporation
 
Registered nonprofit
Donations are typically 100% tax deductible in the US.

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