THE WORKSHOP
Furniture Bank’s Indigenous-led Workshop
Furniture Bank’s Indigenous-led Workshop partners with employment agencies, offering jobs and comprehensive training. Our woodworking program focuses on repairing and upcycling items, promoting sustainable practices in furniture restoration.
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What is The Workshop?
Our Indigenous-led Workshop trains individuals in furniture repair, upholstery and woodworking.
The Workshop eliminates barriers in the attainment of meaningful work by providing trade training, creating long-term social employment opportunities, and providing sustainable careers in the refurbishing and reupholstering field. This in turn results in more quality furnishings for Furniture Bank’s beneficiary clients.
THE WORKSHOP OVERVIEW
Furniture Bank’s Indigenous-led Workshop eliminates barriers to meaningful work by:
- Providing trade training
- Creating long-term, social employment opportunities for equity-deserving individuals
- Providing sustainable careers in the wood working, refurbishing and reupholstering field, a labour market in which existing tradespeople are aging out of the profession
- Life skills training
- Mental wellbeing supports
- Financial literacy training
Delivering results since 2015
The Workshop provides meaningful employment to those facing barriers while also ensuring that even more quality furnishings are available for our beneficiary clients, and contributing to environmental sustainability.
Sources: FBSS platform lifetime data, SROI report indicators
BEYOND EMPLOYMENT
Wrap-around support employment offers individuals:
1. Employment training within the charity
2. Emotional intelligence training
3. Building social support & civic responsibility
4. Social and personal asset development
5. Employability skills in technical skills
Recruitment
Furniture Bank works with local employment agencies serving:
- low-income individuals
- equity-deserving individuals
- immigrants and newcomers
- formerly homeless individuals
- formerly incarcerated individuals
- IBPOC individuals
- 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals
- individuals with disabilities
- other individuals facing barriers to employment.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
Supporting diversion with purpose
Furniture shouldn’t end up in landfills while many families and individuals are struggling to furnish their homes. The Workshop allows Furniture Bank to give gently used furniture and household items a new life by repairing and redistributing them to those who need it most. In doing so, we contribute to waste reduction, resource conservation, and the promotion of a circular economy.
Furniture Bank's Workshop repurposing model:
- contributes to climate change mitigation
- prevents valuable resources from going to waste
- reduces the environmental impact of furniture production & disposal
CORPORATE VOLUNTEERING
Corporate volunteering in The Workshop is an opportunity for businesses to engage their employees in meaningful community service by participating in Furniture Bank’s mission to provide families in need with essential furniture.
Corporate volunteering at The Workshop offers companies a wide range in benefits including:
- Ensuring teams feels fulfilled in their work
- Increased staff retention
creating lasting bonds for corporate teams - Having a meaningful impact in the community
MEET CHRISTA
A cashier at a local grocery store for 15 years, Christa finally left her job in the hopes of pursuing something more suited to her ambitions.
She went to an employment centre and then enrolled in a carpentry course at George Brown College.
Christa did her placement at Furniture Bank and in September 2019, was hired as a Workshop Associate.
Christa is now our Workshop Lead.
A large part of Christa’s role at Furniture Bank is to upcycle existing pieces of furniture, sometimes dated and old, broken or missing from a set, these pieces of furniture transform into something completely different
