A Collective Impact Initiative is a Chicago-area effort to build real paths into the skilled trades — by putting pre-apprenticeship trainees on real job sites, alongside experienced contractors, on projects the community sends us.
How It Started
In the summer of 2026, two companies — Russell Renovation LLC, a licensed Chicagoland general contractor, and Project Management Plus LLC — committed to a simple idea: the next generation of tradesmen and tradeswomen won’t be built in a classroom alone. They need real work, real supervision, and real people willing to open a door.
Schools, workforce programs, mentors, and local businesses have been joining ever since. The Renovation Room Network is the initiative’s home.
How the Program Works
A foundation first. Every trainee starts with a two-to-three-week Mental Toughness component — practice in the habits real job sites demand: stay focused, work safely, communicate, solve problems, accept coaching, finish what you start.
Real projects, real supervision. Trainees work alongside experienced construction companies, contractors, and tradespeople on accepted projects — never alone, always supervised.
More than labor. Through our Construction Entrepreneurship Builder Program, trainees see how the business works — not just how the work gets done.
The Story So Far
One day on 79th Street. In August 2026, our trainees took on a full cleanout of the Chicago Body Shop — Dionis Harvey’s fitness studio on East 79th Street. Graduates of Simeon Career Academy’s Class of 2026 and participants in Metropolitan Family Services’ Bridge to Construction program worked a full day, start to finish: a building cleared, a dumpster filled, and proof that the model works.
It was the initiative’s first public project — and the reason you may have found this page.
Where It’s Headed
The program is expanding. This fall, we plan to work with up to 20 of Simeon’s carpentry students through the CPS Work Study program, pending school and program approvals. A community bartering system and construction-plus-AI tools are in development.
More details soon — we’d rather show you than promise you.
Who’s Behind It
Project Management Plus LLC · Russell Renovation LLC · The Renovation Room Network · Talented 10th College Prep & Career Mentoring · JRBM Home Development · Metropolitan Family Services (Bridge to Construction) · Simeon Career Academy · Chicago Body Shop, LLC — and you.
Full credits, with the people behind each organization, are on our home page.