Thanks to you KIVA lenders and the Wellspring Cooperative, a log-jamb has been broken in OWW’s capacity for growth.
Last month, Nannette Bowie and Tokyo Baldwin entered the apprenticeship full steam and broke through three months of a stall in production. Nannette started the second week of February immediately proving her self-taught carpenter’s problem-solving skills by repairing a joint with wood dowels, glue, clamps and know-how. She built a drying rack for large sashes by re-purposing a freight pallet that can now hold 6 sashes out of the way. After only a few days, Nannette revealed her organizational skills. She began tracking time spent on each repair and is developing a schematic chart and sash numbering system to see our progress at a glance. Her laptop and printer appeared clean and shiny in a dusty corner. Now there’s a full notebook with safety procedures and MSDS sheets for every chemical product we may use.
Tokyo is eager to learn skills and already has a great painter’s hand. When professional painters tire of the brush or a single color, Tokyo would just as soon paint a line around the earth----cracking jokes and laughing all the way.
Both Nannette and Tokyo are single moms who are able to get their kids off to school and walk to the workshop. Apprentice and also a single mom, Annielu Arroyo, had to take a leave back in December. Meraly Diaz is working nights and pursuing higher education which is one of the goals of our coop. The Old Window Workshop Coop is a place where women can work and still meet the needs of their families.
This is the vision of Window Preservation, LLC: that women work in their own neighborhoods, restoring their environment and supporting each other in building their own future.
Last month, Nannette Bowie and Tokyo Baldwin entered the apprenticeship full steam and broke through three months of a stall in production. Nannette started the second week of February immediately proving her self-taught carpenter’s problem-solving skills by repairing a joint with wood dowels, glue, clamps and know-how. She built a drying rack for large sashes by re-purposing a freight pallet that can now hold 6 sashes out of the way. After only a few days, Nannette revealed her organizational skills. She began tracking time spent on each repair and is developing a schematic chart and sash numbering system to see our progress at a glance. Her laptop and printer appeared clean and shiny in a dusty corner. Now there’s a full notebook with safety procedures and MSDS sheets for every chemical product we may use.
Tokyo is eager to learn skills and already has a great painter’s hand. When professional painters tire of the brush or a single color, Tokyo would just as soon paint a line around the earth----cracking jokes and laughing all the way.
Both Nannette and Tokyo are single moms who are able to get their kids off to school and walk to the workshop. Apprentice and also a single mom, Annielu Arroyo, had to take a leave back in December. Meraly Diaz is working nights and pursuing higher education which is one of the goals of our coop. The Old Window Workshop Coop is a place where women can work and still meet the needs of their families.
This is the vision of Window Preservation, LLC: that women work in their own neighborhoods, restoring their environment and supporting each other in building their own future.