A house in the Cedar Rapids suburb of Marion got a full makeover in recent weeks, thanks to a group of local high schoolers.
The students’ renovations included building a two-car garage, re-shingling the roof and remodeling both bathrooms.
It’s the third home that was refurbished through a special program that fixes up houses in the city’s older neighborhoods. Ryan Ellis, a senior at Marion High School, helped with the project.
“I’m happy I learned how to use most of the tools, and how to measure stuff and cut stuff correctly,” Ellis says. “And now graduating this year, I want to hopefully get a job that’s kind of like that, and it’ll be easier to do that now, because I know half of the information.”
The Marion Community Build Program gives high schoolers opportunities to enhance their trade skills, while supporting the area’s low-and-moderate income housing needs. Mark Seckman is president of the Marion Economic Development Corporation.
Seckman says, “What this provides is just that initial taste of what it’s like, everything from rough carpentry, finish carpentry, painting, caulking, a little bit of plumbing, things like that, where they can just get a taste of what it’s like, and now they can see a career path.”
Seckman says the house is now on the market for families earning less than 80 percent of the area’s median household income.
He says the program is meant to reduce barriers for young families seeking homeownership.
(By James Kelley, Iowa Public Radio)