We talk a lot about the benefits of stable, affordable homes for families and neighborhoods. Here’s another upside to our work, one that we rarely hear discussed: jobs.

Over the past two years, PRG has awarded over $2.25 million in construction contracts. Of the workforce hired to do these jobs, 91% of unskilled and 46% of skilled workers have been people of color, and many have been Minneapolis residents. So, by putting dollars to use for strong communities and stable families, we’re not only making great places to live; we’re making great places to work, and keeping those dollars in the community in multiple ways.

In October, Assistant HUD secretary Mercedes Marquez and other HUD officials toured north Minneapolis, looking at newly rehabbed homes funded through the federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program.

Among the speakers at this PRG-rehabbed home in the Jordan neighborhood was Don Steele, the contractor who completed the rehab work on this home, as well as the family who will purchase the home, Mayor R.T. Rybak, Assistant Secretary Marquez, and local HUD officials.