Fresh Start Academy: Changing Lives Through Woodworking

Fresh Start Pallet Products, located in Hartford, produces high quality handmade furniture such as chairs, coffee tables, garden beds and trellises.
Founded in 2013 and originally operating out of a tent behind a Hartford church, the organization has grown into a thriving 501(c)(3) nonprofit with a manufacturing facility on Sargeant Street. Eventually, they launched the Fresh Start Academy, which teaches carpentry skills to people with barriers to employment, such as recent immigrants, people suffering from addiction, and residents returning from prison.
In 2022, the Richard P. Garmany Fund at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving awarded a donor advised grant to Fresh Start to allow them to expand the capacity of the academy and hire an instructor. The Garmany Fund has since awarded another grant to Fresh Start to purchase Computer Numerical Control (CNC) equipment.
We visited the Fresh Start facility and produced this video about the Academy and its impact on the lives of participants.
Learn more about Fresh Start: www.freshstart...

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Is there one in Nassau County Long Island?