Construction for Change

Discover our partnership with Seattle-based nonprofit, Construction for Change.

The Construction for Change (CfC) mission is to create safe, sustainable infrastructure for nonprofits across the world. From schools and refugee centers, to community buildings and health clinics, the CfC network is dedicated to alleviating poverty in the world’s most under-resourced areas.

The organization’s impact is widespread, with projects in Solomon Islands, India, Cambodia, Kenya, Zambia, and more. When one of our engineers spent six months in Malawi with CfC, he brought passion for the mission home to the States, and to Coughlin Porter Lundeen.

Selected as a CfC Change Fellow, structural engineer Tyler Weinbrecht spent six months serving as a project manager in Malawi, overseeing the construction of a health clinic. He returned from Africa to begin his role at Coughlin Porter Lundeen, but was unsure of how to advocate for CfC now that he wasn’t onsite. “I believed wholeheartedly in what Construction for Change was doing, but I was new, entry-level, and didn’t feel like I was in a position to suggest pro-bono work.” But his manager was, and he was curious. Associate Principal Cory Hitzemann encouraged Tyler to share his experience at an all-company lunch session. From there, Coughlin Porter Lundeen’s involvement snowballed. Firm leadership ran with the idea and created ways for the firm to support Construction for Change and its mission.

Recently, we’ve worked on Construction for Change teams to support:

Women’s Protection Center (WPC) Hetauda House – Hetauda, Nepal

The WPC offers refuge to victims of human trafficking, abusive or abandoned homes. It’s a secure home for women and their children, offering case management, advocacy-based counseling, tutoring and educational development, and vocational skills training programs. The five-story concrete structure broke ground on September 26, 2016, as soon as the rainy season allowed.

To learn more about Construction for Change and the projects they’re building around the world, visit: www.constructionforchange.org 

Medical Clinic – Raghogarh, India

Raghogarh’s Medical Clinic is one of five proposed clinics which will serve the 235,000 people in the Raghogarh region of Madhya Pradesh, India. CfC will use this clinic to pilot and refine their model, then further expand in India, where one in four children suffer death, many due to malnourishment and lack of effective medical treatment.

Construction recently completed, the Optimize Health clinic will open this June, providing care for more 5,000 people. Utilizing a combination of dedicated Community Health Workers, innovative technology (mobile apps, interactive cloud-based medical records, and more portable diagnostics), and streamlined protocols, this clinic will provide high-quality care in one of the most impoverished states in India.