Pictured are Steve Stipsits, his mother and father Judy and Al, and sisters Andrea Peckart and Heidi. Photo credit: Mohawk College
Last month, Branthaven Homes CEO Steve Stipsits and his wife Elizabeth Stipsits announced a $1 million donation to Mohawk College to help create new education and employment opportunities in residential construction for people in underserved communities.
The funding will go towards Mohawk College’s “City School” program.
City School provides free post-secondary and employment courses to community members who are 19+ and have little to no post-secondary education.
The program is nationally-recognized for helping to provide greater access to education, and help address poverty, labour shortages, and unemployment.
With courses in mobile classrooms, Mohawk takes learning opportunities right into Hamilton neighbourhoods.
The donation will support what is ultimately a $2-million, five-year workforce development strategy “that leverages City School by Mohawk College rapid skills-training programs and other Mohawk College assets to increase training capacity and address acute workforce shortages in the construction sector.”
For Steve Stipsits, the donation also has a personal dimension to it. Stipsits graduated from Mohawk College’s Architectural Technology Program in 1984.
He is also a Distinguished Fellow of the College and a Mohawk College Alumnus of Distinction. He even served as a Governor of Mohawk College from 2017 until 2022.
President and CEO of Mohawk College Ron J. McKerlie thanked the Stipsits for their gift.
“This powerful gift will allow City School to provide training for people and help them secure lasting, meaningful work in construction trades while addressing labour shortages in the field,” McKerlie said.
The workforce development strategy that the donation is supporting includes the development of industry-focused training programs, addressing and removing barriers to training and employment for people in underserved communities, promotion of construction trades careers, and delivery of demand-led programs through City School by Mohawk College.
Stipsits said that the main reason for their investment in City School “is to see up to 1,200 students and their families no longer having to choose between paying for food or rent.”
He says that he has never seen “a more powerful vehicle than City School for helping people step into careers and out of the cycle of multi-generational poverty.”
In acknowledgement of the donation, the City School mobile classrooms will include branding that recognizes the support of Branthaven Homes.
Mohawk College also unveiled the newly named Branthaven Construction Trades, Technology & Research Centre at its Stoney Creek Campus for Skilled Trades on Barton Street.
Branthaven Homes was started by Steve’s parents Al and Judy Stipsits in 1971. Steve assumed ownership in 1996. The company is based in Burlington.
Based in Hamilton, he reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He has been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. In 2017, he received the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Ottawa (BA, 2022). He has also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal. He formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
