Maintenance Services Training Program grows, graduating 9 people into new building superintendent careers

Ottawa, ON – Today, The Ottawa Mission celebrated the graduation of the second cohort of students from its burgeoning Maintenance Services Training Program (MSTP), a free work-based learning program that provides instruction and hands-on training for students to become building superintendents upon graduation.

All nine of today’s graduates have been hired out of the program into new jobs as building superintendents or maintenance technicians.

As a no-barrier, job training program founded in 2025, the MSTP provides people who are experiencing homelessness or are at risk of homelessness with the skills necessary to obtain stable, gainful employment.

“The program is built around work-based learning. With the help of volunteer instructors from program partners, our staff provides the hands-on training that prepares students for the real-life experiences they will encounter as building superintendents. Students learn minor repairs and maintenance in plumbing, electrical, carpentry, drywalling, and painting, receive janitorial training, obtain fire safety and WHMIS certifications, and more” noted Andy Higgs, Manager of Construction and Maintenance at The Ottawa Mission and a leader in running the MSTP.

The MSTP is modelled on the very successful Food Services Training Program (FSTP), another job training program successfully run by The Mission, which provides graduates with the training and confidence to work in a commercial kitchen. Launched in 2004, over 480 students have graduated from the FSTP into new careers and lives in the food service industry.

“We are thrilled with the growth of this new program. Today’s graduating class is nearly double the size of our first cohort,” stated Ottawa Mission CEO Peter Tilley. “By offering a no-barrier job training program like the MSTP, we are extending a hand to lift vulnerable people up and out of poverty and homelessness. It’s been amazing to see what these students have accomplished over the past 5 months.”

Hakim Ssebagala Lubwama, one of the 9 MSTP graduates and class valedictorian, noted “I now have a job as a building superintendent. I had been looking for work for 3 years, and now I can exhale, I can breathe. A job training program like this gives people hope.”

Recruitment for the next class of MSTP students will begin later this winter, as The Mission looks to provide  more people with the work-based learning that transforms lives.

“Our incredibly generous donors and partners are the driving force that makes this program possible. Together, we’re enriching our community and providing solutions to poverty and homelessness. On behalf of our graduates, thank you so much,” Tilley concluded.

The Ottawa Mission also gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the City of Ottawa / Ville d’Ottawa / The Ottawa Mission remercie sincèrement la Ville d’Ottawa de son soutien financier.

About The Ottawa Mission
Since 1906, The Ottawa Mission has been serving the homeless, the hungry and the lost by providing food, clothing, shelter and skills. In 2024-2025, The Ottawa Mission provided emergency shelter to an average of 187 men every night and served an average of 3,312 meals every day.  The Ottawa Mission also provides to men and women health services, mental health and addiction treatment programs, hospice care, dental services, housing services, educational support, job training, spiritual care, and clothing to thousands in need in our community. In September 2020, The Ottawa Mission marked the one millionth hour that the shelter has been in existence since its founding in 1906. In 2019, the Mission became a housing-focused shelter reflective of its commitment to a home for everyone as a human right with the launch of a new housing department.

FOR INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Aileen Leo
Director of Communications
T 613.234.1144 x 305
C 613.712.3092
aleo@ottawamission.com