A woman- and minority-owned construction company is leading the construction on the Phoenix Recovery House for women and children at 851 N. Leamington Ave. in Austin.
After gutting the former substance abuse recovery home Sisters House last fall, general contractor Pink Hats Construction & Development Group Inc. is hiring women contractors and workers to use sustainable materials in rehabbing the recovery house. Opening this summer, the 16,000-square-foot, 30-room Phoenix Recovery House is constructed for women, by women – who often don’t get the same chances as men do for construction jobs.
Though the project’s electrician and HVAC installer are men, an all-woman carpenter crew helped build out the Austin recovery center, and women poured the concrete in the building’s basement. A woman also did the recovery home’s plumbing.
“They said they never probably would have gotten an opportunity,” said Traci Quinn, founder and CEO of Pink Hats Construction & Development Group Inc., of the gratitude she heard from the contractors she hired. “And some that have been in apprenticeship programs, they’re overlooked because they hire the men.”
Quinn added that Ald. Emma Mitts referred the building to the woman who bought it.
“It’s been woman-led the whole entire time, which is awesome,” Quinn said. “Now, I’m able to insulate and provide a safe, livable space for these women that will be in recovery and their children.”
The new home will house women who are recovering from substance abuse and their children. Quinn said individuals will likely stay anywhere from six months to a year, “depending on what the judge may issue or what the social worker may suggest, or the doctor may recommend or even what they desire.”
Origins of Pink Hats’ mission
Quinn started Pink Hats in 2021 after she was released from a three-year prison sentence for a marijuana-related charge. A registered nurse by trade, when Quinn got out of prison in 2020, she started working construction jobs for her father, who is from the West Side and owns several properties in the area.
“I got a lot of experience working on their homes and their properties throughout the West Side,” Quinn said.
Quinn said it was her time in prison, and the presence of God that she felt, that led her to learning about inequalities in the justice system and discovering the power of uplifting women.
“I never would have empathized or even thought about those who are locked up in prison,” Quinn said. “There are so many talented women in there.”
Now, Quinn provides second-chance employment opportunities for those reentering the workforce after serving time.
“My goal is to be able to work with returning citizens, the youth exiting foster care,” Quinn said, “creating luxurious transitional homes for women coming out [of prison], and a program where they can get into the trades, as well as help develop and eventually purchase their own assets, their own land or home that we are developing.”
She said she wouldn’t take back any of her prison time, knowing that it was all part of the bigger picture.
“I don’t regret a day that I was locked up, because I see what [God’s] doing, and it’s not just about me,” Quinn said. “It’s about his children and developing underserved communities.”
And her role in it all comes full circle, as she went to prison because of cannabis and is now using hemp, the fiber of a cannabis plant, as a sustainable insulation material in construction. The Phoenix Recovery House will be lined with hemp insulation, made by the brand Hempitecture.
“I think we will be the first in the city of Chicago to insulate a full building with hemp,” Quinn said.
Hemp is a non-toxic alternative to insulation materials like asbestos or fiberglass, which have irritants and can cause negative health effects. Unlike other insulations, Hempitecture’s hemp insulation is carbon negative, meaning it removes more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than it emits. Hemp insulation also enhances indoor air quality and is better at insulating heat and absorbing acoustics than other materials.
In 2023, Quinn helped host a workshop that taught area architects how to start adding hemp insulation into their designs and contractors how to install the material.
Pink Hats continues spreading its mission of sustainability and empowerment for women and the formerly incarcerated around Chicago and beyond. Quinn said her construction group is working on the CTA Red Line extension and in south suburban Harvey, where they are remodeling about 100 homes for the Harvey Housing Initiative. They completed several residential projects on the West Side before working on the Phoenix Recovery House.
“I’m just excited for this journey to be a blessing,” Quinn said, “not only to our community, but to also create generational wealth and give second chances to those that would normally be turned away.”
