Welding for all
At insPYRE, we are the institute of fire, a beacon of transformation and empowerment, dedicated to teaching real-world welding skills.
300,000
welders needed
81%
of manufacturers can’t find welders
$44,190
annual average welder wage
Our story
insPYRE is a new nonprofit school for welding and metalwork in Knoxville, teaching marginalised and at-risk individuals about transformation through metalwork and empowering them with real life skills.
Students who complete insPYRE’s 15-week program will be prepared for a job as a welder in an industry that currently holds 300,000 unfilled welding jobs across the U.S.
There is no ‘typical’ student: we welcome everyone, from young adults ageing out of foster programs to women who have been abused and sheltered to recovering alcoholics, addicts, and also the formerly incarcerated.
Our premise is simple: in metalwork, nothing is irreconcilable. You can make mistakes and you can find solutions.
We believe that, regardless of the past, our lives are enriched by the stories that we live, and healing occurs when we, as a community, hold space for the underserved to tell their own stories and to begin their respective transformations.
Love us? Help us.
When you partner with insPYRE, you are changing the world. Your gift will help educate and empower real people in the local community to pick up new skills in welding and metalworking. insPYRE is about changing the shape of things; it is about transformation.
Every donation, large or small, sets up an ethic of success.
insPYRE change.
