jobs foundation

Jobs Foundation was founded in April 2010 as a self-sustaining social enterprise with the goal of providing job training and practical experiences for adults facing barriers to employment that prepares them to be more valuable employees with expanding futures.

Jobs are the foundation to financial independence. By creating job opportunities for people who want to work, learn a vocational skill, and demonstrate a desire to invest in themselves, they can develop a future. Employees receive on-the-job training in the fundamentals of work and social interaction.

We hire adults that may have few opportunities for employment – people who want the dignity of a job, but may not have the necessary skills, or have a barrier to employment. We provide the opportunity of hope, to individuals that really want that opportunity.

We teach personal skills: how to break old habits, how to get along with other people, particularly those different from us. Some have never had jobs, so we teach basic work habits – showing up on time, listening to a boss, and getting along with coworkers. We create a place for people to learn marketable skills, and the understanding of integrity.

Jobs Foundation started as an opportunistic recycler, exploring many different types of materials that can be recycled, including furniture and construction materials.  As we experimented, our founders saw that there was a real need in our community for electronics recycling.

Tech Dump under the Jobs Foundation banner was founded in May 2011 to ensure that electronics were properly recycled. That same year, the first "Tech Dump" event was hosted at The Shops at West End in St. Louis Park, MN where anyone could "dump" their old electronics to be recycled safely and securely.

In 2016, Jobs Foundation expanded our work beyond recycling into refurbishing electronics for resale and Tech Discounts was created.  With Tech Dump to collect electronics for recycling and Tech Discounts to resell affordable and quality refurbished electronics, Jobs Foundation continued to serve our community and beyond.  

Fast forward to 2022, Tech Dump and Tech Discounts were combined to form a single organization, Repowered, that operated at the intersection of sustainability, workforce development, and digital equity.  Repowered unifies the power of Jobs Foundation's original mission to give meaningful work to people with barriers to employment by recycling, refurbishing, and reselling electronics, making electronics accessible for all in our community.

In 2026, Repowered continued to adapt and build for the future by joining forces with  MDI, (Minnesota Diversified Industries), a Minnesota powerhouse of a non-profit social enterprise.  As an affiliate of MDI, we are growing into an organization that is financially strong, operationally efficient, and in a position to pursue opportunities that expand the futures of individuals in our respective communities.  

MDI empowers the career success of people with disabilities through employment in corrugated packaging solutions manufacturing.  Repowered runs a world class transitional work readiness program for individuals re-entering society from incarceration in an electronic recycling and refurbishing facility.  Together we strive to achieve the same goal: Create employment opportunities for people with barriers to employment.

Powered By MDI means more than supporting people with disabilities. It means creating real employment pathways for anyone facing barriers, whether that’s a disability, a criminal record, or any other challenge that makes the traditional job market harder to navigate.