Since 2013, Purposeful Design has worked to rebuild the lives of those people in Indianapolis struggling with addiction or homelessness through programs that equip them with valuable work skills. People participating in the program learn how to handcraft custom furniture from the finest Indiana hardwoods and metal. The goal is to teach men how to overcome addiction or homelessness with valuable skills and then create jobs for those who cannot find work.
David Palmer, founder of market research company Cognito started the company in 2013. He had ministered to homeless men who struggled with alcohol addiction at . The shelter provided food and shelter, yet the men in need, especially those with criminal records, found it hard to find work. Palmer’s solution became Purposeful Design, a small business that employed clients who had lived at the mission’s shelter to use salvaged shipping pallet wood to build picnic tables and other simple furnishings. Over the years, these men began to produce higher-end custom furniture.
Palmer’s model of providing a marketable skill, starting with an entry-level job at Purposeful Design and Rehabilitation through Christian ministry, was successful. Since its inception, Purposeful Design has trained and employed 206 men. The recidivism rate for men completing the program has been 8 percent compared to the national average of 77 percent. They have an 11 percent return to homelessness rate compared to a national average of 63 percent. The drug and alcohol relapse rate for men completing the program is 24 percent compared to a national average of 67 to 90 percent.
The craftsmen originally worked out of a former church at East 16th Street and Gladstone Avenue, but they expanded to a Brookside Park workshop facility on the east side of Indianapolis at 16th Street and North Sherman Drive. In 2021, Purposeful Design received a $4.5 million grant from the for expanded training, new equipment, and the purchase of their current building.
The company’s custom furniture has numerous local clients. The craftsmen have built cafeteria tables for Pendleton Heights High School and , tables for a Mexican restaurant in , office furniture and conference tables for , 12 Stars Media, and , and an Indiana-shaped table-top for Marion County’s new Community Justice Center which opened in 2022. Proceeds from sales are used to pay the craftsmen.
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