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BACKGROUND AND HISTORY

The Evanston ReBuilding Warehouse is an organization that through education, sustainable deconstruction building practices and sales of salvaged materials promotes reduction of the waste stream that languishes in landfills. The Evanston ReBuilding Warehouse’s educational endeavors, job-training and job-development programs, which in turn fosters individual, often at-risk populations, and community and economic growth in Evanston and the communities beyond is supported by the revenue from the sale of salvaged and donated building materials, including cabinets, sinks, toilets, lumber, light fixtures, etc., supports. The Evanston ReBuilding Warehouse’s programs and services reduce unemployment, reduce pollution, prevent neighborhood deterioration and provide invaluable public education.

The Evanston ReBuilding Warehouse is one of a group of innovative non-profits organizations spread throughout the United States, including The ReBuilding Center in Portland, Oregon, which provides diverse environmental, social, and economic benefits. Building materials account for 40 percent of the solid waste stream in the United States, mostly ending up in our landfills, thereby polluting our environment and wasting resources. Alternatively, when buildings are sustainably deconstructed, those building materials can instead be re-used in other building and renovation projects to divert waste, create jobs and protect natural resources. First, the 40 percent of building materials that make up the solid waste stream are diverted from landfills, thereby reducing air, water and land pollution. Second, the provision of low cost building materials to a variety of consumers at one location of many income levels creates a strong resource distribution network within a community environment and gets these materials into the hands of people who need them. This demand for materials, in turn, generates new green collar job opportunities for the unemployed, promotes spin-off business opportunities that help communities rebuild themselves, redevelops blighted properties by creating demand by way of new business development, provides a tax donation to counteract the added costs of deconstruction, and leads to the increased diversion of waste materials from the landfill, reduced air and land pollution and the proliferation of new jobs.

The central activities of The Evanston ReBuilding Warehouse will take place primarily in Evanston, Illinois, at 2101 Dempster Street, which is in an income challenged neighborhood of Evanston. It is open to the public 4 days a week, with access to materials and programs as needed. However, the educational component regarding the environment, sustainability and how to promote long-term solutions to the problems facing the waste stream as it exists go beyond the borders of Evanston.

One example of how the Evanston ReBuilding Warehouse is achieving its educational mission is that it has been designated as a HUD Community Based Development Organization (CDBO), which allows the Evanston ReBuilding Warehouse to administer the $25,000 HUD Community Development Block Grant it was awarded to provide deconstruction training for 12 low income individuals. These individuals will be employable immediately after this training in not only the HUD Neighborhood Stabilization Program, but in communities with stringent recycling/reuse ordinances across the U.S. Deconstruction projects like this provide the Evanston ReBuilding Warehouse with an ongoing source of used building materials and the deconstruction resource is only expected to grow.

Projects like the training above further the Evanston ReBuilding Warehouse’s mission by creating demand for skilled jobs in the deconstruction arena. The demolition of a typical 2000 square foot residence can require two workers for two days to complete the work. By contrast, the sustainable deconstruction of this same residence can require a crew of five to six workers, for up to two weeks. While costing more initially, deconstructing a home ultimately results in more jobs, the salvaging of building materials that are reusable, the creation of less waste in our landfills, and a healthier environment. And the tax deductible donation value of the materials allows the homeowner to recuperate some or all of the added costs of deconstruction, incentivizing them to choose deconstruction over demolition.

Beyond stimulating deconstruction jobs, the Evanston ReBuilding Warehouse also trains individuals in warehouse practices, retail and how to create value added products. This creates additional pathways towards family supporting living wage jobs for those individuals. Giving low income community members, ex-offenders and at-risk youth the opportunity to learn new skills and find employment in a field with growth potential, benefits both the person being trained and the community as a whole.

Finally, the Evanston ReBuilding Warehouse will provide educational resources to help Evanston residents and building trade practitioners understand how the process of deconstruction and building material reuse works. The Evanston ReBuilding Warehouse conducts workshops on green practices and deconstruction, and offers classes for architectural continuing education credits. In the future, the hope is to operate a design/build studio to assist architects and contractors with understanding how to incorporate used materials into their design and construction projects and to run a community education and skill building program. The Evanston ReBuilding Warehouse will offer further educational resources on its website, www.evanstonrebuildingwarehouse.org.

The Evanston ReBuilding Warehouse’s educational and charitable community goals are funded by memberships, individual fundraising solicitations, public and private grant funds, and revenue from building material sales. Membership fosters the community goals while giving individuals a sense of ownership in the organization. Membership revenue helps offset cash-flow issues for the organization and helps decrease dependency on grants. In exchange for the Membership Fee of $30 for 12 months, Members receive a 5% discount on material purchases, 10% off on doors, ability to set up a Wish List, Member’s Specials, Members Special events and coming soon a Library for books and tools. Since the Evanston ReBuilding Warehouse opened its doors on May 21, 2011, over 300 people have become members. Additionally, the Evanston ReBuilding Warehouse has logged thousands and thousands of hours of volunteer time at the facility, which has reinforced the community center aspect of the organization’s mission. Those volunteers have ranged in age from Boy Scouts to teens to seniors, with several groups represented in between.

Building materials from deconstructed and renovated buildings were stored beginning November, 2010. The current location in Evanston hosts 7,000 square feet of space. Initially, the rent for this location was paid for by an interest free, open term loan provided by Lou Dickson, who is a non-paid volunteer acting as the executive director of the organization. Since February 2011, rent and other operating expenses has been paid by funds received for membership fees and donations, sales of building materials, and public and private grant funds.