This series of informational blog posts comes from a document Mike,Caesandra and Kevin created to help orient new Buffalo ReUse board members to our mission,vision,values and the actual history of our organization. Each post: One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Nine Ten. The entire series is here.
This series of informational blog posts come from a document Mike,Caesandra and Kevin created to help orient new Buffalo ReUse board members to our mission,vision,values and the actual history of our organization. Earlier parts: One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Nine
The BAR Program was initiated by Buffalo ReUSE to plug people into active citizenship–volunteerism–making a space for The City of Good Neighbors to be good neighbors. We created the BAR Program to improve quality of life in neighborhoods and literally build a thriving neighborhood, beginning with our target area–in the Masten and Cold Spring neighborhoods. Our ReSource and office space literally straddle the adjoining borders of those neighborhoods.
The BAR Program may seem like a strange interest for a demolition crew, but we are NOT a typical demolition company. As a nonprofit organization and a green business we believe that investing in our neighborhood is paramount. Every business in Buffalo from the smallest corner store to the largest corporation should make contributions of time, talent or funding to improve the city in which it operates and do so while respecting the environment and surrounding community. Local businesses should emphasize and support sustainable communities through their own lifestyle; we are modeling the behavior we want to see in every local business.
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Comments :: Activism, Community, Community Gardens, Composting, Dream It; Do It, Education, Green Spaces, Green Summer, History, home ownership, Neighborhood Beautification, ReGrip, Tool BARn, Volunteers!
This series of informational blog posts come from a document Mike,Caesandra and Kevin created to help orient new Buffalo ReUse board members to our mission,vision,values and the actual history of our organization. Earlier parts: One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight
We took our first house down on Lombard Street in the early spring of 2007. At this stage in Buffalo ReUse’s creation, we had very little money. We had bills to pay. We took a deep breath and opened for business. We were first open only on Sundays from 11 to 4. On our very first day of sales, we took in something like $1,200, looked at each other and said “This just might work out!” Many of our early customers are still with us today.
We remained open on Sundays for the rest of 2007. During that time, we were building our demolition crew, demolishing houses and we found our current location at 298 Northampton Street in the Cold Spring/Masten neighborhood of Buffalo’s central city.
We moved the store and all its contents in the Fall of 2007 from downtown to Northampton Street, changed our slightly enlarged hours to Saturday and found conditions for retailing much improved. We started with the current back door as our front door, begin acquiring pallet racks and just started loading in the materials. As the months went by and we needed more space, we began renting more of the building. We finally moved into the front of the building in the early summer of 2008. We now occupy the entire building, with several entrances on Northampton Street and our yard/parking lot on the side.
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This series of informational blog posts come from a document Mike,Caesandra and Kevin created to help orient new Buffalo ReUse board members to our mission,vision,values and the actual history of our organization. Earlier parts: One Two Three Four Five Six Seven
The ReSource is Access. It is an open door to affordable, high quality building materials and a support system for home owners. Buffalo ReUse’s ReSource is our retail destination for high quality building materials, environmental education and community activism. The store is located in Buffalo’s midtown, at 298 Northampton Street. It is nestled right on the border of the Masten Park & Cold Spring neighborhoods. It is just around the corner from Canisius College, Art Space, the Merriweather Library and the newly restored Packard Building Apartments.
As part of our mission aimed at regenerating neighborhoods and empowering communities, the ReSource functions as our largest point of contact with the public. We serve predominantly an East Side customer base, but attract people from all over WNY and nearby Ontario.
All day long, we sell high-quality building materials at very low prices–including many items which are rare or one-of-a-kind. Our prices and materials help people at all income levels stabilize and improve their homes. We also spend a great deal of time engaging in lively conversations with everyone who calls on the phone or comes into the store. We’re constantly connecting customers and local residents with Buffalo ReUse community programs, with each other, and with other resources they need and with government services.
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Comments (1) :: Activism, Community, Dream It; Do It, Environment, History, Housing Issues, Money, People, Politics, ReGrip, Salvage, Store
This series of informational blog posts come from a document Mike,Caesandra and Kevin created to help orient new Buffalo ReUse board members to our mission,vision,values and the actual history of our organization. Earlier parts: One Two Three Four Five Six
The demolition business certainly has more challenges to achieve financial self-sustainability, but this aspect of our organization has created an identity for our organization and captivates the imagination of people in so many other cities who call us with great regularity to learn about what we do. We’re convinced if we can make green demolition work here in Buffalo, it can work anywhere.
There are challenges. For one, as mentioned earlier, the cost paid per ton for waste disposal here in Western New York is extremely low. Waste diversion is our greatest competitive advantage over traditional demolition. However, in Buffalo, 50 tons of diversion only saves us $1,250. In New Jersey, that same diversion would save us $6,250. If there were higher disposal rates here in Buffalo, we could invest more of the savings into the higher labor costs associated with our method.
Demolition contracting is also “CASH FLOW” intensive. Lots of money comes in and goes out the door. Thus, as a not-for-profit we have the immense challenge of balancing these transactions without a line of credit. This situation created many of the cash flow challenges we experienced during the winter of 2008, while we were waiting for reimbursements for State Grants.
Finally, equipment rental costs are exorbitant. Had we financed a machine when we first started, we would have more then paid for that machine by now with the funds that we’ve spent on equipment rental alone. Equipment rental also puts immense pressure on the organization to complete projects in an expedient fashion. We pay per month and for the purposes of estimating we figure we can complete two projects per month. However, if a project takes thee weeks because of weather challenges, we end up paying more for equipment rental, and we lose money. Owning a used all-terrain forklift will provide more project flexibility, and decrease our demolition costs per project. It’s an asset that will retain its value and can be sold in the future if green demolition proves to be infeasible for Buffalo ReUse.
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Comments (1) :: Deconstruction, Dream It; Do It, History, ReGrip
This series of informational blog posts come from a document Mike,Caesandra and Kevin created to help orient new Buffalo ReUse board members to our mission,vision,values and the actual history of our organization. Earlier parts: One Two Three Four Five
We’ve learned a lot about finances in our founding two years. Most importantly, we’ve learned that if you don’t have funds you don’t exist. We’ve learned that if you don’t make a margin, you don’t have a mission. We’ve learned that to make a start-up work, you need to hustle. You need to sell your brand, sell your services, sell your mission, and in our case sell some building materials. We’ve learned that at the end of the day, you need to balance the books. We’ve learned that even with a strong business model and complementary social program, you need to ask people for money. And we’ve learned that we can’t do all of this alone. It’s critical that our board participate in fundraising in order for ReUse to advance its mission and achieve its goals.
I’ll admit, that Buffalo ReUse was my first opportunity to initiate a social venture and it has proved to be the challenge of my life. However, in the short span of two years, we have sold our mission and we have sold our material. Buffalo ReUse is unique in the not-for-profit world in that we have tremendous earned income potential and we will likely generate nearly 75% of our operating revenue in 2009 from our fee-for-service ventures. The remainder of the funding will come from private foundation grants, some government grants, and individual donations.
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This series of informational blog posts come from a document Mike,Caesandra and Kevin created to help orient new Buffalo ReUse board members to our mission,vision,values and the actual history of our organization. Earlier parts: One Two Three Four
The ReBEL Corps addresses the most urgent concern of out-of-school young adults. Every year hundreds of teenagers drop out of school, an estimated 47% of our young people currently enrolled. I was recently invited to visit a training program on the East Side of Buffalo called the OUTSOURCE CENTER, while I was there, I asked the 15 or so young men in the room at the time this question, “How many of you know an individual that has dropped out of school?” Everyone raised their hand. My second question was, “Where will those people be in three years?” Their three responses??? 1. In Jail. 2. Hustling drugs. 3. Dead. It’s devastating that these are the options for our young men and women and it’s devastating that so little is being done to address this need.
The ReBEL Corps will provide the necessary support, mentoring, and training to assist young adults in transitioning from their current situation to a technical training program, employment opportunity, or college. The ReBEL Corps is a vehicle for engaging young people in their neighborhoods, offering diverse skills training, imparting an ecological ethos, and developing a solid foundation of skills and experiences that will enable their future success as leaders, community members, entrepreneurs, and ecological stewards. The program capitalizes on a growing coalition of grassroots organizations in the City of Buffalo, a strengthening partnership between not-for-profit organizations and government, and an increasing consciousness regarding the value of greening our economy.
Young adults work on a crew of ten folks, supported by two crew leaders, and complete action oriented projects that improve neighborhoods, three days a week. Two days a week, they are engaged in community service activities, educational activities, and work to attain their GED and a work readiness credential. It is our hope that after one year of participation, young adults will obtain the tools necessary to advance to a job, advanced training, or university opportunity. This program is currently under development with a launch anticipated this Fall.
Our commitment to the hiring of young adults has been our guiding principle and value since our inception, and our mentoring has occurred organically. However, the needs of our young adults are great and it’s necessary to create more structure to the program to ensure that youth get the educational support they need to succeed in their lives and in their careers. We have piloted similar programs on a small scale during a collaboration with Catholic Charities in Spring of 2008 and then with our Green Summer program in the Summer of 2008.
We don’t want to take down houses forever. We believe that our communities can be vibrant places to live again and we believe that our young adults can be strong agents for change and in forging a new, local, and green economy. The ReBEL Corps and the BAR Program, are and will be, significant efforts in bringing about this change.
Comments :: Activism, Community, Dream It; Do It, History, ReGrip
This series of informational blog posts come from a document Mike,Caesandra and Kevin created to help orient new Buffalo ReUse board members to our mission,vision,values and the actual history of our organization. Earlier parts: One Two Three
Yes, we take down houses, and since our inception we’ve demolished close to 35 structures, including houses, as large as 9,000 square feet, barns, garages and commercial buildings. We’ve implemented a technique, created by David Bennink of ReUse Consulting, called hybrid deconstruction. This type of demolition is also better known as “green demolition”.
Incorporating a 10,000-pound all-terrain forklift to complement skilled and unskilled human labor, has proved to be more efficient, cost-effective, and economically practical approach to demolition that is far superior to hand deconstruction. The focus of our demolition, and what separates our operation from the others doing work in the City of Buffalo, is our focus on ReUse and Recycling. We can effectively reclaim up to 50% of the tonnage of a house that would have otherwise been discarded. The material ends up at the ReSource, and the sales of material supports our mission.
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Comments (3) :: Deconstruction, Dream It; Do It, History, ReGrip, Salvage, Store
This series of informational blog posts come from a document Mike,Caesandra and Kevin created to help orient new Buffalo ReUse board members to our mission,vision,values and the actual history of our organization.This is a repeat of our earlier post on Buffalo ReUse’s values – we consider them so important we’re saying it again!.
We’ve been reflecting on our shared values lately.These values are things we hold dear and show by practicing them that we consider them to be important to us and our community. We practice them as we move our mission forward and express our vision. It’s how we work together,and, be assured, they work for us.
We believe:
Comments (6) :: Community, Dream It; Do It, History, People, Politics, ReGrip, Young Adult Mentoring
This series of informational blog posts come from a document Mike,Caesandra and Kevin created to help orient new Buffalo ReUse board members to our mission,vision,values and the actual history of our organization.Part One is here.
Let’s first go back in time, I just pulled this Mission and Vision statement from an email back in June of 2006 when we were first getting started. It’s the same mission that exists in writing today.
Buffalo ReUse, Inc. is committed to creating an economic and community development program related to deconstruction and re-use that provides quality job and educational opportunities; cross training in the trades, marketing, sales, and small business entrepreneurship; and a community collaboration process that considers both current and future use of our collective land resources.
The potential of this program is achieved through the development of a business model for building salvage and deconstruction that facilitates the reclamation of quality building materials, preservation of the architectural heritage of buildings that would otherwise be destroyed, and supply of low-cost building materials to enhance the structural and aesthetic quality of existing homes in our City.
I’ll be the first to say that this “Mission” is wordy, littered with run-on’s, and not the most concise representation of what we do or what we hope to accomplish, but it’s what we first wrote, nearly three years ago, when we first began this effort. We were largely working to start the engine. We wanted to get the idea of deconstruction off the ground and felt compelled to communicate this to the community. However, an examination of our VISION reveals that Buffalo ReUse has always intended to educate youth, participate in community development, and expand reuse effort beyond Buffalo.
As we expand the scope of our business operations our ability to serve in other capacities in the community is greatly increased. Our vision is to:
While I will say with confidence that our Mission should be restated, our Vision and Values have endured and have been consistent since our first meeting back in April 2006. It’s critical that we elaborate on our values, because the values of Buffalo ReUse, Inc. guide our programs, guide our work in the community, guide us in our interactions and relationships with our many stakeholders, and largely define who we are and why we exist.
more to come . . .
