Tough Times Need Proven, Practical Solutions

In October, I was in Muncie, Indiana, training a couple of different groups in the art and science and deconstruction. The majority of participants were offenders--clients of the Delaware County Community Corrections Department. Other participants were involved in Muncie's Weed and Seed program. We completed two training sessions of 14 days each and deconstructed two of the city's abandoned buildings.

The offenders were all under some type of house arrest, which allowed daytime access to shopping, training, education and jobs, but required that they be in their homes by 5 p.m. The Weed and Seed participants were local community leaders, working with law enforcement to prevent crime and revitalize communities. The Weed and Seed program is funded by Community Capacity Development Department of the U.S. Department of Justice (www.justice.gov/usao/ct/weedseed.html). The program uses a two-pronged approach in which law enforcement agencies and prosecutors cooperate to "weed out" criminals in targeted neighborhoods, while community-based organizations "seed" needed human services, including prevention, intervention and neighborhood restoration programs. Deconstruction of uninhabitable houses falls within the latter category of programs.

Assisting me with the training were Tyler Kelsey, a recent masters-degree graduate of Ball State University's architecture program and a TRP deconstruction trainer and Brook Linton, a master carpenter and owner of Solid State Carpentry. Brook, acting as our local TRP-certified deconstruction contractor, has also contracted with the city to deconstruct additional buildings, and has hired several graduates of the training program.

All of the fixtures removed from the house deconstructed during the first training session were given to the local Habitat for Humanity ReStore, and Brook retained the old growth Southern Yellow Pine for his furniture-making endeavors.

Once again, TRP has demonstrated that a comprehensive business model comprised of deconstruction contracting, sophisticated training, and the distribution of used building materials can:
1. Help individuals acquire skills demanded by the construction industry
2. Assist graduates to obtain meaningful employment
3. Keep thousands of tons of reusable materials out of local landfills through a network of resellers, and
4. Improve both local environments and economies by bringing together for-profit deconstruction contractors and nonprofit distribution organizations.