Preservation, Salvage, & Reuse with the Minnesota GreenCorps Program | Main Street America
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One Organization’s Sustainability Journey

As the field of historic preservation has grown and changed, the concepts of sustainability, reuse, and salvage have become more central to the mission behind saving and maintaining old spaces. In 2014, Minnesota-based nonprofit and statewide Main Street Coordinator Rethos: Places Reimagined began offering a class called “Why Old is Green: Sustainability in Older Homes”, emphasizing and educating on the importance and quality of old building materials in an effort to encourage preservation and deconstruction efforts across the region. It was the beginning of a greater organizational push toward the marriage between preservation and environmentalism; an acknowledgement that the physical and cultural elements of a space are equally worth saving.

Since then, Rethos has joined and partnered with several local and national organizations centered around materials reuse, salvage, and deconstruction, includingBuild Reuse, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s Sustainable Building Group, and Reuse Minnesota.

Rethos quickly began incorporating reuse curriculum into its Continuing Education classes, partnering with member-based nonprofit Reuse Minnesota to create a class called Reuse for Real Estate Agents in 2021. Reuse for Real Estate Agents educates realtors on local salvage efforts, allowing realtors to direct homebuyers to various reuse organizations, where they can purchase used high-quality building materials and furniture at an affordable price.

After years of involvement in the sustainability world, Rethos hosted its first National Trust for Historic Preservation-funded Deconstruction Masterclass, a series outlining the environmental, cultural, and preservation benefits behind materials salvage and reuse.

Next Steps for Community-Led Deconstruction & Salvage

With the formation of important relationships and expertise, Rethos has been looking for new ways to create valuable tools and resources for Minnesota communities to initiate locally led deconstruction and reuse projects. In partnership with member-based nonprofit Reuse Minnesota, Rethos working to establish common ground in the areas of deconstruction, salvage, and community storytelling through the hiring of a Minnesota GreenCorps member for the 2022-2023 season.

The Rethos and Reuse Minnesota GreenCorps member will take on several projects in the areas of salvage, reuse, and storytelling. Read more about each of the member’s projects below:

  • The GreenCorps member will create and promote a toolkit and guidelines for executing a community-led materials salvage project of large or small scale. The toolkit will be used by individual communities interested in deconstructing a structure to any degree with the help of community members and volunteers. The toolkit will provide information on volunteer organization, deconstruction how-to, and rules and regulations around deconstruction.
  • The GreenCorps member will craft and design 2-4 class packages that can be easily transported to different communities for onsite learning. Rethos homeowner classes center around home repair and maintenance, reuse and salvage, and energy efficiency. Each individual class currently requires staff coordination, but the creation of class packages will allow communities to host some homeowner classes themselves with resources and curriculum that Rethos has assembled.
  • The GreenCorps member will conduct a survey of Reuse Minnesota members to gather info on reuse impacts. They will create storytelling tools to creatively share the environmental, economic, and social benefits of reuse organizations in Minnesota.
  • The GreenCorps member will draft and publish blog posts pertaining to reuse, salvage, preservation, repair, and other topics relevant to Rethos and Reuse Minnesota, increasing public awareness and knowledge on important preservation and reuse issues.

Through the above tasks, the Minnesota GreenCorps member will strengthen the relationship between preservation and reuse in Minnesota, providing local communities with the resources and knowledge they need to reuse, salvage, and maintain their historic downtown buildings and homes.

For any questions regarding the creation or distribution of resources listed above, please email Kelly Fischer at kelly@rethos.org. For more information on the Minnesota GreenCorps program, visit the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency website.

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