News: Rebuilding Value

Because of a program called Building Value, more than 350 tons of building material in Cincinnati has avoided being dumped in a landfill.

“This has the potential to make a serious impact on the environment,” says Amanda Harper, communications manager for the Work Resource Center (WRC), a nonprofit agency that provides career training to people who have disabilities or disadvantages.

Building Value recycles materials from demolished and remodeled buildings and sells them at 30-60 percent off the new retail price. The program started a year and a half ago as a means to acquire unrestricted revenue for WRC programs.

If a building needs extensive remodeling, Building Value bids against other contractors to get the deconstruction work. The agency takes everything out and gives the owner a receipt for the material, making it a tax-deductible contribution.

The trainees who work for Building Value receive more than wages, according to Jerry Janszen, director of the program. The biggest benefit is the new experience and opportunities, he says.

Each trainee completes safety training and at least three months work in retail, construction or both. Trainees who successfully complete the program are desirable to employers, Janszen says.

“Everything WRC does is about work,” he says. “We work them hard and can tell the future employer if they showed up on time every day.”

Wanting something else
WRC started about 30 years ago, but its services are still in high demand.

“In January 2004 the city’s unemployment rate reached its highest level since March 1994,” Harper says. “The hard-to-employ, such as the people with disabilities and disadvantages served by WRC, have been the hardest hit by rising unemployment.”

Jane Smith, a new trainee in the construction program, says she’s excited. She says Building Value affords her an opportunity that wouldn’t be available to her otherwise, because she has a criminal record.

“I work in a dead-end job at Frisch’s and want to do something else,” she says.

The fact that there aren’t a lot of women in the construction field doesn’t bother her, Smith says.

“When I first started, I was kind of worried because I thought construction workers would shoot off their mouths,” Smith says. “But they have been super nice. All that matters is I’m willing to do the job and do the work.”

She said she went into the training with little knowledge of tools and how they worked.

“I pointed to the drill and asked, ‘What’s that thing?’ ” Smith says.

Now she’s confident in her job and says her goal is to drive a forklift.

Nineteen-year-old Hughes High School senior Terrel Johnson credits the Building Value program with giving him a level of confidence he didn’t have before. He’s one of the first trainees who completed the program.

“The main thing I got out of it was communication,” Johnson says.

Before he started the program, he would have been intimidated to answer the phone, he says. Now he has the confidence to actively help and sell to customers.

“I feel like I can go to any store anywhere and talk — but not a burger joint,” Johnson says.

The program also introduced him to working with computers. He explains how he felt when he mastered the cash register.

“I didn’t like computers when I started here and now it just comes natural,” he says. “I’m the only one they trust on the computers.”

He wants to go into retail and considers college an option in the future. Retail is the fastest growing industry in Ohio, according to Harper.

Bargains for builders
Many of the individuals who browse and buy the materials in the 16,000-square-foot Building Value retail center come from lower-income neighborhoods.

“People come in with needs and fulfill them here,” Janszen says. “They’re able to put a bathroom vanity in their home where they couldn’t afford to before and they can put a solid wood door on their home to make them more secure.”

The agency’s customers include small businesses, nonprofit organizations and individuals on a tight budget. Janszen describes a huge kitchen that was removed from a higher-income home during a recent deconstruction.

“This kitchen won’t last long and it will make about three families very happy,” he says. “We have not heard one negative comment. The people that come here love this place.”

David Durrett, who works with the Second Mile Hospitality Ministry, is a customer at Building Value.

“Quite frankly, a lot of things we need to do is not in our budget and anything we can get for less than full value helps out a lot,” he says.

Building Value will remove almost anything if a client needs it out or wants to demolish a building, Janszen says.

“Anything we can do to put it in someone’s hand and keep it out of the landfill,” he says.

This article appears in Nov 3-9, 2004.