Working Partner Update: Second Chance Baltimore

Second Chance, the pioneering building deconstruction social enterprise and ILSR have been working partners since 2003, when the organization began operations.

2017 Impact Report from Second Chance, Baltimore

Second Chance has grown to over 250 workers; most of these workers were recruited from the rolls of the hard to employ the chronically unemployed, workers with criminal records, those with educational deficiencies and those who have experienced poverty. In addition in 2017 volunteers from cooperating businesses provided 8,000 volunteer hours to help run the deconstruction and resale components of the enterprise. Some 5,000 buildings were fully or partially deconstructed yielding 3.6 million cubic feet of materials that would otherwise have gone to regional landfills or incinerators.

A goal for 2018 is to open another facility in Philadelphia. Also in 2018 Second Chance will grow its projects with both Baltimore Youth Works and Carver Voc-Tech High School focused on imparting carpentry skills to participants. Another goal for this year is the roll out of a furniture production workshop designed to train cohorts of Second Chance employees in the basics of carpentry and industrial design. The program will use our reclaimed lumber and materials to create reclaimed furniture for sale. This project is a joint project with SCI Studios.

Second Chance also focused on its own warehouse facility by redirecting roof top water run off to green spaces, advanced infiltration equipment and indigenous landscaping. Second Chance won a Best of Baltimore Award from Baltimore Magazine and was also recognized with a Top-Rated Non-Profit Award.

To read the full report go to: http://conta.cc/2Gvfs1z.

Follow the Institute for Local Self-Reliance on Twitter and Facebook and, for monthly updates on our work, sign-up for our ILSR general newsletter.

Facebooktwitterredditmail
Avatar photo
Follow Neil Seldman:
Neil Seldman

Neil Seldman, Ph.D, directs the Waste to Wealth Initiative. He specializes in helping cities and businesses recover increasing amounts of materials from the waste stream and add value to the local economy through new processing and manufacturing facilities. He is a co-founder of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.