With your support, we accomplished a lot in 2022! We thought you would appreciate a Progress Report on how far we’ve come!
Join us to Rebuild for Justice in 2023!
Cultivating Joyful Spaces - RBC Inclusion Policy
Joyful shopping and learning experiences make ReBuilding Center a special place – for our guests, our students, our customers, and our staff, from finding exactly what you’ve been looking for (or didn’t know you needed!) to learning the practical magic of home repair. Unfortunately, it’s not always so joyful. As a result, we developed our Inclusion Policy, ensuring an environment where everyone feels safe, welcomed, and respected
The Cost and Benefits of Repair Education at ReBuilding Center
Everyone who wants to learn is welcome at ReBuilding Center! Recognizing that cost may be a factor for some, we prioritized keeping our class prices low. As of November 1, we will be raising prices by $5 per class hour to cover the true costs of hosting in-person classes, to develop new classes, and to purchase safe and reliable shop tools. However, to maintain and EXTEND access to all, ReBuilding Center is proud to introduce our NEW Community Membership program.
At the Intersection of Sustainability and Design
At ReBuilding Center, equity, accessibility, home repair education, and waste reduction are pillars of climate justice. But what holds us together is our culture of scrappiness and joy in what we do. Creative reuse, be it in art, craft, or design, is a reflection of this ethos, of our belief that sustainable living can be fun as well as responsible.
We're Celebrating Climate Legislation!
ReBuilding Center joins AAAH in 7th Annual Day of Service!
On July 11th, ReBuilding Center partnered with the African American Alliance for Homeownership (AAAH) for our seventh annual Day of Service event. Over 40 community volunteers assisted five Black homeowners throughout North and Northeast Portland neighborhoods!
Join in for Justice!
Becoming a ReBuilding Center Member means that not only do you get a bunch of cool new ReBuilding Center benefits, you get to support housing justice through the newest aspect of our Membership program: Community Membership, supported by members like you!
Housing is Climate Justice
It’s Earth Month! And since Earth is our one and only home, there’s no better time to talk about the strong connection between housing and climate justice. Healthy, decent, affordable, sustainable housing MUST be at the core of the climate transition. However, we’ve begun to see some challenges in this work.
Getting ready for return to office (aka The Great Awkward)
People will be coming back to the office after more than two years of remote work, which means teams across America are going to be relearning how to be together in person, how to make small talk, how to hang out in an office environment, and how to be okay with these changes. It’s going to be weird.
Believe it or not, ReBuilding Center can help.
Now at ReBuilding Center: From Excess to Access!
ReBuilding Center is excited to announce a new program to help BIPOC homeowners and homeowners with disabilities repair and retain their homes. No one should lose their home because they cannot afford to make repairs, so we’ve partnered with the Environmental Protection Agency and the City of Portland to help make critical home repairs possible for folx!
BIPOC-Only Classes Have Landed!
Justice - the Final Piece of the Puzzle
This year, we at ReBuilding Center grew to see ourselves as a climate justice organization. Since our founding nearly 25 years ago, ReBuilding Center has prided itself on the amount of material we keep out of landfills. But until recently, we didn’t talk about how reuse and repair can be tools for justice.
Climate - the Fifth Piece of the Puzzle
For decades, the decision to buy new has been made ever easier by cheap goods with hidden social and environmental costs. We feel the true costs of this more everyday, as our climate worsens, our landfills grow, and our air and water become increasingly polluted. As individuals, we long to answer the question: “what can we do?”
Resilience - the Fourth Piece of the Puzzle
Community - The Third Piece of the Puzzle
The practice of reuse and repair is a practice of sharing. It inspires a sense of interconnectedness, a feeling that we are all part of a continuum, creating something new together. We celebrate this joyful reciprocity as an important path toward equity, justice, and caring. This is the heart of COMMUNITY.
Repair - The Second Piece of the Puzzle
Reuse - The First Piece of the Puzzle
At ReBuilding Center, our materials re-vision the past into a piece of tomorrow. When we choose to donate rather than discard, when we choose to renew rather than buy new, we choose to be part of a community of makers and sharers. EVERYONE is welcome, so we keep prices affordable, but the simple truth is that barriers to reuse remain.
Be a Piece of the Puzzle
Community is the Heart
Materials are the message. For nearly 25 years, we’ve championed waste diversion and reuse, taking in material donations from our community (thank you!) and circulating them back into the hands of builders, makers, and DIYers. Over time, we began to ask ourselves, how can we best serve people in our community?