By Sarah Hidey, JVA Consulting

Meaningful jobs, environmental sustainability, community empowerment—a powerful combination.

Working in the social enterprise field, I have the opportunity to hear a lot of ideas for amazing social enterprises that provide opportunities to train and employ community members. Sometimes you hear an idea that makes you say, “Wow, I have never heard of anything like that before!” Recently, I stumbled across a Facebook post about a new start-up social enterprise, Cedar and Sage Colorado, and I found just that— and was intrigued! I had the opportunity to sit down with cofounders Kristi Felts and Jeff Shaw (an aunt/nephew team!) to learn more about what Cedar and Sage Colorado is doing in Denver. But first, let me set the stage.

The Problem

Imagine you are a real estate developer. You purchase an old building with the intent to tear it down and rebuild from scratch. We’ve all seen it before—a huge wrecking ball barreling towards a building with the intent of beginning the demolishment of the structure. Whether it is a huge retail building or a small home, the reality is that there are thousands (if not millions) of structures that need to be destroyed each year. Your easiest choice would likely be to hire a demolition crew. Demolition is a quick and cheap way to get rid of old structures and buildings. Unfortunately, with demolition, 100% of the structure goes to the landfill. Shockingly, 39% of all landfill trash is from this type of construction waste!

The Solution

Cedar and Sage Colorado was founded on the premise that something needed to be done to not only divert tons of this construction waste from the landfill but also to provide meaningful jobs for community members. Thus, this new start-up was created to focus on job creation, community empowerment, social justice and environmental sustainability.

Three main revenue-generating programs—a deconstruction service, a used building materials retail operation (the ReUse Center) and, in the future, a cafe—will ultimately support Cedar and Sage Colorado’s core community sustainability center: the Village Pump.

The Village Pump is a community hub for sharing ideas and taking action on behalf of the common good—just like the old village pumps that acted as gathering places for village residents many years ago. You see, Kristi and Jeff didn’t want to ONLY start a deconstruction and used building materials retail store—which on their own have significant environmental impact. They wanted to use these ventures as a vehicle to also build community in low-income communities, particularly North Denver. Thus, these programs are designed to collectively promote environmental sustainability, create jobs AND build community—each element being equally as important.

Promoting Environmental Sustainability

Cedar and Sage Colorado promotes an approach that uses “deconstruction” instead of demolition. With deconstruction, construction workers and contractors take the structure apart strategically and deliberately, realizing that 70-95% of the structure can be salvaged and reclaimed for reuse or recycled. Once fully operational, Cedar and Sage Colorado’s goal is to divert eight to 10 tons of used building materials from landfills EVERY DAY. These used materials will then be re-sold in its ReUse Center.

Creating Meaningful Jobs

Not only is deconstruction a huge win for the environment, but it is also a win for the economy. Deconstruction creates four jobs for every one job that demolition creates. Interestingly, many construction workers are day-laborers that get paid very little. For Cedar and Sage Colorado, it was not enough to just create a minimum-wage job. Because it has a social mission at its core, even though it will cost more, they are committed to paying a living wage and providing full benefits to workers. The hope is that this will bring more stability to the lives of the workers. Cedar and Sage Colorado has the goal of creating 58 jobs over the next three years.

Building Community

Kristi and Jeff’s ultimate vision is a thriving community. Thus, profits from the deconstruction program and ReUse Center will then be used for community development. As they state, “We are reclaiming the value of used building materials and investing that value to help develop sustainable local communities.” Through the Village Pump program, Cedar and Sage Colorado plans to facilitate community-driven programs rooted in social and environmental sustainability and justice and built on the assets of the community. They plan to have this program element organically evolve as the community best sees fit.

As Kristi and Jeff put it, “All of this is done by creating value out of something that is normally treated as trash.”

History

Cedar and Sage Colorado was not created overnight. In fact, the idea has been something that has been brewing for years. In the early 1990s while working for a wrecking and lumber company that DID use a deconstruction approach, Kristi learned just how awesome the deconstruction concept was. However, what she also experienced was how awful the workers were treated. Later, research showed that there was only one deconstruction company in the entire nation that had BOTH a social and an environmental mission. With a background in social/environmental change and justice, Kristi and her nephew Jeff soon joined forces to fill this gap and develop the concept of Cedar and Sage Colorado.

With a background in project management, including working with Groundwork Denver on a social enterprise business plan, Kristi understood the importance of business planning and conducting market research before jumping into the deconstruction/used materials industry. That, combined with Jeff’s hands-on experience, led them to where they are today. Kristi and Jeff spent the last year focused on business and operations planning—including working closely with a similar social enterprise based in Portland that was happy to share its successes, challenges and lessons learned. Kristi shared, “I hate re-work so I wanted to do the ground work.” However, there comes a time when “it’s time to go, and that time is now!” Originally self-financed, Cedar and Sage Colorado is currently planning a crowdfunding campaign to raise some start-up capital. Cedar and Sage Colorado accepts donations here: http://cedarandsagecolorado.org/support/donate/.