YouthBuild USA Green Initiative
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Since 1994, over 76,000 YouthBuild students across the country have the great pride of having built over 17,000 units of affordable housing—the comfort of thousands of families in their communities and the impetus for the rebuilding of their own lives. Now, the force of transformation in YouthBuild is contributing to the effort to renovate the affordability, quality, and environmental impact of home construction — the source of two-fifths of national energy consumption and extensive greenhouse gas emissions.
As America’s construction industry gains traction on the road towards ‘green building’ and the impending surge of a clean energy economy dawns, impoverished communities and communities of color continue to endure the worst environmental health impacts, receive the least amount of resources for remedies, and remain stuck in the mud of limited pathways out of poverty.
The construction of new and rehabilitated affordable housing has remained at the heart of the YouthBuild program ever since the first YouthBuild program in East Harlem rehabilitated an abandoned drug building in 1972. Oftentimes, students and graduates are heard describing the transformation that took place within them as having been akin to their building of homes, like rebuilding the structure and internal furnishings of their lives.
The Green Initiative was launched in 2005 with a mission to support YouthBuild programs in embracing green building and environmental stewardship as an integral part of the YouthBuild pathway out of poverty and the development of its young leaders. YouthBuild USA encourages the programs to measure the value of green construction for its great health and environmental benefits, but also as a promising career choice for graduates and a greater contribution to the affordability and comfort of the housing they produce.
The Green Initiative provides YouthBuild programs with technical assistance, training, funding, and other supports that assist YouthBuild programs address global warming, environmental justice, and the rising costs of energy in ways that provide youth with employment and community service opportunities in addition to providing families-in-need with more affordable and healthy housing.
Green Collar Career Pathways
Prior to launching the initiative, YouthBuild USA had facilitated the involvement of New England programs in environmental education, training and awareness building since 1998 through a partnership with Eagle Eye Institute. Eagle Eye is dedicated to developing and disseminating innovative environmental education programs that transform the lives of urban youth. Eagle Eye provides hands-on exploratory learning on the envirnomental and career bridging to natural resource fields to underserved youth.
Currently, six programs are engaged in a three-year Green Industry Career Pathways demonstration project in partnership with Eagle Eye. This partnership provides hands-on outdoor learning and introductions to careers in natural resource fields led by local industry professionals. Some of the industry skills the professional volunteers teach the YouthBuild students include tree climbing, pruning, wild-land fire fighting, horticulture, aerial lift equipment, chainsaw certification, and other tools of green space trades such as arboriculture, landscaping, and forest management. In 2005, YouthBuild USA received a grant from an anonymous foundation to focus the partnership on bridging participants into career development opportunities.The project is a collaborative effort between Eagle Eye Institute, The Trustees of Reservations, YouthBuild USA, and 6 MA YouthBuild programs. The partnership has now implemented two years of the project and has introduced over 400 YouthBuild students to careers in the green industries, 18 of which secured internships and jobs following graduation.
Green Affordable Housing
With funding from The Home Depot Foundation in 2005 we provided training and technical assistance to 90 construction and executive staff from 64 YouthBuild programs across the country, produced a green building guide Shades of Green, and a resource manual YouthBuild Green Pages, circulated five case studies of YouthBuild green building practitioners in YouthBuild Innovations, and conducted a benchmark survey that collected detailed information on the construction practices of 65 YouthBuild programs.
In 2007, with the support of Massachusetts Technology Collaborative’s Renewable Energy Trust, YouthBuild USA completed six Green Design Charrettes in MA to accelerate their green building performance and prepare them to install solar electric systems.
This year, the YouthBuild Green Initiative received funding from the Wal-Mart Foundation to train staff from YouthBuild programs towards a national goal of building 50 units of green affordable housing while opening up career pathways for YouthBuild graduates in the green industries. Several of the YouthBuild programs we support are in the process of establishing or have established training programs in renewable energy, brownsfield remediation, deconstruction and materials reuse, weatherization and energy auditing, arboriculture and forest management.
Previously, most of our efforts to influence environmentally responsible construction practices had been in educating YouthBuild programs about the importance of energy efficiency, promoting Energy Star certification. For example, YouthBuild USA has partnered with the MA Energy Star Homes program to raise awareness of energy efficient, affordable home construction and energy saving practices by having representatives present at local construction design events, multi-site gatherings, and regional conferences. Today, almost half of all MA YouthBuild programs work with Energy Star Homes to have their houses rated. In 2007, the Initiative was awarded a planning grant from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative's Renewable Energy Trust to completed 7 Green Design Team Charrettes with programs in MA to accelerate their green building performance and prepare them to install solar electric systems. YouthBuild USA has also made strides in ‘greening’ its own operations-- with an upgraded recycling program, office rennovations specified with certified green carpeting and low-VOC paints, post-consumer recylced paper products, soy-based inks used in all printing, and more.
American YouthWorks is our primary green building trainer and sponsor of Casa Verde Builders, a YouthBuild program in Austin TX. The young people of Casa Verde Builders have built over 90 quality homes for low-income families, each receiving a 4-5 STAR rating from Austin Energy’s Green Builder Program. They have been recognized locally and nationally by PEPNet, HUD, Home Builders Magazine, the American Institute of Architects, and NAHB. Also, CVB was featured as a case study in "A Blueprint for Greening Affordable Housing: Developers Guidelines for Resource Efficiency and Sustainable Communities" by Global Green USA, which was used at The Home Depot Foundation's Greening Affordable Housing Symposium.
Wal-Mart YouthBuild Green Fellows
Portland YouthBuilders (Oregon). This program is providing its students an intensive environmental education coupled with vocational training in green construction with the construction of three LEED certified homes each year for low-income homebuyers. Since 2000, all PYB homes have met Earth Advantage, Energy Star, and Super Good Cents standards for energy efficiency, indoor air quality, resource efficiency, and environmental responsibility.
Operation Fresh Start (Wisconsin). All OFS newly constructed homes are currently going through the Green Built certification process in partnership with the Wisconsin Environmental Initiative. OFS always follows sustainable building practices including site design; insulation and air sealing; material selection for framing, insulating, exterior, roof, and interior finishes; and measures to protect indoor air quality.
YouthBuild Boston (Massachusetts). Students are constructing a new two family LEED certified home and the rehabilitation of a single family green home that features a green roof. The two-family is expected to achieve platinum status and includes the use of structural insulated panels, insulated concrete forms, sustainable landscaping and more.
Cobb YouthBuild/AmeriCorps Program (Georgia). Cobb constructs single-family EarthCraft House single-family homes, a residential green building program of the Greater Atlanta Home Builders Association in partnership with Southface Institute, and hosts an annual YouthBuild Sustainable Design Charrette.
Other YouthBuild Programs With Green Initiatives
Youth Building Alternatives (Maine). YBA is building a home for Habitat for Humanity that will be Energy Star rated. Two other homes that are being built on consecutive sites will be LEED certified and will be used as working classrooms for YouthBuild students, architects and other interested parties to demonstrate green building practices and designs including the use of insulated concrete forms.
Q: What is Green Building?
A: Green Building is a comprehensive approach to constructing and renovating buildings that conserves the earth’s natural resources through the efficient and intelligent use of energy, materials, water, and the building site, thereby having powerful impacts on the health of local and global environments. Green buildings provide their occupants with comfortable surroundings and healthy indoor environments.
Green Building is most successful when it is done using a whole-systems approach that integrates both design and construction techniques, an approach that engages all members of the building team to maximize efficiency throughout all construction phases and through proper maintenance of building systems and equipment.
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Q: Are there any widely accepted standards that define Green Building?
A: In 1993, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) developed the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) system, a voluntary consensus-based national standard for developing high-performance, sustainable commercial buildings. LEED’s efforts have been paralleled and sometimes preceded by regional and local efforts to green buildings, most often housing. Since 1992, over 80 municipal and state green rating programs have been developed, and while there is a great deal of variation in the structure and administration of these programs, most of them focus on residential buildings, usually single-family homes. In addition, the U.S. EPA and DOE’s Energy Star Homes (www.energystarhomes.com) and the National Association of Homebuilders (www.nahb.org) have both developed national standards by which greenness can be measured and compared.
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Q: What benefits does Green Building produce?
A: Benefits to YouthBuild Builders and subsequent homeowners resulting from the consideration of environmental and sustainability impacts in the construction of affordable housing are diverse and potentially very significant. They range as follows:
- Increased affordability through lower operating costs recovered via lower utility costs and maintenance requirements
- Improved indoor and ambient air quality
- Lower water use
- Enhanced comfort and durability
- Increased property value
- Multi-stakeholder processes that encourage the involvement of neighborhood residents in the planning, design, and implementation phases and make private or public developers aware of and sensitive to local needs and plans
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Q: How much more do Green Buildings cost and are they appropriate for affordable housing?
A: A common perception has been that green building costs more and is, therefore, not suitable for affordable housing. The good news is that this perception in not entirely true. Of course there are alternative materials and technologies that if used would add significant costs to a building, but there are also techniques a builder can utilize that cost nothing, or even have the potential to save on construction costs. For example, Optimal Value Engineering (OVE) is a stick framing technique that reduces the use of dimensional lumber, and can save a builder 20-32% in framing costs. Another example of a no-cost green building technique is the installation of ductwork in the building’s conditioned space. This simple low- to no-cost procedure can make a huge impact on energy savings.
Most recent studies of the costs and benefits of green building have been encouraging to skeptics. According to research by Capital E and the U.S. Green Building Council, the average premium for green building is lightly less than 2%, but the financial benefits are ten times as large. Another report by Air Quality Services, finds that first cost comes in between zero and three percent. These reports show that green buildings have a modest initial cost premium, but that long-term benefits far exceed the incremental capital costs.
Specific to the affordable housing sector, a new publication by New Ecology Inc. and The Green CDCs Initiative studies green affordable housing projects around the country and conducts detailed case study analyses of the costs and benefits of sixteen projects. Total development costs for the green projects reviewed in this report ranged from 18% below to 9% above the costs for comparable conventional affordable housing. The projects that were able to reduce their overall building costs by building green were mostly able to do so because green building and the use of renewable energy gave them access to rebates and other incentives. On average, the sixteen case studies show a small "green premium" of 2.42% in total development costs. These incremental costs are largely due to increased construction (as opposed to design) costs.
Further analysis of these case studies led to several key findings, including:
- Community development corporations (CDCs) and other mission-driven community-based organizations are natural leaders in the effort to build green affordable housing.
- The current system to assess financial viability of green affordable housing, focused on initial capital costs, is deeply flawed. Life-cycle costing in which both capital and operating costs are considered over the expected life of a building provides a better understanding of project economics.
- Using a life-cycle approach, green affordable housing is more cost effective in net present value (NPV) terms than conventional affordable housing.
- The existing financing system for affordable housing is complex and rigid, and typically does not recognize the long-term value of green investments. This serves as an impediment to widespread development of green affordable housing.
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Q: How can I learn more?
A: Take advantage of YouthBuild USA’s many informational, training, and technical assistance services:
- Consider registering for one of our three-day trainings
- Return to our website soon to find a comprehensive resource guide that will help you find material suppliers, connect with local green building experts, print sample lesson plans, and access information about rebates, incentives, and financing for green projects. You will also find links to all of the above referenced publications by New Ecology Inc, Capital E, and information from the US Green Building Council.
- If you are a HUD Youthbuild grantee, you can also request an on-site technical assistance visit from YouthBuild USA to help you get started, or expand your green building practice. Please contact Eva Blake (see below) to get this process started.
- Join the mailing list to receive up-to-date information on online learning opportunities, training events, and other news by emailing eblake@youthbuild.org
YouthBuild Green Initiative Publications
- Shades of Green: A Green Building Guide for YouthBuild Affiliates. Available in the YouthBuild USA online store.
- YouthBuild Green Pages: A Green Building Resource Manual. Available in the YouthBuild USA online store.
- YouthBuild Boston leverages green building practices to enhance employability of graduates and expand local partnerships. Innovations, Issue 30, February 2007
- YouthBuild Brockton uses Energy Star guidelines to promote green building. Innovations, Issue 29, January 2007
- YouthBuild Guadalupe Builds Environmentally and Culturally Appropriate Housing. Innovations, Issue 27, April 2006
- ReCycle North integrates YouthBuild into social enterprise; promotes green building, sustainability, and job readiness. Innovations, Issue 23, February 2006
- YouthBuild Goes Green. YouthBuild Bulletin, Fall 2005
- Cobb County YouthBuild Design Charette Sparks Student Creativity; Increases Knowledge of Sustainable Building Practices. Innovations, Issue 18, July 2005
- Eagle Eye’s Green Education Model, Green Education Complements the YouthBuild Experience, and Builders and Buyers Benefit from Energy-efficient Housing. From the Field, July 2003
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