Like most YouthBuild AmeriCorps programs, the program at ReSOURCE in Burlington, Vermont offers local at-risk youth a combination of academics, community service and job training skills. This program serves two types of low-income Vermonters. First, the YouthBuild students enrolled in ReSOURCE's YouthBuild AmeriCorps program are at-risk, high school drop-outs and the second is the low-income population served by the YouthBuild services.

However, this program is unique in that corpsmembers rotate through different service site placements which include time spent on an affordable housing construction site, a weatherization crew, and on an independent placement such as the Deconstruction Service, appliance training, computer systems training, or retail management training.

In 2001, ReSOURCE identified a serious problem and a unique opportunity when they learned that more than 30 percent of the material in landfills is construction debris. As these materials degrade, they release gases, CO2 being one of the more prevalent. As a result, they decided to launch ReBUILD to address both the environmental and practical aspects of building material salvage and supply. The enterprise operates by salvaging old building waste and feeding it through a three-step cycle of programs – Deconstruction Service, Building Material Center Retail Store and Waste Not Products.

ReBUILD’s Deconstruction Service carefully and safely salvages building materials, thereby marketing reused goods, creating jobs, and implementing sound environmental practices. Demolition, which is often a job for one man and a machine, now becomes a project for a team of trained workers which include YouthBuild AmeriCorps members.

After deconstruction services are complete, salvaged materials are brought to the Building Material Center Retail Store for resale in the second step of the cycle of services. The store is open to the public and low-income individuals as well as nonprofit organizations are able to get the materials for free through the ReLIEF Essential Goods Program. This store also offers education and training opportunities to unemployed or under-employed individuals in the areas of office management, retail and maintenance.

The final step in this cycle of services is an enterprise called Waste-Not-Products. Waste-Not-Products are creative household items made from salvaged materials. By training YouthBuild AmeriCorps members in carpentry and woodworking skills, the program has created: birdhouses, tables, benches, furniture, cutting boards, picture frames, and mirrors made from unserviceable windows, flooring or lumber which are then sold to generate valuable revenue that will be reinvested into programming. 

In 2009 alone, ReSOURCE completed 15 full deconstructions (removal of the entire structure down to the foundation) including 2 camps, 2 houses, 3 interstate rest stops and 10 other buildings. ReBUILD deconstruction is also available to do “soft-strip” projects. The crew will come in and carefully dismantle kitchens, bathrooms, and other pieces of a building so that these materials can be reused. During the same year, through the deconstruction services and community donations, the Building Material Retail Store sold or donated 833 doors, 331 windows, 68,000 linear feet of lumber, 265 light fixtures and more than 1,010 tons of materials were diverted from landfills.