Reuse Assistance Grant Progress Report

City of Oakland's Reuse Assistance Grant Project
(Part 1: September 2, 2003 to December 1, 2003)

Project Description

The City of Oakland was to use their grant funds to initiate an Educational Marketing Outreach Program. This program had the following goals: 1) Increase the diversion of reusable lumber from the C&D waste stream; 2) Increase the amount of salvaged lumber reused; and, 3) Educate C&D waste generators (such as building contractors and architects) and the general public about the need to increase the reuse of lumber currently disposed of as C&D waste.

The steps required to accomplish their project are as follows:

The City has not yet begun grant activities since receiving the Start Work Authorization on September 2, 2003. They have been extremely busy the past three months with orders for their reclaimed wood products, since this is the height of the construction season. Previous outreach efforts and referrals from previous customers seem to have increased their visibility and generated more demand for their products, increasing their utilization of salvaged lumber. While this is a measure of the success of their efforts to date, the increased production demand has strained their organizational capacity. All of their resources are currently directed toward meeting their production obligations.

The first task of the Reuse Assistance Grant is to hire an Outreach Manager. Current staff have not had the ability to implement this task. Since the other three tasks (outreach, sales, and educational activities) are to be primarily performed by the Outreach manager, these activities have not yet begun.

Community Woodworks would like to schedule a meeting with the City of Oakland at the end of December 2003 or beginning of January 2004 to identify strategies for proceeding with the grant activities and/or discuss the possibility of modifying the scope of work for this grant. One difficulty the City would like to address is the need to support the Outreach Manager's salary for several months before this expense can be reimbursed by the Reuse Assistance Grant. They would like to delay setting a firm start date for hiring the Outreach Manager pending Community Woodworks' discussion with the City of Oakland.

*Permission was obtained from grant recipient to publish project profile.

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Last updated: June 25, 2008