Common Ground (CG) is the social enterprise of the Northern Communities Land Trust (NCLT). We were initially created to recover used building materials for use in affordable housing work and reuse in the community. Since 2005 we have taken on an expanded role by becoming the general contractor for our nonprofit housing work. In 2009 we rehabilitated 24 homes for our nonprofit. These homes included green building techniques, energy improvements, and some solar hot water systems as part of a national demonstration project. Most of these homes were foreclosed, condemned or tax forfeit properties. We have accomplished this work with our own carpenter employees and under a partnership with the Minnesota Department of Corrections Institute Community Work Crew (DOC ICWC). As we rebuild homes, we are also rebuilding the lives of current state inmates by training 16 men in construction trades prior to their release from prison. In 2010 our housing work will also include creation of the Duluth Veterans Place (DVP), affordable apartments and transitional housing for homeless veterans. Common Ground can best be described as an ever-expanding social enterprise that is dedicated to increasing environmental and economic sustainability. Beyond our affordable housing work, we have also led an effort to create a community-wide weatherization program- the Duluth Energy Efficiency Program (DEEP). Not only does this program assist homeowners in air sealing and weatherizing their homes, it will serve as a one-stop shop for energy education. The final activity that Common Ground is involved in is the facilitation of the Duluth Green Jobs Initiative action planning process. Through our coordination, Common Ground is working with 120 community leaders to define the best means of moving toward a greener economy. Action plans are being created for Green Jobs Development in the areas of energy production, food systems, built environment, resource protection and transportation systems. In summary CG, an entity of NCLT, oversees DEEP, GJI and DOC ICWC while working on the DVP. Unfortunately, our happy family of carpenters, inmates, and office/energy geeks (some of which can recite the algorithm for energy efficiency for a given household in our sleep) are stuck with lorem ipsum* when it comes to PHP, RoR, SSL, and HTML( hotmail, right?). Mary Treuer 1. These numbers reflect the Common Ground portion the combined NCLT/Common Ground audit. Common Ground's net assets at year end 2008 were -25,711. Most funds are utilized for construction expenses. If you need NCLT or combined information, we would be happy to forward. 2. Our legal name is: Common Ground Deconstruction Service and Reuse Center, LLC (although our reuse center closed in 2007). Please note that we are a single-member LLC of a 501(c)3 with IRS disregarded entity status (yeah, sometimes it hurts to be considered a "disregarded entity"). This means that we are considered to be the Northern Communities Land Trust (single audit, same unemployment account, same IRS 501(c)3 number, etc.), but we have our own insurance. A donation to Common Ground is a donation to NCLT. Duluth 2010-01-08T20:37:55Z 2010-01-08T20:14:18Z Jodi Slick 1,414,451 (1) 218-624-4984 Our organization is about being "green" and assisting others to make that choice. Through this website, we can share with a larger audience our expertise in green construction, energy conservation, and green economic development work. We have learned that so much of the cultural change needed to make our world more sustainable depends upon information and education. This site can serve as a central nexus to change. 51 We do not have a seperate IT budget. Definition: New- [4.] Not previously experienced or encountered; novel or unfamiliar. Though the idea of a website is nothing new to us (we did have a webpage provided by the NCLT in 2004- www.landtrustduluth.org), we are currently without a web presence. As a social enterprise, we have focused all of our energy into our mission and havent invested the resources into creating a website. We are self starters that haven’t been able to stop long enough to learn the virtual ropes, nor have our efforts to procure funding for such an endeavor been fruitful enough to purchase a cookie from the internet cafe (in fact, not even a byte). Our current web space fails to convey the message of who we are, what we do, or even where we are located. When we were simply building/remodeling homes for those in need, broader community presence wasn't required. Now that we have taken on the roles of community program management, community education, and community issue coordination, we need to be able to have facilitated two-way communication with a broader audience. Without internal expertise, our group of nerd wannabes have utilized whatever wysiwyg options available, including the creation of a Green Jobs NING site so the 120 participants can interact between meetings. It would be great to have strategic infrastructure to allow us to further connect with partners in our community to move forward on programs and make a difference to our world. /system/logos/51/normal/35_Riv_006.jpg?1262984066 image/pjpeg 35_Riv_006.jpg 1686531 2010-01-08T20:54:26Z Common Ground is a social enterprise that focuses on increasing the environmental and economic sustainability of our community through construction and renovation of permanently affordable and energy efficient homes, creation of public environmental programs, and demonstration of effective green development strategies. We accomplish our mission with an entrepreneurial spirit and dedication to social justice. Simply stated: Sustainable building, housing, and living- environmentally, organizationally and for the community (and maybe someday the world - mwahahaha). Common Ground / NCLT 218-740-3666 1,532,142 (2008) true true MN 206 W. Superior Street, Suite 202 41-1678328 2010-01-27T16:00:42Z http://www.commongrnd.org 55806