About

Mission:

To assist and lead in the transformation and restoration of under-resourced communities through education and service and with a focus on heritage conservation and sustainable design.

Vision:

All people are empowered to revitalize and sustain their communities, creating bright futures and celebrated pasts.

Values:

A holistic approach to sustainability:

Develop a healthy environment, sustainable living, equitable economic development and community empowerment, and conserve a community’s cultural uniqueness.

Social, economic and environmental justice:

Resource communities that have faced disaster or decline from natural and/or human causes such as social inequity, climate change and habitat loss. We help communities build civic and economic capacity through sustainable restoration of the built and natural environment.

Cultural autonomy:

A community decides what is integral to its heritage and identity and needs to be restored and preserved. We educate our volunteers about the sense of place, and we value a community’s right to enjoy its natural surroundings and celebrate the local heritage.

Deep partnerships:

Share resources. We value collaboration, avoid competition and look for ways to become members, not merely volunteers, in the communities we serve.

Technical expertise and excellence:

We respect the professional technical expertise of designers, builders, and tradesmen, and we treasure the deep local knowledge of community members and organizations. We engage professional design and construction experts who turn local values into the right ideas for the built and natural environments.

Participatory, inclusive education:

We appreciate volunteer, partner and community member education. Community members, technical experts and volunteers all have valuable knowledge and skills to share, so we create many opportunities for learning.

Empowerment:

We help young, emerging talent become green restoration leaders.