LIFECYCLE BUILDING CENTER INC

LBC is committed to serving disadvantaged communities. LBC provides reclaimed materials and educational resources that help individuals, small businesses and area nonprofits lower their construction costs, while also fostering environmental sustainability by keeping usable building materials out of landfills and putting them back into use. In 2011, LBC was founded with $10,000 in seed funding, one staff member, and a group of dedicated volunteers who wanted to direct usable building materials away from landfills and back into the underserved communities through reuse. Today, LBC is a thriving nonprofit with 11 employees and a budget of $1.1M that has diverted $9.6M worth of usable construction materials from landfills and which has generated $4.3M in community savings for primarily income-restricted homeowners and fellow nonprofits. LBC’s programs mitigate Atlanta’s massive construction and demolition waste streams while creating living-wage jobs, helping lower-income homeowners access affordable building materials, and providing critically-needed budget relief for nonprofits.

Most visitors to LBC’s Reuse Center live within 3 miles of our facility in Southwest Atlanta, a severely economically-depressed area. Access to low-cost materials helps these homeowners, most of whom are addressing critical repairs, maintain their homes on a tight budget. The affordable materials they find at LBC enable them to protect their home equity and preserve a vital source of generational wealth. LBC focuses on providing the widest possible spectrum of reclaimed construction materials for the lowest cost possible, with emphasis on commonly used materials such as cabinets, doors, windows, lumber, sheathing, flooring, plumbing fixtures, lighting and appliances.

LBC serves income-restricted residents near its facility by providing low-cost building materials, hands-on technical support as well as educational programs on home repairs and energy efficiency improvements. (an online example of our Home Performance Workshop series can be found at https://youtu.be/2Iq9SpiHZ4k) Having access to low-cost building materials, free classes and hands-on technical support from LBC's staff allows many homeowners near LBC to tackle home repairs as problems arise. They also learn how to make homes more energy-efficient, which reduces power bills and fosters long-term environmental sustainability in our region.

LBC’s workforce training program creates economic opportunity for vulnerable populations, decreases homelessness, interrupts cycles of poverty, and prevents the disposal of 900,000 pounds of usable materials each year. Between 2016 and 2020, LBC partnered with Georgia Works! to provide job training and direct employment in deconstruction and warehouse operations to individuals with barriers. In 2022, LBC is working with several additional partners to create an expanded deconstruction training program that positions trainees for long-term success.

LBC also works closely with nonprofits, particularly those serving disadvantaged communities. LBC frequently functions as a project partner by helping nonprofits design their construction projects and by providing direct installation support. LBC's MATCH program is designed to help nonprofits do more with less, and this hands-on approach during COVID-19 has been critical to this program’s success. Since 2011, LBC's Nonprofit Material MATCH program has provided 355 in-kind building material grants to 239 nonprofits, schools, and churches. Many MATCH grant recipients also serve LMI residents.

By providing materials free of charge to nonprofits through the MATCH program, LBC helps these organizations stretch their limited financial resources further and direct more dollars toward the delivery of programs and services which benefit the community. Due to COVID-related financial pressures and supply chain issues, the availability of affordable housing in Atlanta is even more limited than before the pandemic. Therefore, LBC is placing special emphasis on sourcing and donating reclaimed building materials for nonprofits that build affordable housing projects.

Examples of affordable housing project supported by LBC's MATCH program include a 2019 collaboration with Atlanta Land Trust where LBC donated cabinets, plumbing fixtures and doors for two affordable homes in Atlanta’s Westside. (featured at georgiatrust.org/our-programs/west-atlanta-preservation-initiative/) and our 2020 partnership with Rebuilding Together Atlanta where LBC provided cabinets, plumbing fixtures, tile, and provided volunteer labor support through our sponsor DPR Construction, to install a kitchen for a low-income senior resident who did not have a kitchen in his home. (fox5atlanta.com/news/veterans-home-gets-special-upgrade-in-time-for-christmas)