We are pleased to share our 2022 Impact Report!

I deeply believe that as a society we are going to make the transition to a resilient future. That said, the path to get there may not be smooth or pretty. However, if the pandemic has taught us anything, it is that when faced with crisis, we can adapt and rise to the occasion.

At Green Canopy NODE, we stand at the forefront of this movement, fully aware of the magnitude of the problem and the immense potential for positive change. Through our commitment to building carbon-negative, healthy homes, we strive to regenerate communities and environments, demonstrating that housing can be a catalyst for transformation.

We are a deeply committed community of teammates, board members, shareholders, impact investors, institutional investors, homeowners, landowners, developers, affordable housing groups, architects, real estate agents, and sub-contractors.

Together we are building the future of housing!

I invite you to join us on this journey. Please feel free to start by sharing with me your insights and reflections on this report.

 With deep gratitude,

Susan Fairchild
Chief Marketing & Impact Officer

Developing a residential real estate project is a huge endeavor. With so many tasks, contractors, and workflows to coordinate, it’s easy to overlook the community in which you’re building. However, engaging neighbors in a timely manner makes a significant difference when it comes to the success of residential projects. 

At Green Canopy NODE, we consider ourselves neighbors in the communities we work, especially given our mission to build homes, relationships, and businesses that help regenerate communities and environments. After all, we become part of their homes’ surroundings and impact their day-to-day lives. “Part of the protocol in our own development projects is to have a community meeting to notify neighborhoods even before we start city permits. We typically do this prior to land acquisition as neighbors’ input is a key component of our feasibility due diligence,” explains Justin Hooks, VP of Construction at Green Canopy NODE.  

Recently, our team hosted a meeting with Grow Community on Bainbridge Island, with the goal of continuing dialogue about the construction of the project’s final phase.  “It was great to see so many neighbors turn out. They had a variety of concerns about the new construction and how it would affect their day-to-day life at Grow.  The Green Canopy NODE team, Jeff Bouma – the landscape architect —, and I, answered a range of questions from what the homes will look like, how parking is being managed to how the landscaping would blend in with what is there now,” shares Jonathan Davis, Architect at Davis Studio Architecture + Design and Grow Community resident. 

Community relations are rewarding – we want to share our takeaways to develop strong relationships and ensure the success of your project.

1. Be proactive about communicating – Don’t let neighbors wake up one day with unexpected construction sounds and dust. This will harm the project’s ability to organically become part of the community and your company’s reputation for future business – real estate is significantly about relationships! 

2. Listen – Neighbors’ concerns vary from construction timelines and working hours to path accessibility. Most of these questions can be addressed by supplying an FAQ with project information. Neighbors can also flag things you should be planning for but overlooked.  

3. All petitions are worth considering – Some requests may not be possible to deliver, given the project’s budget and timeline, but in others, you may find opportunities.  For example, neighbors asked how we could contribute to the care and expansion of community areas. Our team found an alternative: instead of discarding the construction waste from leveling the project’s land, we will repurpose this soil to improve the center park, a community hallmark where residents enjoy summer concerts and other activities. This was an opportunity to implement a circular economy approach that benefits neighbors and aligns with our sustainability goals. 

4. Leave the door open – A great deal of maintaining relationships is an ongoing effort to manage expectations and communicate throughout the project. As construction moves forward, neighbors will have new questions. Be mindful to establish how these can be shared with the team, for example through resident portals, emails, or future community meetings.  

In essence, our greatest takeaway from this experience is that investing time and effort in developing community relations is a great way to create excitement about construction, learn from one another by active listening and build trust. During the Grow Community meeting, “neighbors had some tough questions” shared Green Canopy NODE’s Marketing Manager Emily Butterfield, “but the team addressed them, and it was clear that they appreciated and valued that we took the time and effort to ‘show up’,” she adds.  

Contact us if you’d like help in developing your multi-unit real estate project!

Follow us to keep updated on our projects and learn more about our impact.

The Spring season begins a beautiful process of birth and renewal. What once was dormant, begins to awake, slowly unfurl, and reveal its true purpose. To be called to purpose with such intention is not to be taken lightly.

Amidst the ongoing strain of the pandemic and global crises, Green Canopy & NODE took the concept of purpose further. Rather than tackle the challenges of the construction industry separate from each other, we recognized that we could accelerate transformation of the construction industry towards greater sustainability, health, and affordability together. Today, Green Canopy NODE is a collective of investors, innovators, changemakers, makers-at-heart, and people living their lives aligned to purpose. Our shared vision is to provide more healthy and sustainable housing for people of all income levels across the nation.

I am grateful to not be alone in this work. At Green Canopy NODE we come together in a coordinated effort to do more than one person could on their own. I am blessed with a deeply committed community of teammates, board members, shareholders, impact investors, institutional investors, homeowners, landowners, developers, affordable housing groups, architects, real estate agents, and sub-contractors; all playing an important role in achieving our collective mission and vision.

I welcome you to engage with us on this journey! Please feel free to start by sharing with me your insights and reflections on this report.

With deep gratitude,
Susan Fairchild, Chief Marketing and Impact Officer
Green Canopy NODE

Green Canopy NODE is humbled by being recognized as a 2022 ImpactAssets 50 fund manager. Impact investments are made to generate measurable social and environmental positive impact alongside financial returns. Green Canopy NODE hopes to inspire all investors to align their capital investments with their values by continuing to demonstrate that with thoughtfulness and care, rewarding financial returns can be earned using an impact investment approach. The IA50 recognizes a diverse group of impact investment fund managers who demonstrate a commitment to generating positive social, environmental, and financial impact.

"If we want to create a better future, we have to invest in that better future." -Susan Fairchild, Chief Marketing Officer, Green Canopy NODE

This acknowledgement comes at an exciting time. Green Canopy NODE, in partnership with other strategically aligned organizations, is in the process of developing its fifth real estate investment fund, to be announced later this year. The Fund is being designed to invest in residential real estate that is built using the power of manufacturing with carbon-smart construction methods, materials, and technologies for families at various income levels, while generating favorable returns to its investors.

“As impact investing continues its inexorable rise, it is critical to provide investors with a curated, objective evaluation of impact fund managers. The IA 50 is built to filter out the noise that is growing louder in impact investing and help investors focus on deep, meaningful impact." Jennifer Kenning, CEO and Co-Founder, Align Impact, IA 50 Senior Investment Advisor

By Aaron Fairchild + Bec Chapin, Co-CEOs of Green Canopy NODE

Green Canopy and NODE have merged into one company! We are excited to share why Green Canopy NODE, a Social Purpose Corporation, has combined – and it is not simply because we can do more together than on our own.

In the weeks leading up to the 2020 spring equinox, the virus was rapidly spreading through our region; restaurants closed, employees were laid-off, markets gyrated, investors panicked, and the collective human consciousness paused in cautious curiosity and awe. It was at that time, as an unraveling was occurring, that we, Bec and Aaron, came together to explore how we could help.

Today, in the knowledge that a seismic psychological and physical quake continues to tremble across the globe, we have come together in hope. In this hopeful work, like so many of us, we are asking how long will this go on? Will the impacts of COVID transform our society for the better? What more can be done to pull a better future forward?

Where do we source hope?

We have a right to be in as dark a mood as we want, because things are indeed bleak. But hope is a virtue – which is to say, it’s an excellence that we aspire to. No matter how dark your mood is, you still have a responsibility to aspire to the virtuous. Hope is a refusal to succumb to despair and nihilism.”
– Cornel West, Sun Interview, September, 2018

“I should say that hope for me is distinct from idealism or optimism. It has nothing to do with wishful thinking. It is a muscle, a practice, a choice: to live open-eyed and wholehearted in the world as it is and not as we wish it to be.”
– Krista Tippet

“Hope, in a deep and powerful sense, is not the same as joy that things are going well, but, rather, an ability to work for something that is good, not just because it stands a chance to succeed … Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.”
– Vaclav Havel

Within these reflections, we find an active hope, not simply a refusal to succumb. Hope is an inner conviction, within darkness, to pursue a pathway toward light. Hope does not require optimism, nor should it be confused with optimism. Hope is all the good that individuals do in the face of uncertainty and a surrounding sense of despair. To be hopeful is to be actively compassionate during times of uncertainty; to be virtuous in the face of uncertainty is to be hopeful.

During a pandemic, NODE and Green Canopy merged in hope. With a bias to action and a determination to be of service to communities and the environment, the team of Green Canopy NODE is not just looking to change the cost and sustainability equation of housing, we also want to change how we work together to build the future, and how we live together in the future we all build. We believe that through a wholesome and active hope we can help society and a planet in need.

In this season, we, Aaron and Bec, are grateful to combine forces within one dedicated company of people to help transform ourselves and the world around us. Thank you for supporting us, cheering us on, investing in our shared sense of active, virtuous hope, and for your unacknowledged acts of kindness that help us all heal.

The year 2020 will go down in history books. We navigated through a pandemic and participated and observed civil unrest due to the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and others. During this time, an additional 200,000 small businesses permanently shuttered, while at the same time the largest tech companies grew and billionaires profited such that their wealth grew by 27% during the peak of the crisis.

Perhaps we needed 2020 to rip the band aid off our perception that the world is just fine, and that status quo is good enough. Yet, the built environment is still responsible for 40% of our global carbon emissions. And, amidst a housing affordability crisis, the nation is 3.8 million homes short of demand and growing.

Fortunately, people did come together to reimagine a more resilient and vibrant future. We hope that by sharing this report we can create further inspiration and market transformation towards a brighter, more resilient, healthy and equitable future that in our hearts know is possible. While 2020 was a particular challenging year, Green Canopy continues to position itself to disrupt the industry to ensure a better alternative to the current paradigm of housing.

With deep gratitude,
Susan Fairchild
Director of Investor Relations & Impact

SEATTLE, Washington (May 6, 2021) - Green Canopy and Habitat for Humanity Seattle – King County (Habitat) are pleased to announce a partnership to design a 17-unit affordable multifamily housing development in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle. The 4-star Built Green project, located near Cal Anderson Park, features one- and two-bedroom units to be sold to households making at or below 80 percent area median income. The collaboration will bridge affordability and sustainability and fill a gap in the housing market for low-income individuals, couples, and smaller families.

Combining a land trust model with permanent affordability requirements, Habitat lowers barriers to homeownership. Habitat’s homeownership model creates opportunities for those who may not otherwise have access to owning a home and enables them to build equity and obtain security and stability. In Seattle, population growth, low inventory and market price appreciations have prevented first-time homebuyers from being able to afford to live within the urban center and create wealth through equity in ownership.

“We have identified a significant gap in the housing market for those who can’t afford to build equity in the city that they live and work in,” said Patrick Sullivan, Director of Real Estate Development at Habitat. “Typically, affordable housing options are located outside of city centers and further from jobs and other amenities. We are excited to offer these homes to hard-working and deserving people who would otherwise be priced out of the area.”

Through this partnership, Green Canopy and Habitat for Humanity serve as a model for aligning for-profit and nonprofit organizations to develop market-rate land, while accelerating access to affordable, sustainable homes.

“We believe the partnership between Habitat and Green Canopy will set a new standard for homebuilding,” said Brett D’Antonio, CEO of Habitat for Humanity Seattle-King County. “Through private non-profit partnerships we are able to deliver more affordable housing units than we could alone.”

Known for its innovative, highly energy efficient urban infill homes in Seattle and Portland, Green Canopy specializes in unparalleled cost control and project management without compromising on sustainability.

“It is oftentimes a trade-off between sustainable or affordable when it comes to housing,” said Sam Lai, Green Canopy’s cofounder. “We are passionate about unlocking the potential impact of combining our expertise in green building and cost control with Habitat’s expertise in offering homes at a price point that increases accessibility.”

Green Canopy’s stringent green building standards result in homes that are not only better for the environment, but also better for residents’ health. Homeowner’s indoor air quality is improved by using all-electric appliances, low volatile organic compounds (VOCs) products and materials, and through systems like the Energy Recovery Ventilators (ERVs), which bring fresh, filtered air into the homes. Furthermore, the end product simply costs less to operate on a monthly basis than a comparable code-built home.

“Providing all-electric, sustainable, and healthy homes at affordable price points provides a better alternative to the current paradigm of housing,” said Susan Fairchild, Director of Impact at Green Canopy. “Through partnership and collaboration, we believe we can democratize sustainable homes so in time, people at every income level can live in more sustainable and healthy homes.”

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About Green Canopy: Green Canopy is an award-winning urban infill developer and homebuilder specializing in high performing, deep green, all-electric healthy homes. Their mission is to build relationships, businesses, and homes that help regenerate communities and environments. The team at Green Canopy offers development and general contracting services to third party investors, developers, and investment property owners.

About Habitat for Humanity Seattle – King County: Habitat SKC is dedicated to eliminating substandard housing locally and worldwide through constructing, renovating and preserving homes, advocating for fair and just housing policies, and providing training and access to resources to help families improve their shelter conditions. Habitat is founded on the conviction that every man, woman, and child should have a simple, durable place to live in dignity and safety, and that decent shelter in decent communities should be a matter of conscience and action for all.

For more information, please contact:
Susan Fairchild, Green Canopy Director of Impact and Investor Relations
susan@greencanopynode.com

Sam Lai, Green Canopy Cofounder
developmentservices@greencanopynode.com

By Aaron Fairchild

Green Canopy’s Mission:
Building relationships, businesses, and homes that help regenerate communities and environments.

Last year for the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, I wrote that I hoped that observing Earth Day during a time of historic global crisis would perhaps draw greater attention to the need for society to transform to be more just, equitable and resilient. It was an observation that the purpose of Earth Day needs to expand to include justice, equity, diversity and inclusion.

Today, as the dawn broke on the shoreline of spring in America, accountability for the injustice of George Floyd’s murder was served. It reminds me what can be accomplished when a large collective comes to agreement that justice can be achieved, justice in voting and representation, housing, education, policing, health care and the environment. When we come together and demonstrate compassion through accountability for injustice, we create the conditions required for justice in all its forms to emerge into the radiance of our collective demonstration, and we are blessed.

When we collectively exercise restraint of our worst and consumptive impulses, our better versions have more space to emerge throughout our lives.

This ongoing social justice movement offers an opportunity to deepen and expand the original purpose of Earth Day. Created in 1970, “Earth Day is an event to increase public awareness of the world’s environmental problems.”

I believe that examples of aligning environmental and social issues point the way to reconsider what Earth Day should be about. Environmental organizations run the risk of being seen to appropriate social justice issues as merely a means of advancing environmental agendas. Their approach must be grounded in genuine partnership and compassion and focused on the equitable and just behavior of humans in all the environments we occupy.

 Can we adjust the aperture of Earth Day’s intent to be more wholistic and inclusive of social justice, equity, diversity and inclusion?

Throughout the pandemic I have felt hope when seeing several social and environmental impact organizations and projects outwardly share the observation that the environmental movement can and must be more inclusive. Perhaps when looking back fifty years from the future, we will be able to point to this moment of enhanced social justice awareness as the catalyst of greater societal unity and positive transformation across the planet.

Below are data points of hope from many different organizations that highlight positive alignment at the intersection of social and environmental issues.

I look forward to attending both the Nobel Prize, Theater of War production as well as the MoMA exploration!

• Nobel Prize Summit: Our Planet our Future
  Theater of War productions presents at the Summit: Sophocles’ Oedipus the King on Zoom as a catalyst for powerful, constructive, global conversations about climate change, ecological disaster, and environmental justice.

• MoMA Event, 4/22 2:30pm PST: Black Reconstructions: Environmental Justice
  Architecture and community development that explores liberating possibilities for Black communities and how architecture can nurture people and communities.

• Zero Hour: Youth led intersectional solutions to climate change

• Climate Justice Alliance

• Sierra Club: Growing Stronger Together

• LEEP: Building equity from the ground up!

 
Locally:

• Carbon Leadership Forum has written several pieces highlighting the need to focus on the intersection of social justice and regenerative community development and climate change.

• Climate Solutions has been realigning their approach for a number of years now and should be acknowledge as leading many within the environmental movement toward positive social justice and equity outcomes.

  • Climate justice and the movement to end police brutality

  • Black Lives Matter

  • Why solving the climate crisis is more urgent than ever

• Washington Environmental Council should also be highlighted and acknowledge for their broadened awareness

• Washington Nature Conservancy: We're Here For A Resilient Future

• Ecotrust: Forward Progress

• Forterra

• Seattle Foundation

• Social Justice Fund

Natural Flow
af
 
Sit just above a stream, and
Listen to water flow.
Wind dances on your skin, and
Gently tickles tremoring licorice ferns
Up the spine of a mossy maple tree.
Sound, feeling, and movement harmonize
With birdsong blessings
Sprinkled into the air.
Feel this wilderness
Within you
To carry you
Throughout the day.

By Aaron Fairchild

On November 11th of this year, the Presidential election results were still murky and the COVID virus on a rampage. At Green Canopy we celebrate Veteran’s Day. Instead of working, I was doing yardwork in a fog thinking about America’s stark divisions. Truth be told, I was futzing around the yard occupying myself while being concerned, angry and confused about how Americans can hold such opposing views. The common question of the moment comes to mind, “Why can’t we all just get along?!”

Later in the day I received a text from a team member at Green Canopy. He was responding to my earlier Veteran’s Day text thanking him for his service to America in the Marine Corps.

His response,

“Thanks for thinking of me Aaron. When I reflect back on that time, I think of all of the other men I served alongside. We all had different values, political beliefs, and backgrounds and we put all that aside to work together to achieve a common goal. I found magic in that process because it allowed me to look past all those differences to see the person inside. I think that was the first time I realized that most of the time, we have more in common than different.”

And then it occurred to me,

Without the differences that separate us, the sincere gratitude for times when we do come together would be diminished. The fundamental differences between us offer us a gift, if we can receive it, to look beneath those distracting differences and into our shared humanity; the footing of our common bond.

During this Holiday Season I would like to share gratitude for the differences between us and the opportunity they offer us to create safe spaces for each other to come together. Without our differences, life would be less interesting and less colorful, and perhaps if we all shared similar views and experiences, we would not feel the need to go beneath our similarity to more deeply explore ourselves and our shared humanity. Perhaps our differences are the forcing function that offer us the opportunity to live into the better, more substantive version of ourselves.

By Aaron Fairchild

I am excited to share the most inspiring collaborative effort I have been a part of. Goodwill Baptist Church, an African American church in Seattle’s Central District, is hosting a conversation during their Sunday morning service to talk about their community development vision. Their approach and vision has opened my eyes in many ways. You see, I came to my work at Green Canopy through an earnest desire to help resolve the dichotomy between our civilization’s behavior and the environment upon which we rely. As I continue my journey, I become increasingly aware of the many issues facing our civilization. And the most significant of these, I believe, is our difficulty coming together to be whole.

To resolve the dichotomy of the civilized [world] and the wild [environment], we must first resolve to be whole.
- Gary Snyder

This is what people call for when explaining Black Lives Matter. Not that everybody else doesn’t matter, but that society is not whole until we collectively lift up Black lives and bring them into a shared wholeness of opportunity and prosperity. Lifting up the Black Church is a regenerative effort in many aspects. By helping to empower this community to develop their land, we help lift up a cornerstone of the African American culture and contribute to our collective wholeness! Learn more about the importance of the Black Church in the African American culture and why helping the Black Church is so important.
 
I would like to invite you to join this conversation during their normal Sunday service via a Facebook livestream, this Sunday, August 16th at 10am. I hope you can join me in this regenerative effort that expands outward beyond Goodwill Baptist Church. 

RSVP for the Livestream

The Goodwill Baptist Church Development Plan

In 2017 I had the pleasure of meeting Bishop Garry Tyson of Goodwill Baptist Church. He reached out to Green Canopy to discuss a property owned by the church. He shared with me that over the last decade, 12 Black churches in the Central District have felt forced to sell their land as victims of the ongoing epidemic of displacement. At our meeting Bishop Tyson invited me to join him on a journey of empowerment, collaboration and friendship that continues today with routine meetings to identify partners and iterate development approaches. 

Through a collaboration with the College of the Built Environment at the University of Washington, the Nehemiah Initiative, and Green Canopy; Goodwill Baptist has developed a generative approach to help build a more beloved community in the Central District. Goodwill Baptist will develop their property in three phases as an example of what we can accomplish working together. Phase One, at a high level, will focus on affordable housing for families in a deep green apartment building constructed on a their vacant, grass parking lot. Phases Two and Three will focus on sustainable mixed use and mixed income projects.

The development decisions for all three phases are led by the Church and African American led organizations, with the shared desire to hire second chance employees to construct these projects through the general contractor, Square Peg Developers and their partner WELD. Green Canopy will continue in support of Goodwill Baptist and the development team to help ensure the highest degree of quality and sustainability can be most cost-effectively achieved.
 
In order to advance the work of Phase One, the Goodwill Baptist’s development team, led by developer and property manager Urban Black and architect Donald King (members of the Nehemiah Initiative), need to complete the pre-development work. Until now, the work has been a labor of shared commitment. So, Goodwill Baptist Church is seeking charitable contributions to help raise a minimum of $50,000 to complete the pre-development work.
 
I would like to invite you to consider contributing to Goodwill Baptist’s Building Fund and joining us on Sunday’s livestream at 10am.

Contribute to the Building Fund

$50,000, a relatively minor sum, is necessary to fund the initial part of the pre-development work required to complete the community engagement, development plan and concept design. Once there, the church’s development team will continue to raise any additional funds needed to complete the full permit package and pay permitting fees. This will also allow serious conversations for construction and long-term financing to begin. A collective giving effort to help empower this community to develop their land is the first step toward building the broad base of support necessary to activate the Beloved Community of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King’s vision for the Central District and our region.
 
Dr. King’s Beloved Community is a global vision of wholeness, in which all people can share in the wealth of the earth. In Dr. King’s vision of Beloved Community, poverty, hunger, and homelessness will not be tolerated because the structures of our collective human decency will not allow it. Racism and all forms of discrimination, bigotry, and prejudice will be replaced by an all-inclusive spirit of sisterhood and brotherhood; wholeness. Only through the wholeness a beloved community has to offer can the dichotomy of the civilized world and our environment be resolved. The approach that Bishop Tyson has taken is a restoration to wholeness; a beloved community development approach. Contribute and be a part of helping to midwife a future that generations to come will be grateful to inherit.   

Contribute to the Building Fund

RSVP for the Livestream

By Aaron Fairchild

In the heart of Ballard, arguably one of the region’s most opportunity rich communities, seven newly constructed, affordable homes will soon be available to rent for families earning 60% and 80% of the area median income. In partnership with many others, Green Canopy will complete these Net Zero Ready, all-electric, healthy, Built Green certified and affordable homes this summer.

At the front end of the COVID-19 pandemic the crossed the equinox and entered into spring and I wrote,

“As the earth crosses the threshold of equinox into spring, humanity finds itself awakening to the reality that society too is crossing a threshold.”

Shortly thereafter, in the fullness of springtime in bloom, much of America, and many parts around the world, experienced a secondary awakening, crossing yet another threshold. Mr. Floyd’s brutal passing was the moment the world recognizes as a threshold’s leading edge into new societal territory. The future our hearts know is possible, feels possible. The better version of our society and interactions feels possible. I am grateful for those in the streets protesting in favor of ushering in that better version of ourselves. They march for change and transformation, for justice, for equity, for the young, the old, for Black lives, for the left behind, marginalized and excluded; they march for humanity’s better version to bloom.

The work needed to realize this time’s greater purpose takes courage.

Indeed, we are all linked by our common humanity and feel that we must do something. In 2017 Green Canopy officially changed its mission to, We build homes, relationships, and businesses that help regenerate communities and environments. The journey since then has been filled with learning how to navigate rapidly changing markets, learning what regenerating communities requires, and learning how to cost effectively build the best-in-class housing that regenerative communities deserve. It has also been filled with attentive listening into new relationships and deepening existing ones. Through it all I have come to understand that for Green Canopy to realize its full potential, those relationships are the most critical component to our regenerative approach.

In this moment, can we let go of fear, listen and collectively focus on what action is needed to create more equitable, healthier, and resilient communities and relationships?

Taking the difficult yet necessary steps to explore the white supremist American culture begins with the listening and vulnerability required to let empathy flow in. From there a personal journey can begin. One that is full of exploration and learning the history that undergirds the present, and how we contribute to injustice and inequity. With lessons learned and relationships built throughout Green Canopy’s history, our team continues to learn and improve its ability to respond with compassion. May we prove ourselves worthy of this work, and may you hold Green Canopy accountable to the work our future requires. Below is but one example of this work.

Can we consider new and more equitable ways to provide for society’s basic needs such as, health, food, housing, education, security, and employment?

In the heart of Ballard, arguably one of the region’s most opportunity rich communities, seven newly constructed, affordable homes will soon be available to rent for families earning 60% and 80% of the area median income. In partnership with many others, Green Canopy will complete these Net Zero Ready, all-electric, healthy, Built Green certified and affordable homes this summer.

These homes were designed far beyond what the basic code requires to accommodate families; five of the units have three bedrooms, and two units have two bedrooms with garages. We are humbled to work with so many aligned partners on this project. The relationships required to produce deep green and affordable homes, utilizing a reverse displacement strategy into an existing community of opportunity, are many and worthy of note. Without the contribution of all of these people and organizations, this project would not have been possible.

With deep gratitude for the work require for change, we would like to thank:

• The Washington State Housing Finance Commission. This group of people deserves special recognition for seeing the vision and quickly organizing to ensure that these deep green units in the heart of Ballard can be offered to families at the 60% and 80% AMI levels. Thank you…you all are amazing!

• Russ Katz with Windermere Real Estate who initiated this project at the beginning – 7 new Net Zero Energy Ready homes were built in our community because of the opportunity you helped bring together.

• Julian Weber and the talented team at JWA, we appreciate the way you demonstrate your values through the innovation of your designs and your own Net Zero Energy office building!

• Malsam-Tsang Structural Engineering for your long-term partnership and consistent, thoughtful approach to structural design.

• The investors in Green Canopy’s Cedar Fund for championing a project at the intersection of your values.

• Urban Black and Kateesha Atterberry for your friendship, guidance and desire to collaborate on making these best-in-class homes available to families in need.

The Future of Homebuilding is here - And it’s Powered by 100% Clean Energy

An alarm was sounded again last week by young people around the world demanding action and change towards addressing our climate crisis. “Systems change not climate change,” marchers’ signs read – a call for not just individuals, but for governments and businesses to shift behaviors and policies. Although the streets have since been emptied of climate strikers, Green Canopy is still marching alongside many who are actively doing the hard work to bring about a new paradigm and new behaviors towards systems change.

One new behavior that we are excited about is Seattle City Council’s recent step towards passing legislation that would remove natural gas from new construction buildings in the city. Green Canopy fully supports this movement beyond fossil fuels, and we have been voluntarily been selling all-electric homes since the sale of our first home in 2010.

“We’re proud of our Seattle Council members for identifying that this is the right thing to do - and the market is ready for this as evidenced by the hundreds of electric homes that we have sold.”

— Aaron Fairchild, CEO

Why does Green Canopy choose to build all-electric homes?

We cannot continue to rely on fossil fuels
Fossil fuels, including coal, oil, and natural gas are currently the world's primary energy source – but they are finite resources and cause irreparable harm to the environment and our communities. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the burning of fossil fuels was responsible for 76 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2017 — It is time to make the shift and build a clean energy future.  The gas we use to cook with and heat our homes is often fracked gas, a significant source of carbon and air pollution. When faced with the choice, building all-electric homes that run on 100% clean energy – sometimes even powered by the sun – is a no-brainer.

All-electric homes are better for your health
The dirty secret of the gas industry is that what is delivered to our homes to heat our homes and cook our food is toxic to our health and our children’s health. When heating our homes or cooking food for our children, we breath in toxins such as carbon monoxide and formaldehyde.  Studies show that this increases the risk of respiratory illness like asthma, especially in children. With our homeowners’ health in mind, we put induction cook stoves into all of our homes. While we know change is sometimes uncomfortable, induction takes advantage of the latest in technology to help you cook faster, with more precision, and the best yet – healthier.

More power costs less
We live in an advanced technological age where increasingly obsolete technology is being replaced by the latest and greatest. Appliances powered by natural gas are an inevitable relic of the past, especially as more powerful technologies already exist and are commonly used. The induction stoves and electric heat pumps in our homes are far more efficient than their gas counterparts, meaning they not only perform better, but save our homeowners money as well, allowing them to spend their money where they want to – not on their energy bills.

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Recently, we partnered with Climate Solutions and Van Wyck and Porter to showcase one of our latest all-electric homes. With pie in hand from 314 Pie, we gathered with our community to demonstrate the benefits of the technology, design, health, and comfort of our all-electric homes.

““We know seeing is believing and highlighting what’s already happening in all-electric home building makes it easier to scale and accelerate solutions to the problem of building emissions. Building emissions are a big focus in addressing climate change and it’s exciting to see how businesses like Green Canopy are leading the way in making all-electric buildings a more accessible reality for communities across Washington State”

— Stephanie Noren, Climate Solutions

Check out some of the photos from our event!

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Green Canopy is humbled to be featured in a newly published Partnership Guide developed by Synergos.  Synergos is a global organization helping to solve complex issues around the world by advancing partnerships between government, business, and local communities. The Businesses as Bridging Leaders guide features case studies from companies including Green Canopy, Unilever, Danone USA, Cargill, Kering and JP Morgan Chase, on how to effectively collaborate with cross-sector partners for positive social impact.

We are thankful for our partnership with the Washington State Housing Finance Commission (WSHFC) as it has allowed us to bring 17% of our homes to market at more affordable and accessible prices compared to standard market rate homes.

By working in collaboration with our many stakeholders and partners we can continue to bring sustainable and healthy homes to market, and at the same time work towards greater market transformation. Our success depends on the commitment and mobilization of many, but especially our impact investors, our real estate agents, our building subcontractors, and our home buyers. Thank you!

We hope this guide serves as a tool for corporations to build stronger partnerships in order to meet the UN's Sustainable Development goals and raise the bar for cultivating trusted relationships.

Green Canopy builds homes, relationships, and businesses that help regenerate communities and environments.

Green Canopy is pleased to announce a new mission statement that has developed from much thought and collaboration.

“Mission statement” is one of the first terms inside startup guides, marketing courses and business plans. It can feel like fluff on an entrepreneur’s checklist of a million-and-one things to manage — a checklist that also includes terms like revenue and retention rate.

And a mission can become fluff that has little real impact internally or externally. Aaron Fairchild, CEO of Green Canopy says, “Where intention and attention go, energy flows.” A mission statement helps set intention and attention, ensures stakeholder alignment, guides strategy, and helps differentiate — creating a sustained competitive advantage and supporting the long-term success of an organization. This has been Green Canopy’s process:

Schedule Space to Review Annually

A mission statement can start to fall flat as company and client needs evolve. To address this, create space with your leadership team to ask questions like:

• Does our mission statement still compel us to go to work in the morning?

• Does our mission statement still encompass all of our current and future plans, is it relevant?

• Does it reflect the organization’s theory of change? 

Generate Ideas with the Board and/or a Small Group of Long-Time Stakeholders

If the answers to the questions above reveal some necessary revising, bring your responses to these questions to your Board of Directors or small group of stakeholders who are invested in the future of your company. Enlisting the consulting services of LIFT Economy to facilitate this process helped Green Canopy ensure all group members had equal opportunity to participate:

1.  LIFT began by surveying the Board and a group of Stakeholders, identifying words and aspects that feel stale or missing

2. LIFT crafted test mission statements based on survey results to rotate around and generate ideas

3. Leadership came together with a group of board members and stakeholders to review, revise and create about three new test mission statements

Take These new Mission Statements to the Entire Team

Every January, the entire Green Canopy gathers together for an entire day to reflect on our mission and values — we call it our “Mission, Vision, Values Retreat.” Getting the whole team’s buy-in on the mission and values helps everyone speak the same language and take ownership of their work and the company. McCarthyConsulting helped facilitate this process so that everyone on our team has equal opportunity to participate.

1. Started with an ice-breaker game to get everyone loosened up and thinking creatively

2. Put up the new mission statements on the wall from the small group brainstorming

3. Gave everyone about five small sticky notes with 10 minutes to place their tags on the words or phrases from each that resonated with them, creating a heat map

4. Took 15 minutes to break up into about five groups (for a company staff of 30+) to write five new mission statements based on the heat map

5. Put the five new statements on the wall and gave everyone 10 more minutes to each place five more sticky notes on the statements and words that resonated with them the most

6. Collected the top three new mission statements based on the heat map

Circle Back with the Board and/or Stakeholders

1. Shared the top three new mission statements with the Board and Stakeholder group 

2. Discussed if one or a combination stands out among the rest based on the theory of change and the direction the company is heading

3. Gave everyone about 15 minutes and paper if needed to individually try out combinations

4. Came together to share and craft the final version (a whiteboard works well for this)

5. Shared with Green Canopy shareholders to vote on and ratify the new mission statement

Share with Staff and Stakeholders

Sharing the final results with staff and stakeholders gives an opportunity to buy-in to the direction of the company once again and fosters a new sense of pride and ownership in the work and company. 

Read more about our process for developing our theory of change, which greatly influenced this process and gave us clarity in our purpose and strategies. We also used a truncated version of this process at our “Mission, Vision, Values Retreat” to re-establish our corporate values for the year and how we want to operate as a team.

By Susan Fairchild | Director of Investor Relations & Impact | Green Canopy

Those who visit the Green Canopy Headquarters will find, in our entryway, a reminder handed down by our CEO’s father. It’s a framed quote by the baseball legend Yogi Berra, reading— “If you aim for nothing, you’ll hit it.”

At Green Canopy, we’re always looking to identify and clearly articulate the direction we’re headed. By doing this, our team and stakeholders come to a shared understanding of goals. We can all take ownership of these goals, and then create a plan of action to make them happen. One way we’ve done this in the past year, is by mapping out our specific “Theory of Change”. A Theory of Change provides a visual roadmap to creating the change we want to see in the world, and provides a target through which we align our strategies, outcomes, and goals.

Green Canopy began this process with the guidance from Jane Reisman, a Social Impact Advisor with over 29 years of experience in strategy and evaluation. Jane has dedicated her life to empowering non-profits, foundations, and systems thinkers with the tools to significantly increase the probability of achieving their desired impact.
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As we embraced doing the deep work* with Jane, the benefits to engaging in the process of developing Green Canopy’s Theory of Change became quite clear:

• Impact Alignment: Key stakeholders buy into and align towards our shared purpose and desired impact.

• Shared Language: Shared language enables key stakeholders – employees, board members, investors, vendors, homeowners, and others to speak with a common voice.

• Metric Alignment: Provides additional structure to which we can align our impact metrics to measure our progress, and learn from both our successes and shortcomings.

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We are pleased to share Green Canopy’s Theory of Change publicly for the first time. We believe in a better future. We invite you to be a part of it. 

Aaron Fairchild, Green Canopy’s CEO recently detailed the Theory of Change at an Empower Happy Hour. Watch Aaron’s presentation here. 

​*“Deep Work” is a concept written about by Cal Newport that he describes as the ability to focus without distraction, master complicated information and produce better results in less time— providing the sense of true fulfillment that comes from craftmanship. 

by Dyesha Belhumeur | Green Canopy Finance Administrative Assistant

“Attacked for being a black man who slept with a white woman” sounds like a headline out of a 1954 newspaper. But it’s 2018, and this is now part of the story for a friend of mine, DaShawn Horne.
 
On the morning of January 20, 2018 DaShawn was attacked with a metal baseball bat, by an 18-year old who found out that his sister spent the night with DaShawn. Just over a week later on January 30, Seattle Time’s Sara Jean Green reached out to the family to document the details, leading to an outpouring of nationwide support on GoFundMe, news publications and blogs.
 
What the articles are missing, though, is DaShawn. I had the pleasure of attending High School with DaShawn and becoming close friends with his sister, allowing me better insight into the type of character he’s embodied over the years I’ve known him. He is a family man who puts his family above all else. And he is a loyal and dedicated friend who treats his friends like family. He is a new father who spends every moment he can making sure his 16-month-old son, Deion, knows his father will always be there. He is a brother who regularly checks in on his siblings, and a son whose mother has displayed an immense amount of strength at a time that would have broken most. He is one of the goofiest people I know, making faces and jokes with a laugh that creates more laughter.
 
One of his uncles sums it up best, “Shawn is a dynamic individual. There are very few people out there who can have people from all different walks of life, backgrounds, races, socioeconomic statuses, and education levels gathered in one room to support him.”
 
When you look at DaShawn, you would not know that he graduated from high school as a honor roll student, that he studied Criminal Justice at Eastern Washington University, or that he worked with the non-profit, AVID, whose mission is “to close the achievement gap” by mentoring underserved kids. Anybody who’s had the pleasure of interacting with DaShawn, would agree that to say, “he didn’t deserve to be blindsided in an act of hatred,” is an understatement. People often try to justify racial attacks by claiming the attacked looked like a “criminal” or a “thug”, but no matter someone’s outward appearance, nobody deserves what DaShawn is going through.
 
The unfortunate and sad reality is that for many black families, this is an all-too-frequent occurrence and everyday fear. As another one of DaShawn’s uncles puts it, “it’s just our turn to go through it,” and the question is simply, “whose family will be next?”.
 
We get tired of attending funerals, visiting hospitals, and posting #RIP hashtags. Every day, black men and women are targeted because of the color of their skin; surveilled, attacked, and killed. Images and stories of black bodies being hurt and destroyed seem to fill our social media and news feeds so much that society has grown numb to these images and their stories. It’s just another article, just another story. African American families should not have to coach our children on how to interact with police to ensure that they return home at the end of each night. “Always make sure your hands are visible; ask before you make any movements; never — for absolutely any reason — run; always make sure you have your ID,” and the list goes on.
 
Racism is systemic and a very-present reality today. It is deeply embedded in every social institution, interaction, and structure within the American society from the micro-aggressions in our day-to-day relations, to a housing-and-zoning system set up to disenfranchise blacks, to a justice system which is rooted in a racist foundation and reliant on black and brown bodies. It is the codependence of policies, practices, and ideas that have established a social construct in which it is not explicitly said, but understood, that the resources, rights, and powers available in this country are to be withheld from black-and-brown people.
 
White America has historically benefited from nearly four hundred years of racist beliefs and structures and largely become blind to its oppressive strength against minority groups. It is our life experiences and influences that shape us as people, our views of the world, and our beliefs, and to shake the weight of these historical constructs takes hard, introspective work. We cannot tackle systemic issues without first identifying our internal biases that shape our actions. We cannot change what happened to DaShawn, but we can take steps to eradicate the systems that perpetuate racism and these acts of hatred.
 
To start this work, support DaShawn’s family as they care for him and his baby, watch the eye-opening documentary 13th on mass incarceration as the current extension of slavery and read the University of Washington's article on how Seattle’s zoning laws stem from segregation and racism.

DaShawn Horne 2010, with son Deion in April of 2017, Deion after a new haircut in January 2018

The last two weeks has been a whirlwind of intentional conversations with like-minded, social purpose organizations. The B-Corps Champions Retreat and the following week of SOCAP17 were both intense conferences of shared themes and desired outcomes. A couple things linger in my mind from these social impact conferences:

• The short distance the social impact investment community has traveled to date and where it is on the arc of its lifecycle trajectory.

• The emphasis on personal improvement.

So how far have we come? My first year at SOCAP was 2009. That was the same year when I first learned about B-Corps companies at the Sustainable Industries Journal forum from Stephanie Ryan of B-Lab. It was directly after SOCAP09, in November of 2009, that Green Canopy bought its first project and our work to build the company began full-tilt and relentless. The first years of Green Canopy were about survival and getting the organization right. Today we have the capacity to expand the scope of our community beyond the Pacific Northwest region. In 2013, we certified as a B-Corps, but my first B-Corps retreat was two weeks ago. This was followed up by SOCAP17, my first year back since 2009. In the eight-year span between first learning about B-Corps companies and SOCAP, and today, this community has grown significantly and become a legitimate investing force and philosophical approach.
 
When looking at the lifespan of contemporary impact investing in the SOCAP17 booklet, the movement is younger than many of us, just turning 40 years old. If we are investing for this generation but also for generations to come, then we are in the infancy of a multigenerational movement determined to continue to grow, learn and transform global society and economy. We are on the early side of the impact investment lifespan for sure. We have a long way to go and the urgency of the issues we are addressing with our labor and capital create impatience on behalf of just about everyone in this community. Throughout both conferences it felt like most people were understandably feeling the impatience of our youthful movement. Like we just want to be older and more mature than our short 40-years will allow.
 
And then when we couple our youthful impatience with the urgency our work demands, impatience compounds. Which, perhaps, is the reason so many conversations at both conferences discussed the importance of personal, emotional, and spiritual growth in the practice of social entrepreneurship and impact investing. If the antidote to anger is patience, then the lack of patience leads to anger. The importance of love in our work requires patience, yet patience decidedly lacks urgency. Perhaps in order to productively hold this dichotomy through the transition to a new paradigm, a focused determination that allows for grace and patience when organizing with a sense of urgency requires each of us to develop increased mindfulness within swirling storms.

Celebrating our collective “wins” and taking stock of our successes happened throughout both conferences as well, and from my perspective there is a lot to celebrate in the progress we have collectively made in just the last eight years. When I first learned about B-Corps companies in 2009, there were 205 certified B-Corps, in 28 states and in 54 industries. Today there are 2,310 certified B-Corps, in 50 countries and in 130 industries. SOCAP has tripled in size and become an international affair. It is drawing investment firms representing more capital than most people seemed to think possible just a few years ago. Bringing values into our investment analysis continues to seem obvious once seen; like suddenly being able to see a number hidden within the page of little colored dots. The more people’s eyes identify that opportunities to make money work for positive change are hidden in plain sight, the more obvious it becomes that when we direct our resource toward changing the world for better, the world indeed gets incrementally better.
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I am entirely grateful to be part of this community and movement, and I look forward to continuing with the dual edge of graceful patience and urgency, toward building and investing in the future we believe in.

"Transparency, accountability are no longer fringe ... We are seeing a surge of leaders who want to have a platform to influence the greater good." -Bart Houlahan, B Corporation | SOCAP17

by Aaron Fairchild, CEO

At the September 14 Built Green Conference, I moderated the panel, Exclusionary to Inclusionary: How can we make our region inclusive, resilient, and vibrant, with Seattle mayoral candidates, Jenny Durkan and Cary Moon, as well as City Council candidate Teresa Mosqueda, and Sightline founder Alan Durning. It was an honor to moderate this discussion. It was made even more poignant by the passing of my father the night before after nearly a 10-year struggle with Alzheimer’s. He would have been proud to see me moderating a discussion with such a powerhouse group. I did my best during the discussion to channel the thoughtfulness he demonstrated throughout his life. I would like to thank the panelists for their time and contribution, and for helping to make an otherwise difficult day, one of inspiration! ​

Here are a few thoughts I took away from the conversation. 
All the panelists agreed that up-zoning or at least allowing townhomes, duplexes and triplexes, and row-houses onto our exclusively zoned SFR lots within the city is something that should be pursued. I also learned there was broad agreement that the permitting process at the city should be streamlined and explored for greater efficiency in processing permits. The last thing that became quite apparent was that: 

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“we all agreed that our vibrant city will only remain so if we can maintain income diversity where it currently exists within our neighborhoods and bring it back to our city’s more desirable and “exclusive” neighborhoods. ​”

— Aaron Fairchild

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I don’t typically endorse candidates, however, given the conversation, I would like to humbly offer my thoughts on these candidates and on Alan as a panelist. ​

Alan Durning was a Vesuvius of knowledge; bright, red hot and over-flowing with intense clarity and of course, humor. 

Jenny Durkan exudes focused energy aligned with her past and progressive vision of Seattle’s future. Seattle would be well served with her as mayor. 

Teresa Mosqueda was a power provider, articulate, earnest and buoyant. I can whole heartedly endorse her candidacy and sincerely hope that Seattle will benefit from her leadership in the near future. 

Cary Moon is heart and meaning and brings unassuming positivity together with pragmatic approaches for progress. Seattle would be well served with her as mayor. ​

When doing a quick read on Wikipedia about Bertha Knight Landes (October 19, 1868 – November 29, 1943), I discovered she “was the first female mayor of a major American city, serving as mayor of Seattle, Washington from 1926 to 1928. She is to date Seattle's only female mayor.” 

These three powerful women candidates honor Ms. Landes’ memory and life through their current and future efforts. I am looking forward to seeing the last line in the Wikipedia page updated to read, “She was Seattle’s only female mayor, until 2017.” 

You can watch the condensed footage of the discussion on the Built Green website. 

Green Canopy relies on Built Green to provide rigorous green building standards. Green Canopy utilizes their standards to certify our homes as Built Green Certified. On an annual basis the Built Green Conference provides builders, developers and real-estate agents cutting-edge information on green building and sustainability. Thank you Master Builders Association and Built Green! 

Photo Credit: Built Green and Alabastro Photography

When Green Canopy began, our region was in the grips of a housing crisis. Streets were filled with “for sale” signs that wouldn’t budge. It seemed as though everyone wanted to sell before the market dropped further, and that no one really wanted to buy a home. Green Canopy’s solution was to acquire existing homes and deeply remodel them as certified Built Green Remodels for sale. The Company’s mission is, and has been since that time, to inspire resource efficiency in residential markets. Remodeling existing homes using sustainable methods and materials and certifying the home Built Green, was at the time the most viable and sustainable method for accomplishing the mission during the last housing crisis. However, as the market began to shift, Green Canopy began feeling the symptoms of a new emerging market crisis. Today’s housing crisis is a result of a shortage of supply and there are more people looking to buy than there are homes to acquire. The market economics have changed, making it no longer viable to buy homes, remodel them to a rigorous green building standard and remain in business. Rather than bemoan the current market, Green Canopy can now lean into its mission with a greater sense of purpose.

Green Canopy’s homes are nearly three times more energy-efficient than the average Seattle home.
It is difficult to achieve the same efficiency in an older home that you can when building a new home. A Green Canopy home includes energy-saving appliances, optimized heating and cooling systems, and is built with air-sealing, insulation and a design that helps to properly regulate the temperature of the home. Even if an old home is renovated with the same benefits, the efficiency of the remodeled home cannot match the efficient structures of a new Green Canopy home.
 
Building more homes on each lot is more resource efficient and helps to preserve the bioregion around us.
By optimizing each lot in the city, we can slow down the rapid expansion and sprawl that is inevitable as our cities continue to grow in population. By keeping our housing dense within the cities, we can continue to enjoy the beauty of the landscape around us and survive on the resources that it supplies us with. Shy of this, the metropolitan area will more rapidly sprawl and it will be harder to preserve the surrounding natural resources that we rely on. Adding density is simply one of the most resource efficient things Green Canopy can do. ​

Making the most use of each build-able lot helps to offset the negative impacts of gentrification and displacement. In a very short period of time we have become acutely aware that there are not enough housing options to equitably support our population. An emphasis on increased density is intensely important given that demand is forecasted to continue growing relative to supply.  A sustained increase in demand will likely continue to drive prices up, and moderate- and low-income households further out unless we build more housing in all areas of the city. Building more homes on each lot, allows us to offer more resource efficient and well-built homes to a broader variety of occupants.

 
The previous structures that Green Canopy deconstructs, is salvaged and repurposed.
Although the Company no longer exclusively remodels existing homes, most of the existing structures that are deconstructed get to live on in other projects within the community. In 2014, we began a deconstruction company to learn what it takes to manage responsible deconstruction of existing homes. After training the team and taking apart three projects piece-by-piece, the team learned that it was simply not cost effective to continue in that manner. , As a result, the Company worked to build lasting relationships with local organizations to selectively harvest reusable material from existing homes. By adding only one or two more days to the process, the materials include embedded infrastructure like floor and wall-framing members, not just old door nobs, or cabinets. Today, the company works with groups like Ballard Reuse and 118 Design to recycle, reuse and repurpose materials from existing homes.
 
118 Design is a part of Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission; their program works with young men (ages 13 — 26) in the Rainier Valley to decrease gang membership in Seattle.  The young men in the 118 Street Outreach program transform broken and discarded lumber into quality, urban inspired, one-of-a-kind furniture.
 
Their Street Outreach program offers:

• Internships

• Technical job skills training

• Workplace environment education

• Business and entrepreneurial classes

• Leadership and role model opportunities

• Mentors and counseling services

• Accountability and drug testing

 
Additionally, Green Canopy can occasionally offer the neighbors of an existing home an opportunity to claim items from the home to reuse and repurpose before these other organizations gain access. A few items that neighbors have been excited to reclaim have been: kitchen cabinets, a farm-house sink and vintage light fixtures, etc.

Where Exactly Do Our Deconstruction Materials Go?
Taken from a sampling of three of our projects, this is where we have donated and diverted waste from the landfills to (see individual waste diversion reports here):

•    Asphalt Shingles: Evergreen Shingle Recycling, CDL
•     Construction Debris: Clean Scapes, CDL
•    Crown Molding: Ballard Reuse
•    Washer Dryer: Ballard Reuse
•    Lath: 118 Design
•    Clean Wood: 118 Design
•    Siding: 118 Design
•    GWB: New West GWB, Resource Recovery
•    Metal: Recycling Depot, Seattle Iron and Metal, CDL
•    Wood: Ballard Reuse, Port Townsend Paper
•    Windows: Habitat for Humanity
•    Brick: Dirt Exchange
•    Concrete: Renton Concrete Recyclers
•    Cardboard: CDL
•    Land Clearing: Dirt Exchange
•    Rock and gravel: Dirt Exchange

We continue to inspire resource efficiency by salvaging architecture and have taken the necessary steps to get even better at it. When we started, it looked like remodeling; now it needs to be mindfully crafting more well-built, eco-friendly homes for a vibrant and diverse city. 
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Learn more about how to Recycle Construction & Demolition Materials
Summer is just around the corner and that means the building season will soon be in full swing. Do you know how to properly dispose of the waste materials from your projects? Please join us on June 29th to hear from two speakers who will provide strategies to manage construction and demolition materials sustainably and legally. Kinley Deller from the King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks’ Solid Waste Division will talk about existing and forthcoming codes regarding recycling and disposal of these materials, and Justin Hooks, Vice President of Construction Planning at Green Canopy Homes, will offer tips for reaching a 100% recycling rate in your projects. The event is sponsored by the King County Department of Permitting and Environmental Review.

When: Thursday, June 29th  11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Where: Snoqualmie Falls Room at King County Department of Permitting and Environmental Review office, 35030 SE Douglas Street, Suite 210, Snoqualmie. 
Who: This event is open to the public and will be especially helpful to contractors
Cost: Free & lunch is provided

Mission Metrics: Case Studies on Impact Part 2
Written By: Aaron Fairchild, CEO of Green Canopy

Green Canopy’s neighborhood engagement started with our first home in West Seattle in 2010. We painted the home a shade of green that our neighbors rejected immediately and publicly via social media. We were taken aback. This certainly wasn’t the “impact” that we had hoped for. Our nascent team had just begun working together with a mission to inspire and this quickly became a moment to listen and learn.  We invited all of our neighbors to meet onsite and tour the construction project and vote on the color to repaint the home. This was our first opportunity to talk to the community about our mission, gather feedback and learn more about our neighbors, their values and, of course, a better choice for paint color.

Since that time Green Canopy has increased its commitment to neighborhood engagement in a number of ways. The company has hosted barbecues, sponsored block parties, held educational events on green building, hosted happy hours highlighting local non-profits, and more. The company has also programmatically adopted the Community Color Program to select the color palette that we use to paint every home.  Additionally, in 2012 the company formalized our introduction to the neighborhood with a “Meet the Builder” community meeting. This is neither required by the cities in which we build, nor embraced by the associations to which we belong. The Green Canopy Meet The Builder community meetings represent an early chapter in the story of every project, helping to set the tone once construction begins and ultimately ensuring greater community inclusion and consideration than otherwise.
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The Green Canopy Meet the Builder community meeting is designed to introduce the company and our mission to inspire resource efficiency to the neighborhood; Green Canopy is a very different type of infill homebuilder. We flyer and mail invitations to the community to join us for an evening event that typically takes place in a local community center or library. During this event, the Green Canopy team introduces the company and team members. We put ourselves out there to receive input and feedback and to answer questions about construction, timelines and what to expect. 
 
Over the years we have met with hundreds of neighbors and learned so much about the communities in which we build. We have opened our projects to external influence, and while we can’t always accommodate, we always ask and listen with respect. 

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​In October of 2014 we layered into the Green Canopy Meet the Builder community meeting, an online neighborhood survey. Since that time, we have held over 20 community meetings and received results from 15 communities with responses from over 100 neighbors in Portland and Seattle. Once the surveys have been completed we process neighbor’s responses and send all responses back to the community members that filled out a survey. The responses are shared anonymously; yet when we review these results we receive highly informative feedback, which we use to learn, adapt and inform the Green Canopy team about the unique story of every community in which we build.  
 
For the first time, we are producing the results of the community surveys from which we have learned so much – they are full of critique, feedback and grace - take a look for yourself and let us know what lessons you learn in the comments below!

Download Green Canopy's Community Survey Responses to learn more about the communities in which we work.