Build Urban Prosperity

Not only does Build UP give low-income youth excellent secondary and postsecondary education, it also provides workforce development in the form of high-quality paid apprenticeships that lead to licensure in the construction and real estate sectors. At the end of six years in Build UP’s full-time program, graduates take over the deeds to the duplexes they renovate, accruing wealth as homeowners and earning income as landlords. By giving adolescent, predominantly Black teenagers the inner and external resources to bloom where they have been planted, Build UP stabilizes and reinvigorates poor inner-city communities through its graduates’ collective impact.

Build UP solves the concatenated problems of failing schools and inadequate workforce development (i.e., insufficient pathways to the middle class), urban blight, dilapidated housing, meager local employment opportunities that provide family-sustaining wages, lack of social capital, racial wealth disparities, and brain drain, These problems are chronic because they are not separable. They are so intertwined that solving one of these problems requires simultaneously addressing all the others. Such a comprehensive approach is the only hope for stabilizing and revitalizing poor inner-city communities.

Low-income youth spend six years in Build UP’s full-time program, starting after 8th grade. Half their time is in an academic setting; their learning is directly applicable to their work as paid apprentices in the construction and real estate sectors. While rehabbing abandoned multifamily units and relocating donated homes otherwise destined for landfills, they earn a high school diploma and an associate’s degree in a field of their choice.  

Once they have 1) secured jobs paying family-sustaining wages, 2) launched their own small businesses, or 3) matriculated at four-year universities, graduates take over the deeds to the rehabbed properties, simultaneously becoming homeowners and landlords. They build wealth through zero-interest mortgages and earn passive income from the rental property. This helps foster a social and economic safety net that diminishes racial wealth disparities and reverses the brain drain many communities experience when promising leaders seek educational opportunities elsewhere and never return.

Our solution changes the trajectories of low-income, predominantly Black students aged 14–18 by

• offering high-quality education—a high school diploma and an associate’s degree, which they earn without taking on debt—that prepares them for a four-year university, should they choose that path, while teaching them to think clearly, judge wisely, communicate effectively, and become responsible, engaged citizens and community members;

• supplying workforce training, skill building, connections to social and financial capital through mentors and industry experts, and paid apprenticeships that provide real-world responsibilities and result in licensure in the construction or real estate sectors, which, in turn, lead to jobs with industry partners that pay family-sustaining wages, or the pursuit of entrepreneurial opportunities, with Build UP providing resources that help students flesh out their idea for a new venture, build a business model, and create an operating budget;

• enabling students, upon graduation, to take over the deeds to two interest-free homes they have renovated—one owner-occupancy unit and one rental earning passive income.

With a good education, real-world skills, and reliable pathways to the middle class, Build UP graduates have a powerful incentive to stay in and contribute to the flourishing of communities in which they grew up.

Our solution tackles the interconnected problems of failing schools, inadequate workforce development, job insecurity, and lack of access to career-enhancing networks by providing

affordable, high-quality, career-focused, education: students graduate debt-free upon completion of high school and associate’s degree coursework featuring personalized pathways, competency-based learning, an culturally relevant pedagogy, as well as mental health and character development supports;

robust workforce development combining in-class learning with hands-on skill building:  by collaborating on real-world projects with tradespeople and industry experts helps students acquire the social and financial capital that lead to high-wage jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities.

Build UP's singular innovation is the collaboration with which we partner to tackle our comprehensive challenges. Build UP's team is comprised of 21 full-time staff and 3 part-time staff, but across the additional five non-profits we have launched in support of the work and the 40+ community partners we rely on to execute aspects of the works, the number of team members effectively investing in our youth and communities reaches into the hundreds, in Birmingham alone. Additionally, we have a seven-member governing board, 30+ advisory board members, and dozens of contractors who work alongside our youth making them future ready.

Build UP’s staff of 24 includes 17 people of color. Eighty percent of the senior staff and 66% of our teachers are people of color. Our guiding principles include 

• the belief that an interdisciplinary approach situating academic programs alongside work-based learning that makes classroom concepts engaging and immediately applicable is more appropriate for disadvantaged students for whom  a traditional school is not an option because they find it boring, confusing, or frustrating; 

• the belief that because centuries of systemic efforts to exclude the most marginalized people in America have led to massive racial wealth gaps, redressing this inequity requires some measure of asset-building and wealth-accumulating ownership; and

• the belief that the words of a Burundian proverb, That which you do for me, without me, you do to me, are well worth heeding if we want to avoid Outside Reformer’s Disease.

The comprehensive and collaborative nature of Build UP’s solution makes it stand out among poverty alleviation programs offering single-sector remedies to systemic problems. Innovation certainly does not always emerge as a digital solution, but often as a return to the past and what works: experts in their field apprenticing youth to solve problems. Additionally, another critically important element Build UP constantly employs is the questioning of long-accepted practices that continue to perpetuate the status quo. Six total non-profits have emerged from a singular idea of how to bring sustained and dignified community revitalization.

Our solution tackles head-on such educational and workforce training–related failures as the racial wealth inequities that trap generation upon generation of poor teenagers of color in poverty and despair. In addressing these problems, our solution also diminishes the community-wide impact of problems including dilapidated housing, urban blight, concentrated and intergenerational poverty, deteriorating social fabric, and disempowered local leadership. These problems are complex and mutually reinforcing; they require a complex, multi-sector response. 

Catalytic, cross-sector partnerships enable us to execute on the complexity of our model, which engages a large and diverse set of community stakeholders—from private industry employers, to nonprofit mental health providers, to municipal governments in the work of guiding and supporting the adolescents who move through our program. So for Build UP, collaboration is the new innovation.

An innovative educational pedagogy is a key piece of our model—to give an example, Build UP developed virtual reality software to span the gaps of the digital divide and safely release responsibility picture of a power tool and holding one in hand. This gaming curricula both meets today's youth where they are, combining their passions and comforts, to help build construction knowledge, safety, and practice in the virtual realm. This curricula has become even more promising with the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 and subsequent virtual learning requirements. 

Geometry In Construction curriculum, which takes core math concepts from the two dimensional realm to the relevant and applicable realm of a construction job site, employing a discovery-based learning approach to teach concepts that are fundamental to the building sector. With problems as complex as poverty and urban blight, however, a single-sector solution can never fully remedy the problem. 

Cross-sector partnerships are our core technology because they expose our students to role models, experts, and ideas that are often limited or nonexistent when deploying siloed solutions or single-sector actors. Build UP youth meets hundreds of community members, many of whom have the same skin tone, childhood experiences, and geographical home as our students. These community members augment classroom teachers’ impact by providing wraparound support. They also introduce our students to the nuances of the world of work—increasing their knowledge, teaching them the wisdom of lessons learned, and building their social capital as they meet mentors and leaders who can open doors to a larger role and a brighter future for them.

The following outcomes speak to the power of our curricular collaborations: The initial cohort (20 students) achieved tremendous success in the pilot year (2018-2019). These students achieved on average 6-10% points of English, Math, and Reading growth on the nationally normed MAP assessment, and earned on average 2 industry-recognized credentials each and up to 6 postsecondary hours through partner institutions. The students also completed the renovation of our first 2 pilot homes, which Build UP youth and their families are now living in—renting, maintaining, and contributing to the revitalization of Ensley. 

Build UP’s most recent innovative development is the “Donate-A-House” program. This home moving program allows OTM residents to donate houses (rather than demolish) to be moved to a developing Birmingham neighborhood such as Ensley or Titusville, benefiting LMI residents and creating a national model for sustainable, collaborative & dignified homeownership.

1. This program costs 1/3 of typical renovations and is the only known method of delivering dignified, affordable home ownership to economically depressed communities where tenable housing market values fall below $40 per square-foot. Build UP’s housing relocation program results in out-of-pocket costs at or below $35 per square-foot for like-new, high-end renovated homes. This innovation fast-tracks programmatic sustainability to be reached even quicker. 

Inputs

• Team members and faculty

• Partners from industry for-profits as well as from universities, nonprofit mental healthcare providers, faith-based organizations, and governmental agencies

• Appropriate space—large and small classrooms, workspaces outfitted with construction industry relevant tools and technology so that students can learn to them,library and study spaces

• Dilapidated houses and blighted lots that have been given or sold at low prices to Build UP

• Houses that have been donated to Build UP instead of being demolished by the owner in order to build a larger home on the same lot

• Secure philanthropic and investment capital to design, launch, and deliver the program 

Activities

• Design the competency-based, career focused academic program

• Design paid apprenticeships in the construction and real estate industries and recruit industry partners to fund and run them

• Recruit other cross-sector partners, including mentors and mental healthcare providers

• Recruit and select students

• Rigorously evaluate student progress and program effectiveness

• Strengthen relationships with philanthropic and network partners; maintain regular communication to keep them apprised of news and development

Immediate Outputs

• Year 1’s cohort of 20 students complete their academic coursework, acquire career-relevant hard and soft skills and connections while clearing blighted lots and renovating home their paid apprenticeships, during which they also gain experience managing money

• Students develop socio-emotional maturity interacting with peers and mentors who support them and help them to imagine a future in the world of work

• Year 2’s cohort is selected

• Student and program evaluations, in addition to conversations with partners, provide insights about how to tweak the curriculum and training

Short-Term Outcomes

• Year 1 cohort advances to the second year of the program

Build UP is launching it's first in-state expansion site and deciding upon our first out-of-state expansion site over the next year, with Cleveland, Ohio, Memphis, Tennessee, and New Orleans, Louisiana in the running. 

Build UP will be leveraging its learning to not only scale 25 additional Build UP sites nationally by 2025, but to also inspire and equip like-minded efforts to radically change the way we educate youth and revitalize blighted neighborhoods in America. Build UP will strive to be an open book, with literal open-source resources and learnings, to help facilitate others’ learning in ways that encourage bold, innovative replication. By provided a Replication Manual which will be used to franchise the model, offering a one-year in-house residency training program, and semiannual weeklong Build UP bootcamps, we will be capable of rapid expansion and realistic scaling. 

After 15 years in K-12 public education in some of the nation's most segregated and poorest schools, CEO Mark Martingrew frustrated by the few tools educators had to shift outcomes for the most deserving youth. While earning a doctorate of education leadership at Harvard, his frustration grew more intense. This led him to launch Build UP, which, based on the Swiss Dual-Education system, combines high-quality learning experiences, including career-focused postsecondary education, and real workforce skills and experiences acquired under the guidance of industry experts.

In its startup phase, Mark and his team have proven Build UP’s business model, surpassing many targeted outcomes. The Build UP–Ensley pilot site opened after just 12 months of planning and fundraising in Summer 2018, securing $10,000 public tax-credit scholarships for each low-income student (>95% of the student body) and proving both the model’s agility and replicability and the site’s financial sustainability. 

The initial cohort (20 students) achieved tremendous success in the pilot year (2018-2019). These students achieved on average 6-10% points of English, Math, and Reading growth on the nationally normed MAP assessment, and earned on average 2 industry-recognized credentials each and up to 6 postsecondary hours through partner institutions. The students also completed the renovation of our first 2 pilot homes, where Build UP students and their families now live.

Build UP partners with 40+ cross-sector organizations to achieve its mission: Jobs For the Future, 3 postsecondary institutions, 8+ financial institutions, 10+ construction companies, 3 mental healthcare providers, and numerous other faith-based, nonprofit, and public sector partners.

Jobs For the Future (JFF) provides strategic guidance drawing 35 years of expertise building cross sector partnerships; supports development of strong aligned career pathways with focus on postsecondary offerings and capacity in relation to labor market need; and provides asset mapping including detailed labor market information for initial expansion site.

Construction industry partners such as Brasfield & Gorrie provide tools and OSHA 10 safety training for Build UP youth, in addition to on-the-ground experience in the construction industry. Build UP also receives in-kind support, such as training and technical assistance expertise; and donated construction materials, such as cabinetry, countertops, fixtures, and hardware pulled from high-end jobs. These in-kind supports not only offset costs. they also align with the school’s community- revitalization, housing-focused educational model. 

Approach for students: Build UP recruits motivated 14-18 year-olds (preferably students from disadvantaged or underrepresented populations) who are looking for culturally relevant, personalized, secondary and postsecondary education, workforce skills training, a professional network, and pathways to the middle class. Build UP’s full program, which lasts 6 years, provides all these elements, in addition to paid apprenticeships in the construction and real estate industries, socio-emotional learning and character development modules, as well as mentoring and regular interaction with mental health providers. 

Approach for acquiring lots and homes and also for owners donating homes: Keeping abreast of the local real estate market, and staying in touch with municipal officials and their lists of abandoned housing, Build UP is given, or purchases at very low cost, dilapidated or abandoned homes and vacant or blighted lots. Staying in touch with realtors, Build UP identifies homeowners looking to tear down an existing home in order to build a new and larger one, explaining to the significant tax advantage of donating the home to Build UP, and paying for the cost of moving it from what is typically a fairly affluent neighborhood to Ensley, where market conditions enable it to be renovated by Build UP and assessed at a value that does not cause Build Up to lose money and is affordable to Ensley buyers.

Financial model: Students’ tuition is 100% subsidized through scholarships that Build Up raises from philanthropy. Program, space renovation, and home and lot acquisition costs are funded by TK.

Multiple streams of braided funds sustain positive cashflow and a stable budget. Notably, Build UP’s most disruptive development has been creating the “Donate-a-House” home relocation program. This program costs 1/3 of typical renovations and is the only known method of delivering dignified, affordable home ownership to economically depressed communities where tenable housing market values fall below $40 per square-foot. Build UP’s housing relocation program results in out-of-pocket costs at or below $35 per square-foot for like-new, high-end renovated homes. This innovation fast-tracks sustainability to be reached even quicker.

Another income stream is rent from Build UP families, capitalizing on the fact that Build UP families pay rent somewhere, often for sub-standard arrangements. Students in the “practice-homeownership” period, the time between when they complete homes and when they graduate and take ownership, are able to live in the homes they collectively rehabbed. This period serves: as training for students to learn the burdens and responsibilities of being homeowners and landlords; as a source of recurring revenues for the program; and an opportunity for Build UP families to enjoy high- quality affordable housing for less than their sub-standard rent. Due to the revenue generation of the properties, refinancing renovated project houses, and the eventual sale of properties at-cost to Build UP graduates, there are numerous income streams that make long-term sustainability feasible. 

Build UP is funded through braiding a variety of revenue sources, public, private, and philanthropic, but it is not dependent on any one source, which is critical to our ability to adapt to a variety of unique communities and policy environments. Build UP is financially and programmatically supported through partnerships with organizations including the Fannie Mae Foundation, the Walton Family Foundation, the Drexel Fund, Blight Free Birmingham, and the Mike & Gillian Goodrich Foundation. 

Build UP also receives in-kind support, such as training and technical assistance expertise and donated construction materials, such as cabinetry, countertops, fixtures, and hardware pulled from high-end jobs. These in-kind supports not only offset costs but also align to the school’s community-revitalization, housing-focused educational model. 

The total budget for this project year is $3,424,444 over the course of July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021.

Cross-sector partnerships provide youth the necessary exposure to role models, experts, and ideas that are often otherwise limited or nonexistent when only deploying siloed solutions and single-sector actors. Build UP youth meet hundreds of community members, many of whom reflect the same skin-tone, childhood experiences, or geographical home as our students, who share knowledge and wisdom with them while also exposing them to the many nuances of this world of work. This exposure both increases our students’ knowledge of the world around them and of past lessons learned, while also growing their social capital as they step into the arena and meet leaders and mentors who will open metaphorical doors and provide experienced advice down the road. Cross-sector partnerships allow Build UP to provide wrap-around support for students while preparing them to become the future talent of the workforce and leaders of their community.