Let's build a tool lending library in Whittier!

The BAM Institute of Civic Biodesign received the South Dakota Community Foundation’s Big Ideas Grant, totaling $100,000, to back the development of the Community Revitalization Collective, a project that was brought to life through a series of conversations between members of Habitat, UGM, BAM, and other community organizers. Our first neighborhood we are focusing on is Whittier and we are going to be embedded in the former Red Sea Pub/Smoe’s as a base of operations.

Rather than a simple office, we dared to launch a shop to build projects from, right in the neighborhood. From its conception this past summer, the CRC has always been about action. With the first meeting and walk-about, we ended up moving several trailer loads of garbage from a garage so a elderly woman would not get evicted. By working out of a space with a tool library, we can immediately deploy projects as well as offer practical resources for area residents.

The opportunity of renting 921 E 8th St. came about late last year. Sarah Lindemulder was in need of a yoga studio to ground her business. I knew of the newly purchased space on 8th and made the suggestion that perhaps she could rent the upstairs and BAM would rent the basement. We danced around the idea for a few months and then finally made the commitment. (The Joy Collective yoga studio has their grand opening March 25th, we would love to welcome you there.)

We then held our first of many community potlucks on February 11th. In attendance was Jim Burzynski, who came to BAM with the idea of opening a tool library in the basement and incubating the concept until it became its own independent organization. BAM has always been about collaboration, so naturally we jumped at the idea.

So, this is where you come in. We need help raising funds to back the rent of the space and allow us the runway to make the CRC, the tool library, and other projects sustainable initiatives in the core of the city.

We are raising an initial $25,000. This will help us get the Sioux Falls Tool Library up and running for the spring and ensures our rent is covered for the next 2 years. This summer, we will be deploying incremental projects and hosting 50 potlucks and 10 community forums. In 3 years, we hope to have collectively raised $1,000,000 to be used by Whittier residents and stakeholders to deploy the projects of their choosing. Think of it as neighborhood participatory budgeting.

What is a tool library?

A tool library is a non-profit organization that lends out tools and equipment to members of the community for a nominal fee or for free. The library operates on the principle of sharing resources and knowledge, and it provides access to tools that may be expensive to purchase or may not be used frequently enough to justify buying them.

Members of a tool library can borrow a wide range of tools, including power tools, hand tools, gardening equipment, and other specialized tools for various projects. The library may also offer workshops and training sessions to help members learn how to use the tools effectively and safely.

Tool libraries are often run by volunteers and rely on donations from the community to operate. They promote sustainability by reducing waste and helping people repair and maintain items instead of replacing them. Furthermore, tool libraries promote community building by bringing people together and providing a space for sharing knowledge and skills.

What is the Community Revitalization Collective?

The CRC is an emerging cross-agency collaboration focused on the future wellness of the Whittier neighborhood in Sioux Falls, SD. This aging neighborhood has had disproportionate challenges over the last 35 years, as it is the main location that serves the houseless population in the city. Most of the city’s services are located in an area under 7 acres along 8th Street. Zoomed out, none of these issues originate in this area, but rather at the decisions of our city and region. For instance, the prison and jail actively send released inmates to this area to receive these services. Additionally, the neighborhood is bordered by the largest gentrification projects in the city's history. The CRC will connect the dots for the neighbors and the city as a whole system.

The Community Revitalization Collective will build human and biocapacity in the neighborhood through the human-centered process of empathy, defining, ideating, prototyping, and testing. We will partner with neighbors and surrounding agencies, like Habitat for Humanity, Helpline 211, and the Union Gospel Mission, to alter the built environment using regenerative strategies to build wellness into the system. Additionally, the CRC emergent leaders will identify and develop new neighborhood leaders so the area can lead from within. These future projects could look like gardens, bus stop benches, plazas, murals, community centers, and maker spaces.

We will be directly working with the neighborhood to rectify the massive economic, education, and race disparities in this neighborhood, and as a result, in the whole city.

The first year will be focused on understanding the Whittier neighborhood’s human and environmental ecology is essential to the program's success. Much of this year will focus on increasing collaboration and building a network between local agencies, nonprofits, and the City of Sioux Falls. This is to get an idea of the problems in the area and to generate potential projects to address the problems.

We will:

Conduct monthly open forums for the neighborhood at various high pedestrian traffic locations.

Gather door-to-door feedback from our neighborhood walks

Host quarterly potlucks or block parties to further understand the neighbors

Meet weekly with the CRC team to brainstorm, ideate, and prototype solutions.

What is the BAM Institute of Civic Biodesign?

The BAM Institute of Civic Biodesign is a higher education organization dedicated to raising emergent leaders who deploy whole-system, regenerative strategies through immersive learning in embedded community contexts. Civic Biodesign is the practice of studying, mapping, and synthesizing systems where nature and humans meet to create conditions for wellness in specific bioregions. Just recently, we received the South Dakota Community Foundation’s Big Ideas Grant to develop the Community Revitalization Collective within the Whittier Neighborhood of Sioux Falls, SD.

What is the Quality of Life Framework?

Neighborhood revitalization recognizes the holistic nature of neighborhood priorities to create change across multiple sectors. In order to create change that leads to an improved quality of life, Habitat created the Quality of Life Framework. Through our partnership with Habitat for Humanity Sioux Falls, we are working with their Neighborhood Revitalization Department to deploy the Quality of Life Framework right here in Sioux Falls. Based on learnings from Habitat affiliates and other community development experts, the Quality of Life Framework was developed to serve as a customizable and comprehensive approach to understand how the ultimate goal, an improved quality of life, can be achieved in a neighborhood. The Quality of Life Framework is Habitat’s hypothesis on how systemic and sustainable change happens in a neighborhood.

In order to create change that leads to an improved quality of life, community efforts focus on three foundational outcomes:

- Sense of community: Identifying with the neighborhood, feeling connected and supporting one another.

- Social cohesion: Being willing and able to work together.

- Collective action: Sustaining ongoing projects and advocacy efforts.

Focusing on the three foundational outcomes increases motivation and capacity to overcome barriers to sustainable change.

What is the Whittier Neighborhood Resource Library?

The CRC and Sioux Falls Tool Library will operate out of the Whittier Neighborhood Resource Library, a neighborhood storefront for gathering and organizing, and in collaboration with the Sioux Falls Tool Library. This space will be focused on providing resources and services to support community members in taking action on social, economic, and political issues that affect their neighborhood. This space will provide resources such as information, training, and tools that help community members develop the skills and knowledge needed to take action on issues that are important to them.