{"id":238782,"date":"2010-01-27T16:00:13","date_gmt":"2010-01-27T21:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/apolloalliance.org\/?p=1320"},"modified":"2010-01-27T16:00:13","modified_gmt":"2010-01-27T21:00:13","slug":"green-affordable-housing-in-indian-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/238782","title":{"rendered":"Green Affordable Housing in Indian Country"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/a>\"\"<\/a>Green Affordable Housing in Indian Country is a \u201chands-on\u201d green-construction training program involving Native American tribes in the upper Midwest, architects and landscape architects, builders and contractors, and students and faculty from the Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe Community College and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The project is oriented toward community development on Indian reservations through technology transfer and job skills training in sustainable housing construction techniques based on natural systems, organic materials, local labor, and energy efficiency.<\/span><\/p>\n

The project began in 2002, when leaders of the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Ojibwa invited the University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Landscape Architecture to participate in a \u201ccommunity planning and design initiative that would address the need for affordable housing while preserving their natural and cultural resources.\u201d\u00a0 Faculty and staff from the university worked with representatives from community planning, housing, social services, and natural resource programs to create an economically, ecologically, and culturally appropriate plan for developing new housing and community facilities on the reservation. The planning process was open to the community at-large through a series of public workshops to invite feedback on the different plans under consideration. Following approval of the project by the Tribal Council, construction began in 2005. By the end of 2008, 24 new homes had been built.<\/p>\n

The success of the Red Cliff project resulted in requests for similar collaborative efforts in other communities in the region. This led to the creation of the Green Communities and Green Affordable Housing in Indian Country Tech Transfer\/Jobs Training Initiative to disseminate the skills and technology training utilized in the Red Cliff development project. Working with the Madison-based nonprofit architectural and planning group Design Coalition and several other organizations, the UW Landscape Architecture faculty has facilitated workshops to craft development plans in collaboration with several tribes across the upper Midwest, including the St. Croix Ojibwa, the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Superior Ojibwa, and the Mole Lake Sokaogon Ojibwa.<\/p>\n

Green Affordable Housing in Indian Country training sessions consist of community-based workshops and the development of one or two model projects under the direction of experienced builders and contractors. In this way, program coordinators are \u201ctraining the trainers\u201d in construction and design techniques so community residents can have the skills and knowledge to implement further development.\u00a0 Furthermore, the projects themselves provide hands-on training for community members without previous experience in general labor and construction. The Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe Community College, near Hayward WI, has institutionalized this training by joining with the University of Wisconsin, Design Coalition, and Kelly Design Group to expand green building techniques taught through their Sustainable Living Institute and their Alternative Energy and Construction Technology Programs..<\/p>\n

The core of the Green Affordable Housing in Indian Country training content involves the \u201cNorthern Light Straw-Clay\u201d wall construction techniques developed by Design Coalition, which are specifically tailored to promote energy efficiency and cost effectiveness for houses in the Upper Midwest. Training also includes information on wood-efficient framing and specialized construction details; the selection and installation of high efficiency heating; ventilating and hot water systems; green building materials; sustainable site design and storm water issues; solar housing design; electrical wiring; and job site efficiency and safety.<\/p>\n

In addition to sustainable and low-cost construction, another important component of Green Affordable Housing in Indian Country projects is attention to cultural appropriateness in home design. During some of the initial workshops, it became clear to project coordinators that the standard single-family home was not necessarily the most desirable or efficient model for the tribes. Thus, an emphasis on multi-generational housing design became central to the projects. This type of design typically features a larger kitchen and common space, along with additional bedrooms and bathrooms to accommodate the needs of extended family living together. Multi-generational housing has the additional benefits of being cheaper and more energy efficient than multiple single-family homes, because only one system for heating, cooling, and plumbing is needed, and more space is shared.<\/p>\n

More Information:
\n <\/strong>
\n Green Affordable Housing in Indian Country<\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/affordablegreenhousing.org\/admin\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Green Affordable Housing in Indian Country is a \u201chands-on\u201d green-construction training program involving Native American tribes in the upper Midwest, architects and landscape architects, builders and contractors, and students and faculty from the Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe Community College and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The project is oriented toward community development on Indian reservations through […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4764,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-238782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4764"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238782\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}