Let Better Futures recycle your buildings and reduce your project costs. For private owners, deconstruction is typically less expensive than demolition since the donation of building materials to Better Futures results in a tax deduction.
We recycle and reuse:
- Houses
- Commercial buildings
- Appliances
- Kitchens, baths, floors, doors
- Cabinets, windows, fixtures, vinyl siding
- Gently used furniture
- Pipes, wiring, and untreated wood
We offer supervised work crews for:
- Deconstruction
- Property cleaning
- Grounds keeping
For quote or more information please contact:
Tim Hanson, 612-718-6089
thanson@betterfutures.net
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Northwest Area Foundation Tours Better Futures Minnesota
Better Futures Minnesota received a grant from Northwest Area Foundation to grow our training and employment efforts and expand our recycling business.
Last month the foundation's Board members and staff met with some of our participants and toured our warehouse.
Thank you for supporting our enterprise!
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Northwest Area Foundation
Board Members |
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Evaluating the Value and Impact of Better Futures Minnesota
Better Futures has engaged WestEd-a nonpartisan, nonprofit research agency to complete a formal evaluation of our performance and impact. West Ed is on track to complete this analysis by the end of 2015.
The evaluation is collecting and analyzing data for two treatment cohorts and a comparison group for each cohort.
Preliminary data for this evaluation has provided an early glimpse at employment trends for 2011, the first year of Cohort 1's involvement with Better Futures: 
- The employment rate for the treatment group (81%) is almost 60% higher than for the comparison group (50%).
- Men in the treatment group worked almost one-third more hours than men in the comparison group.
- Half of the men enrolled in Better Futures for a year or more were employed for four consecutive quarters.
Other significant findings are that the longer a man is engaged with Better Futures, the more likely he is to be working. And the longer a man is engaged with Better Futures, the less likely he is to return to prison.
We will learn much more from WestEd's evaluation in the coming months. The completed evaluation will provide baseline data about a group of people in our community that are rarely counted in studies measuring poverty and social problems. We will use this analysis to refine and further develop our model and guide the reform of policies and practices. |
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Pay-for-Success Financing
David Butler, Vice President and Timothy Rudd, Research Associate for MDRC were in Minnesota to provide insights about Pay-for-Success financing in New York City. "Paying a social service provider for outcomes and impacts means government agencies receive more value from the investment of scarce tax dollars. That is a win-win for both the service provider and the agency holding the contract," says Butler.
Pay-for-Success reimbursement is designed to improve service effectiveness, participant outcomes, and provider accountability. The financial risk for meeting prescribed outcomes is assumed by the service provider and social investors who provide upfront financing.
Steve Thomas, CEO and President of Better Futures Enterprises states "Pay-for-Success contracting is a smart and effective way to finance social innovations like Better Futures and it assures government a return on its investment."
In 2012, Hennepin County began converting its contract with Better Futures to a Pay-for-Success model. A portion of the current contract is tied to meeting outcomes related to housing stability, employment, health insurance coverage, and lower return rates to prison or jail.
"At Better Futures we are building and testing a new model of success that will have impact on a broad scale. Pay-for-Success contracting is our long term strategy for financing our social innovation" says Thomas.
> Learn more about Better Futures Minnesota
> Learn more about MDRC and their innovative work |
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Webinar on: The Better Futures Model: Improving Employment Opportunities and Outcomes for Justice-Involved Individuals
Peter McLaughlin, Hennepin County Commissioner, Steve Thomas, CEO of Better Futures Enterprises, and Darryl Lindsey, COO of Better Futures Minnesota presented a webinar to National Association of Counties (NACo) members discussing how the Better Futures' model addresses employment challenges facing people leaving jails and prisons.
> To view the webinar and learn about our model, how it's been adopted in Hennepin County, Minn., and how your county can adopt its features to achieve better outcomes, click here. |
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Better Futures News
Congratulations
We are excited to announce that we have offered full time employment to three participants.
Congratulations to Lante Morris, Robert Gentry and Jonathan Joyner!
> Learn more about BFM work crews
> Learn more about BFM services
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Cycles for Change 
This is the 4th year that Better Futures MN has collaborated with Cycles for Change to provide loaned bikes to participants.
We are happy to report that most of the men with loaned bikes are riding five plus days a week. The most common trip is to and from work - which saves money and provides exercise.
> Learn more about Cycles for Change |
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