Journeyman International: How Sustainability Fights Poverty and Ecological Destruction
With Carly Althoff and Erika Layman, linkedin.com/in/carly-althoff
https://oembed.libsyn.com/embed?item_id=16096514
This week, Tim and Caroline talk with Erika Laymen and Carly Altoff from Journeyman International (JI) to see how they got involved with JI, what the company does and how the public can get involved.
More About the Show
The Build Perspectives podcast shares insider knowledge to build connections and community in the building materials industry. Tim and Carolina are friends, colleagues and former coworkers who love the construction industry and their clients, and want to share their passion and insights to attract future talent to the industry.
In this episode, Tim and Carolina talk with Erika Layman and Carly Altoff from Journeyman International, a company that connects industry professionals with design students to complete humanitarian projects domestically and internationally. Erika and Carly discuss their involvement with JI, what JI does, how the company is managing during COVID and how the public can support the cause.
Creating Journeyman International
Journeyman International was started by Daniel Wiens. For his senior project at CalPoly, he created the biggest dental clinic in Belize and flew down to help manage the construction of this clinic, and it’s now fully operational.
He wants to offer his experience to other emerging professionals, so he created this pipeline to connect young designers, architects and engineers with humanitarian projects around the world, like building schools, orphanages, hospitals, sustainable farming centers and vocational centers. The pipeline basically comes with a step-by-step handbook, so young designers could plug in their work and find good mentors.
Builders, creators and designers have an obligation: They have a chance to give back to vulnerable people or communities because they have this valuable skill set and education. Daniel felt like he needed to give his gifts and blessings to the world and that sparked the creation of JI.
Erica’s Background
After completing her doctorate in comparative literature at the University of Buffalo, Erica was burnt out on school and projects that didn’t make much impact on the world. She met Daniel and followed what JI was doing for a couple of years. The more she saw, the more excited she became.
Because she grew up in Indonesia, Erica was interested in JI’s project for a wheelchair facility and a disability-friendly library in Bali. She grew up being environmentally conscious, as she fundraised for the World Wildlife Fund as a 3rd grader. By using her creative writing skills, she wanted to make an impact by spreading the word about JI and get people excited.
Carly’s Backstory
As an architecture student at CalPoly, Carly heard about JI when Daniel came to speak to her small extracurricular group. She thought it was a good outlet for her creative education and a new gateway to her career path. She got involved as a thesis student and dedicated her final year and project to a humanitarian disaster relief project in the Philippines. She designed a multipurpose community center/church that could be converted into a relief center in the event of a hurricane or typhoon.
Being in the Philippines, designing a project and seeing it come to life was a life-changing experience. She developed this motivation and passion for providing this experience for other young designers, thesis students or emerging professionals. She knew that giving them the chance to expose themselves to the reality of life and the suffering of the world could transform them.
JI transformed the trajectory of Carly’s career. She was volunteering on a project a few years ago in Rwanda. After she met and developed relationships with the people there, 7 she fell in love with the area. As soon as she went back to the U.S. after her site visit, she told Daniel that she had to go back.
After some conversation, they developed a partnership with the local NGO. She split her time with them and created a JI base in Rwanda. It started as a short-term thing, but she has now been there for three years, expanding JI efforts. Today, she feels like her passions have caught up to her skillset. She’s met so many young professionals that she can relate to in the fact that they have this great education and feel the need to give back.
Role of Journeyman International in Rwanda
Carly moved to Rwanda a few years ago and opened a branch there. She is working to start a branch of JI that is for-profit, meaning they could be designing for-profit projects in Rwanda and around Africa to make some of the funds they redirect into their humanitarian work.
She loves working with students in Rwanda and professionals of all levels all over the world. She mentors them through projects and brings people with different skills and expertise together. People in the Rwanda branch work together and collaborate.
She loves to bring students over from California to the University of Rwanda, and an architecture program in Kigali allows Rwanda and American students to work together. They give each other critiques, work through projects and help each other understand differences in cultures. They facilitate that exchange while they get a lot of projects built.
Finding Projects
JI typically comes across projects through network connections and people reaching out. People will contact them through email, their website or even word of mouth. People will ask for design services, and they normally have some type of funding or land.
Groups come to JI looking for some type of documentation or visual design they can present to their donor base to use as funding material. If they have enough funding and people are ready to build, JI can give them building documents.
Then they can take the designs to a local contractor to verify and stamp for whatever permitting or checks they need. JI hands it off, but if support from JI is needed later, they can come back. JI provides the design intent and the groups take that forward. There are lots of clients coming back to JI after the project is complete and want to build another project because the first was so successful.
JI does projects in the U.S. with nonprofits working to help low-income areas with affordable housing, community centers, health clinics and so on. Besides domestic projects, JI works globally, around 44 countries at this point, and is growing and looking for connections. JI reaches out to people too; they don’t just rely on people coming to them.
An Impactful Project
North of Rwanda is the site of a library and community center that was built and designed by a JI volunteer team a few years ago. It completely changed the attitude and face of the village where the library was located. Whenever Carly takes people to this site, they are able to witness the change. When driving through this region, you see all types of things from poverty to beauty. When you get to the library, the kids in this area have such a different way about them. The families have a sense of dignity and have taken ownership of this space. There’s so much pride in their kids’ education.
Carly feels so humbled to be part of a project that has sparked so much change. Every person she brings to the site lights up — it’s proof that they see something that ignites a sort of passion in them that not only comes from the space but from the overall attitude and vibe of the region. She loves that one space sparks so much pride and dignity.
Erica adds that Journeyman projects incorporate different beneficial things for the communities. These projects are built by local people using local materials, which gives job opportunities to those involved with construction in those locations. JI doesn’t bring in their own things and impose them on people. JI tries to provide as many opportunities for people as possible with each project.
Clients and Sponsors
The ideal client for JI is someone who has access to resources or who has a funded initiative. They have a team and are mobilizing people, whether that is local community members or leadership in whatever region they want to build. They want people who are communicative and that are excited and involved in the project.
Fundraising is inspiring, although, at times, it can be discouraging because it involves a lot of no’s. Luckily, some people believe in the cause and want to help move the cause forward. JI partners with a lot of engineering and architecture firms that have sponsored projects. Those sponsorships basically cover everything JI does — finding, designing, overseeing and completing the project — then hand it over to the nonprofits.
Erika is constantly looking for companies interested in JI. JI advertises for the companies that sponsor projects in their annual report. They really multiply donations a lot; they are helping nonprofits, emerging professionals and poor communities in developing countries.
COVID Impacts
JI’s work right now is more important than it’s ever been because nonprofits are being hit hard by the pandemic. People only want to give to their local communities, but there is suffering everywhere. International concerns are being ignored, but JI is able to impact so many big and small nonprofits.
JI is looking to scale and do more projects, connecting the need with the resources. They also want to be a platform of connection because everyone throughout all industries and disciplines needs each other during this crisis. JI’s role as matchmaker and network connector is especially critical right now.
During COVID, the company is mainly virtual, which has been a huge change for them. They have to work even harder for support and connection. Erica and Carly note that people have to be as present as possible and keep everyone motivated during this time. JI tries to find its place during this time with little to no control. They are trying to build better and healthier spaces while promoting healthy strategies with COVID regulations.
Vetting Process for Building Materials
JI tries to provide as many resources as possible to design teams. They try to cultivate a culture of healthy and safe design strategies. Usually, with localized building and material choices, they narrow down in the scope of options.
It poses a good challenge when only working with what is available and integrating a vetting process when picking materials. Research is done periodically and the volunteers are always offering updated information. JI also tries to follow the green building criteria of the Living Building Challenge.
Donations
Giving back to JI means that your donation is multiplied. It does not go to one thing, but instead, it multiplies across nations. They are truly efficient with their funds, and they operate on a very small budget, all while trying to grow and connect with more groups.
In Rwanda, the growth they are seeing with JI is in establishing branches or offices in different locations. The office is a registered company in Rwanda, so they are able to hire and sustain several employees. And a lot of the donations that go into JI contributes to the team in Rwanda. They’ve hired many young designers that are doing a great job designing and finding projects. They are an essential part of the team, so donations will help grow that team, as well as helping build these spaces globally.
To donate, click here.
Connecting With J.I.
For project leads, if you know of a great nonprofit organization that is doing important work that has a humanitarian element to it, reaching out to Carly is the best:
For companies that want to sponsor JI’s projects or for people that want to help the cause, there is an option for donations on the site:
Students that wants to get involved with designing, reaching out to Carly is the best or you can apply through the site:
For nonprofits wanting to submit a design request, you can go through the site:
To contact Erika, use her email address:
For more information, check out the website:
To become a part of the membership program and get updates on JI projects, click here:
Join the Conversation
We’d love to hear your thoughts on this week’s episode! Shoot us an email at buildperspectives@gmail.com