Organizational Description
Mission Statement
Write a sentence that describes the purpose of your Community ReUse Center.
Questions
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What do you want your Community ReUse Center to accomplish, and how will it do it?
Tips
Consider using your case statement as the basis for the mission statement. Keep it simple and clear, and get ready to repeat this mission statement a lot. You will use it to explain your Community ReUse Center to people all the time! Involve your stakeholders in this process! Have a brainstorming session and share the document for ease of collaboration.
Finger Lakes ReUse's Story
The mission statement of Finger Lakes ReUse is "To enhance community, economy, and environment through reuse." We invited our key stakeholders and facilitated a two-hour mission statement brainstorming meeting. We were delighted to arrive at the simple, triple-bottom line mission statement we are still proud of today. You are welcome to borrow our mission statement or use it as inspiration to craft your own.
Vision Statement
This statement is future-oriented and aspirational and can include your long-term goals.
Questions
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What do you want your Community ReUse Center to look like in five years?
Key Issues
Write down the challenges that exist in your community that could be solved by starting a Community ReUse Center. For example: reusable items are entering the waste stream and causing damage to our environment.
Questions
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How is your community dealing with waste and reuse today?
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Is there anything about this that could be better?
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Are there other problems that could be simultaneously addressed through the reuse of materials?
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Are reusable materials ending up in a landfill?
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Do people in your community need or want access to reusable materials that are being thrown away?
Tips
Environmental pollution, lack of affordable local resources, and unemployment may all be addressed by developing a Community ReUse Center.
Finger Lakes ReUse's Story
While there were already other reuse businesses in our area, they were not meeting the high level of need by absorbing the volumes of reusables generated daily, and reusable items were ending up in our waste stream. Additionally, unemployment and underemployment were issues we wanted to address.
Goals and Objectives
Describe how the Community ReUse Center will address the challenges you raised in the Key Issues section. For example: by offering a convenient way for individuals to donate their unwanted reusable goods, we can take these items that would have entered the waste stream and give them a second life, avoiding further environmental damage.
Questions
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What can be done, and what will your Community ReUse Center do, to address waste in your community?
Tips
Your Community ReUse Center might not be able to end climate change on its own, but it can certainly contribute to fighting pollution and waste by keeping reusable items from ending up in landfills. At the same time, this process creates jobs and tax revenue, making a Community ReUse Center a resource that turns trash into wealth.
Finger Lakes ReUse's Story
By diverting reusable items from the waste stream and turning them into revenue generators, Finger Lakes ReUse creates jobs and fights waste while providing low-cost goods and services to our community.