Our next chapter
A Message From Our Board
With deepest gratitude for her service to the organization, the Board of Directors of the ReBuilding Center announces that Jackie Kirouac-Fram will be stepping down from her role as Executive Director later this summer. Since 2019, Jackie has led the ReBuilding Center through significant growth and evolution – deepening our roots and stewarding us through challenging times.
As a Board, we want to thank her for her years of dedication to our mission and our team. She has profoundly transformed our organization and the reuse landscape in the Portland region, raised significant funds to expand our capacity, revived our brand, developed new partnerships, broadened our offerings to support low-income homeowners, and partnered with the community to understand and address urgent needs. Some of her key accomplishments include:
Advocating for public funding for reuse and partnering with Metro to inform the creation of the Reuse Impact Fund
Transforming our store to increase accessibility and offer higher-quality materials
Raising the starting wage for frontline employees by nearly 30%
Building a significant financial reserve to ensure the organization can weather economic downturns
Increasing annual fundraising revenue by more than 300%
Launching the Home Repair for All program, designed to serve low-income homeowners with free home repair classes, resources, and community-building
While we will greatly miss her, we are thrilled that Jackie will continue to grow and strengthen reuse efforts across the country as a Senior Consultant for RRS, a national consulting firm that specializes in circular economy and materials management. She will continue to lead the ReBuilding Center through September 4.
Over the next two months, we will identify an interim leader to guide the organization during this transition and launch a search to identify the next Executive Director of the ReBuilding Center. We will share the job announcement soon and ask for your help in identifying candidates who match our values and can help us grow our ability to joyfully serve our neighbors through low-cost, community-focused reuse.
We are deeply grateful for Jackie’s contributions, and for your continued support of our work – as a customer, a student, a material donor, a financial supporter, or an advocate. We all love this place!
If you have any questions or concerns during this process, please feel free to reach out to me directly at chair@rebuildingcenter.org.
In gratitude,
Holloway Huntley
Board Chair
The ReBuilding Center
A Note From Jackie
After thoughtful reflection, I’ve made the decision to step down from my role as Executive Director of the ReBuilding Center. Serving this organization has been the greatest honor of my professional life and I’m deeply proud of what we’ve accomplished together. The ReBuilding Center is a stronger, more community-focused, more equitable organization than when I arrived here six years ago, and I am endlessly grateful for the team, board, donors, funders, partners, and community who’ve made it all possible. I’m also thrilled to be moving into a new role that will allow me to continue to advance reuse across the country, and share even more broadly about all the excellent work that is happening here.
And while transitions are never easy, I’m genuinely excited about what’s ahead for this beloved organization. Our mission is vital, and our momentum is real. I’ll be cheering from the sidelines — and I can’t wait to see what comes next.
In gratitude,
Jackie
