Table 1. Roles of MUW team of teams from NGOs, business, and government.
Organization Role
Non-governmental Organizations
The Works (local) Community outreach, engage-
ment, and development.
Urban Wood Economy
(national)
Expertise in processing U&C wood; facil-
itation of partnerships among local,
state, and national levels and sectors.
American Forests (national) Workforce development for local resi-
dents from distressed communities.
National Hardwood Lumber
Associations (local/national)
Training support for grading U&C wood; pro-
moting reuse in the hardwood industry.
Business
Woodland Tree Service Large-scale operations and capacity to max-
imize the value of wood; securing a 43-acre
(17.4 ha) parcel for MUW operations.
Anderson Tully (AT) Guaranteed markets for both green and dried
dimensional lumber and informing MUW oper-
ations and providing investor confidence for
the project. AT and CAH also have extensive
capacity in producing dimensional lumber.
Classic American
Hardwood (CAH)
Room & Board, Inc
Government
State Departments of
Agriculture and Environment
and Conservation
Technical, financial, and social network
resources based on understanding of the
diverse issues and opportunities for part-
nership in Tennessee and Memphis.
Background
The MUW project is an example of
a multi-sectoral partnership that
brings together diverse interests
and resources to produce dimen-
sional lumber intended for national
consumption, while generating
community benefits and profit.
In this project, a "team of teams"
approach was adopted and co-de-
veloped with non-governmental
organizations, state and federal gov-
ernment, and the business sector
playing significant roles (Table 1).
This regenerative model:
1. Creates mutual benefit
and synergies among part-
ners and their sectors;
2. Builds interdependencies, adapt-
ability, and resilience; and
3. Maximizes the "four circles"
of U&C wood utilization that
could not be achieved by a
single entity (Figure 1). >>
A "team of teams" approach expands the
diversity of skills, capacities, and networks.
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