The AmeriCorps Legacy House

Here you’ll find info and updates on the AmeriCorps Legacy House, an affordable housing project in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Duluth.

The AmeriCorps Legacy House Project is a project to transform a previously condemned building into an affordable and livable home for Eco3 AmeriCorps VISTA members. Revitalizing this property, located in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Duluth, can address multiple issues within our community, including the lack of affordable housing for volunteers and blight.

The Project Timeline

Our team and partners are working hard to complete the AmeriCorps Legacy House. Scroll through the gallery below to check out the work we’ve done so far!

Cohort of Ecolibrium3 AmeriCorps VISTA members in 2018 at media launch event for Legacy House.
View of Legacy House from 3rd Street, think this was before any clean up in 2017.
View of the 2nd floor of Legacy House before AmeriCorps VISTA members did some initial work cleaning up Legacy in 2017.
View of the 2nd floor of Legacy House before AmeriCorps VISTA members did some initial work cleaning up the building in 2017.
View of the first floor of Legacy House before AmeriCorps VISTA members did some of the initial clean-up of the building in 2017.
A small group of AmeriCorps members stand outside the Legacy House in hazmat suits for the removal of pigeon excrement in the building.
View of the 2nd floor of the Legacy House after major efforts to clean up the building.
View of the 2nd floor of the Legacy House after major efforts to clean up the building.
View of the first floor of the Legacy House after major efforts to clean up the building and install a temporary wall to hold up the sagging ceiling which had been falling in due to a roof leak.
View of Legacy House before the back deck was removed.
In 2019, the AmeriCorps cohort organized several partners including the building trades who would be donating labor for the construction.
The AmeriCorps cohorts did several clean-ups during the summer to remove debris from inside the house and after demolishing various parts of the structure.
Jason Ellefson and Mike Knutson from Gardner Builders helped coordinate and follow through with demolition of the back of Legacy House during the summer of 2020.
The backside of Legacy House after the back deck was demolished.
The 2019-2020 AmeriCorps cohort helped build a lot of the partnerships with the building trades we have worked with to rehabilitate the building and secured the $40,000 challenge grant from the Lloyd K. Johnson Foundation which has been a signficant source of funds for the project.
Carpenters from the Carpenter's Training Institute helped with a lot of the initial construction work to rehabilitate Legacy House.
AmeriCorps VISTA members conduct a summer clean-up of the backyard of Legacy house, including removing construction debris and trimming weeds.
AmeriCorps VISTA members and Eco3 staff help dig out a portion of the basement for some of the initial plumbing in the basement of the house.
AmeriCorps VISTA members and Eco3 staff help dig a hole for the sump pump.
AmeriCorps VISTA member (2019-2020,2020-2021) Kelsey takes a swing at the house trap.
Eco3 Staff help remove the old house trap in the basement of the Legacy House in preparation for the new plumbing system.
A VISTA member helps remove the old sidewalk leading to the former back door of the house.
A VISTA member helps remove the old sidewalk at the Legacy House.
A crew of AmeriCorps VISTA members and Eco3 Staff member, Tristen, help hang the banner outside of the house declaring the name of the project.
AmeriCorps VISTA members finish hanging the banner outside of the Legacy House. The banner shows the names and logos of many of the companies and other partners who have contributed in some way to make Legacy House possible. Today the list is even longer!
Carpenters from the Carpenter's Training Institute and their apprentices help coordinate the concrete pour in the basement of Legacy House. The basement was mostly dirt prior to the concrete pour.
Apprentices from the Carpenter's Training Institute donate their labor for the work being done at Legacy House, but gain experience working at a real construction site outside of the studio. Here an apprentice pours concrete in the basement.
Apprentices and their instructors from the Carpenter's Training Institute help set the concrete in the basement.
In December of 2020, Jamar Company generously offered a $10,000 discount on roofing work to ensure the roof of LH would be repaired before the worst of the very long, harsh Duluth winter.
Workers receive the equipment that is lifted onto the roof of the Legacy House so they can repair the badly leaking roof in December of 2020.
AmeriCorps VISTA members help remove plaster and other remaining pieces of the wall so that the walls can be framed for insulation and electrical and plumbing rough-ins.
Classes of apprentices begin framing the interior walls of the rooms of the second floor of the Legacy House in the spring of 2021.
After a lot work done by the Carpenter's Training Institute and their classes of apprentices the layout of the rooms of the second and first floor can clearly be seen!
In the spring of 2021 a class of apprentices from the Carpenter's Training Institute demolish the old front facade which had a double door entrance and frame the new exterior wall.
Apprentices finish setting windows in the new exterior wall. The wall, now covered in housewrap, is ready for siding.
Carpenters help move in thermally modified arbor wood planks which will become the siding of the new front facade. The arbor wood is a generous donation from Intectural.
A NCCC crew helps stain the arbor wood planks with a UV inhibitor that will help the wood retain its color over time.
A member of the NCCC crew that served with Ecolibrium3 and a few other non-profit organizations in the Duluth area carefully paints the UV inhibiting oil onto an arbor wood plank.
A former VISTA member and now staff member, Lucas Giese, helps demolish some of the old wall in the stair well in preparation for the plumbing rough in on the second floor of the building.
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Why is the VISTA Program Important?

Since 2017, the Ecolibrium3 AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) Program has hosted over 120 VISTA members who address the most vital issues facing our communities, including equity and inclusion in economic opportunity, safe and affordable housing, health and food security, drug abuse prevention, environmental sustainability, and climate and disaster resilience.

 Members have collectively recruited over 3,000 community volunteers who served over 15,000 hours of community service and have raised over $25 million in resources for local organizations and community initiatives.

Affordable Housing for VISTA Members

A VISTA member’s living allowance is the equivalent of $36 a day, an amount that can make finding affordable housing a challenge. Based on the average rental costs in Duluth, most VISTA members pay upwards of 30% of their income on housing, which, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, means that most of our volunteers are housing cost burdened. The Legacy House aims to provide up to four VISTA members a year with an affordable housing option.

Equity & Accessibility and National Service

The financial sacrifice of taking on a year of national service can prevent individuals from choosing to participate in AmeriCorps service. AmeriCorps service, however, can be an important step for young people to get experience in a field with few entry-level jobs as well as to provide a rewarding experience for anyone to give back to their community.

Legacy House helps alleviate some of the financial burden of choosing to do AmeriCorps service and thus makes the Eco3 VISTA program more equitable and accessible. In addition, the Legacy House’s ADA accessible bedroom can help make the Eco3 AmeriCorps VISTA program more feasible for individuals of varying abilities, especially since less than 1% of all units are equipped with features that would allow a wheelchair user to live fully independently, according to HUD. 

Blight Reduction

Blight refers to a condition in a neighborhood or community where there are vacant, degraded or derelict properties or buildings. Blight can have a real detrimental impact on a neighborhood, including decreasing surrounding property values, posing health and safety dangers, and deterring needed investment in a neighborhood.

In Duluth, the Lincoln Park neighborhood especially has many blighted properties and vacant lots. Legacy House too  was a blighted, condemned building that would most likely have been demolished, leaving behind a vacant lot too small for new construction due to updated zoning laws. Since the property was given to Ecolibrium3 in 2017, it is now being rehabilitated and is part of Eco3’s efforts to tackle blight and revitalize the community.

Community Partnerships

The rehabilitation of Legacy House has been made possible with the support of the community and partners like the local building trades, many of whom have donated labor to the project. While much of the labor was donated by the trades for this project, Legacy House did serve as a training site for apprentices in the trades, allowing these apprentices to gain real world experience that would otherwise be difficult to replicate in the studio.

Find Out the Latest

Updates and blog posts related to the AmeriCorps Legacy House as well as our other housing work in the community.

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In the next two weeks, there will be many stories looking back on the flood of 2012. During that flood Ecolibrium3 led the regional flood recovery committee.

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June 16, 2022