In the News: RTEBN Stories & Impact

Finalist for Innovation Award

Rebuilding Together East Bay Network has been named a finalist for the 2025 East Bay Economic Development Alliance Innovation Award in the Community Impact category. The recognition highlights their Big Skills Program, which trains construction apprentices and high school students by building fully-equipped, all-electric ADUs that are donated or sold affordably to families facing displacement. The innovative program creates pathways to trade careers while simultaneously addressing housing needs in the East Bay, with award winners to be announced on March 27, 2025, in Oakland.

Just Transition: Jobs and Climate Action

Rebuilding Together East Bay Network partners with Yellowjacket Heating & Cooling on innovative heat pump installations for low-income homes. The collaboration creates high-road job opportunities while advancing California's building decarbonization goals. Their model includes training programs at North Bay high schools where students build tiny all-electric houses for low-income homeowners.

Patch, Oct 8th 2024

San Rafael High Schoolers Help Build Tiny Homes

Local students joined volunteers this month to build modular tiny homes, supporting affordable housing efforts in Marin County.

Marin Independent Journal June 2024

San Rafael students build tiny homes and new skills. "San Rafael High School senior Bodhi Shipley was proud to see the results of 10 months of work to build two tiny homes from scratch in the school parking lot.Shipley, 18, said he plans to use the new skills for part-time work in his family’s construction business while he earns a degree at St. Mary’s College in Moraga.“My favorite part is seeing that there was nothing here before, and now it’s here,” he said. “I’m happy it will help someone.”The 8-by-20-foot homes — on display Thursday as the project wrapped up for the year — are part of an effort coordinated by Big Skills, Tiny Homes, a group launched in 2019 by San Anselmo resident Sean Ticknor. Unlike previous homes on trailers assembled by the organization, the homes produced by 48 San Rafael High School students are ready for installation on permanent foundations as accessory dwelling units."

Nevin Resilience Hub: Cooling Relief for Richmond

The City of Richmond unveiled the Nevin Resilience Hub, a facility equipped with solar panels and cooling features to provide relief during extreme heat events. Located in a high-priority heat vulnerability area, the hub was funded by PG&E programs and developed through a partnership with Rebuilding Together East Bay-North. The project created workforce development opportunities for unsheltered residents, who received training and employment in construction, staffing, and outreach related to the cooling structures.

KPIX5 Jefferson Award winner

Sean Ticknor founder and Executive Director of Big Skills honored with the Jefferson Award, which celebrates extraordinary service to others performed by grassroots unsung heroes from the San Francisco Bay Area.