Earlham College | News from Public Affairs

Betsy Ward and Tom Steffes stack obsolete equipment

Betsy Ward, database administrator, and Tom Steffes, director of computing services, stack still more obsolete equipment in "Computer Canyon," the pile of surplus equipment that dominates most of the "work area" of Computing Services on the lower floor of Lilly Library. Less than two years after disposing of 20 pallets of old College-owned machines through a commercial waste handler, some storage spaces on campus are again quickly filling up with no longer useful monitors, processing units, keyboards, printers and other devices. As part of a newly forged partnership with WorkForce, Inc., and RecycleForce, LLC, of Indianapolis, much of this excess inventory will soon be shipped out for appropriate "de-manufacturing."

RICHMOND, Ind. — A groundbreaking partnership between Earlham College and Indianapolis-based Workforce, Inc., will soon help provide central Indiana with solutions to a number of modern social ills, from hazardous waste contamination of regional landfills to dead beat dads and even the crime rate.

As its part of the agreement, Earlham will donate thousands of pieces of College-owned or acquired computer equipment for "de-manufacturing" by RecycleForce, LLC, a recovery and recycling operation located in Sherman Park on the east side of the Hoosier capital. RecycleForce — dedicated to preventing discarded computer equipment containing toxic chemicals from entering the normal waste stream — employs many ex-offenders associated with Workforce, Inc., a nonprofit group committed to strengthening Indiana families by providing back-to-work programs for formerly incarcerated parents.

Both ventures are the creation of former Earlham student and current Indianapolis entrepreneur Gregg Keesling. After a successful career managing and owning a number of hotel properties in western Jamaica (where he served as chairman of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourism Association from 1992-95), Keesling returned to his native Indiana in 1996 to establish a staffing and workforce development firm — Keys to Work, Inc. — helping at-risk workers find sustainable jobs. In 2003, he resigned as CEO of Keys to launch Workforce, Inc.

"Seventy percent of all jobs are cut off to persons with a 'D' felony," says Keesling, describing the lowest criminal category in Indiana law encompassing such offenses as fraud, forgery, obstruction of justice and perjury, but also theft of cable television signals, making a false bill of sale and, in some cases, trespassing.

"A person can't even work at Burger King with a 'D' felony," Keesling says, explaining that Workforce, Inc., is organized to provide ex-inmates with up to six-months of support — in terms of job training, social services, transitional housing, mentoring, transportation, day care — until "they get themselves stabilized."

Ultimately, former offenders in the program (which also targets other hard-to-serve populations, including the homeless and persons suffering from mental illness or other challenges) are expected to transition to full-time jobs at "livable wages," in the process depressing the recidivism rate among former convicts, building a better local job force and reducing the "drag" on safety net services. Child support collections are mandatory in the appropriate cases.

Earlham is the first Indiana college to join up with Workforce, Inc. Although the Independent Colleges of Indiana (ICI) in Indianapolis hopes its 30 other member institutions will follow Earlham's lead and also contribute, says Tony Maidenberg, the organization's executive vice president. (Public colleges in Indiana are required to dispose of all surplus equipment through an auction process that Keesling calls impractical for WorkForce and RecycleForce. He says efforts are underway, however, to have certain portions of state law amended to allow public institutions to participate, as well.)

"I think this step shows significantly our interest in extending Earlham's good works throughout a broader segment of Indiana," says Avis Stewart, vice president for community relations at the College, which recently earned a place on the first President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll. "Obviously, what we're doing in Richmond and Wayne County (wherein each year Earlham students, faculty and staff contribute more than 44,000 volunteer hours) is a benefit to the people in our local community. We hope this new opportunity proves to be a benefit to the entire state."

According to Director of Computing Services Tom Steffes, Earlham maintains a four-year replacement cycle for College-owned computers — meaning that roughly 150 of the approximately 600 machines on campus, along with many of their peripherals, are removed from service each year. But, removed to where?

Because many of the components in old computer equipment contain potentially harmful gases and metals, much of that electronic waste is categorized as "hazardous" by various federal and state environmental agencies. It is widely barred from entering public landfills, though estimates are millions of tons of obsolete monitors, processing units, keyboards, printers and other devices still end up in the nation's general waste stream each year. In most cases, until recently, responsible users like Earlham either had to store the outdated equipment or pay thousands of dollars to a commercial waste handler for its proper disposal.

In 2005, the College spent $6,100 to have 20 pallets of used computer equipment removed by a commercial waste company for de-manufacturing, Steffes reports. And already much of the "work space" in Computing Services on the lower level of Lilly Library is again stacked nearly floor-to-ceiling with discarded hardware.

Earlham's new partnership with WorkForce and RecycleForce gives the College not only a more cost-effective option for getting rid of the surplus inventory, but also a fresh avenue for promoting key institutional and Quaker values like community-building, says Steffes. Without such programs, he adds, the old computers currently being torn down at RecycleForce, and the jobs of the people doing the work, would probably end up in China — where "off-loading" is cheaper, but also where environmental controls are few.

"From my own personal bent as an environmentalist, and working for an institution that is very conscious of how we all impact the world around us, I just couldn't see us going that route," Steffes says. "Without another option, the commercial path is the one we probably would have followed again. But, as our replacement cycle (begun in 2001) picks up, that was going to be fairly expensive. I think this solution is really the best possible outcome for everyone."

The second-largest state agency in Indiana, with a biennial budget of $1.2 billion, is the Department of Corrections (DOC).

At the rate we're going, says Keesling, brother of Quakers football coach Gerry Keesling '82, in two to four years the DOC may well surpass the Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA) as Indiana's largest fiscal and social responsibility. He's convinced that projects like WorkForce and RecycleForce "are parts of a new paradigm we have to look at" as a gradual substitute for the rudimentary incarcerate, confine and release prison programs found in most states.

"We call what we do 'Work, Responsibility and Reward,'" Keesling says, adding that 24 ex-offenders have found jobs at RecycleForce since the shop opened its doors in January 2006. To date none has violated parole and been returned to jail. Although one has moved on to become assistant manager for a home improvement store and another is now enrolled in restaurant manager training. Several more have earned their commercial drivers licenses.

Currently 12 former prisoners man the work benches at RecycleForce. Keesling's goal is to soon double that number. He expects the expansion to lead to additional positions in "material handling," as well.

"If we're truly going to rebuild communities, rebuild lives and families, then these men must have a role," says Keesling. "If we lose these entry and re-entry level jobs to some place else, it really does impact the availability of employment opportunities for our at-risk populations. And then what?"

If only the projected rate of increase in the DOC's budget during the next few years could actually be held flat, Indiana could instead pay for its long-touted but much-delayed all-day kindergarten program "eight, nine or ten times over," Keesling says.

Contact:
Tom Steffes, director of computing services
765/983-1366 — E-Mail Tom