Material Innovation Center wins J.M.K. Innovation Prize

Material Innovation Center (MIC), a San Antonio-based project that recirculates salvaged building materials for local construction and restoration, has been awarded the 2023 J.M.K. Innovation Prize by the J.M. Kaplan Fund, New York.

The J.M. Kaplan Fund awards the prize biennially to 10 innovators in the fields of the environment, heritage conservation and social justice. Awardees receive a total of $175,000 over three years and join a learning collaborative, which the J.M. Kaplan Fund says is designed to support them through the challenges of a startup organization.

“Material Innovation Center provides a model for connecting stewardship for the environment with community-building and historic preservation,” says Justin Goldbach, J.M.K. Innovation Prize program director. “Like their fellow prize awardees, they’re poised to reshape our world to be more sustainable and equitable. We are thrilled to support them on that journey over the coming years.”  

According to the J.M. Kaplan Fund, the prize is designed to support nonprofits and entrepreneurs tackling challenges through social and environmental innovation, with a focus on pilot projects, new organizations or nascent initiatives that “involve a certain amount of measured risk, but which ultimately could lead to large-scale, transformative results.” This year’s awardees were selected from 3,209 applications, which the organization says is the most participation in the prize since its inception in 2015.

“Material Innovation Center serves as the last stop before the landfill,” says Shanon Miller, director of the Office of Historic Preservation in San Antonio, Texas.

When buildings come down in the city, MIC works with contractors, area reuse stores and individual and corporate donors to take in and store excess woodwork, windows and other construction materials, like lumber and siding. These resources are then redistributed for free to support local efforts to repair, restore and extend the lives of homes in the community, MIC says. By reinvesting these materials into local properties, the J.M. Kaplan Fund says MIC is helping to increase affordable housing, while also rebuilding a pool of skilled tradespeople. 

“We’re working towards a future where construction demolition waste no longer exists,” says Stephanie Phillips, manager of the deconstruction and circular economy program at San Antonio’s Office of Historic Preservation. “Instead, those resources can contribute to community value, prosperity and sustainability.” 

A report accompanying the prize, Resilient Leadership in Times of Unrelenting Change, features findings from this year’s selection process.