I live in the lee of Colorado’s storied front range. The Rocky Mountains are an inspiring and imposing companion and a constant reminder that wilderness is never far away. So it’s disconcerting these days, when so much smoke from nearby wildfires fills the air. I can’t even see the foothills that are normally visible from my home. Floods drenching the Gulf Coast, wildfires burning the West Coast. Catastrophic songbird die-offs …
$75k Vermont Grant Helps DCI Support Local North Country Economies
Northern New England used to be a mecca for mill towns. The ubiquitous rivers and streams that branched across the Northeast United States powered paper, pulp, and textile mills and catapulted America to a pre-eminent position in global manufacturing during the industrial revolution. Two hundred years later, that vaunted seat of manufacturing might has ceded with slow but steady momentum to cheaper southern labor, demographic shifts, and global outsourcing. A …
For Immediate Release: Working Lands Enterprise Initiative Awards $75,000 To DCI,Inc.
The State of Vermont’s Working Lands Enterprise Initiative awarded DCI,Inc. a $75,000 grant as part of their supply chain business impact grants. The grant supports Vermont companies who are contributing to the state’s forest products industry and positively impacting the supply chain. DCI operates one of Vermont’s only FSC-certified sawmills. And the company will use the funds to expand the mill to house a new state-of-the-art high efficiency resaw to increase overall yield and …
Why We Source Mattresses Made By Blind & Visually Impaired Workers
Eighty four years ago, in a small two-room shop in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, a few members of the local Lions Club gathered to charter a new initiative. They were opening a manufacturing plant operated by the visually impaired. It started small, but it grew into something remarkable. Humble Beginnings The organization founded that day was called Winston-Salem Industries for the Blind. It would grow to become IFB Solutions, the largest employer …
DCI Hosts Sustainability Delegation From South & Central America
The White Mountains of New Hampshire are dramatic and beautiful. Driving into the North Country, they suddenly rise from the rolling pastoral hills of northern New England. Approaching the sheer granite faces of Franconia Notch, you wouldn’t be the first person to draw comparisons to Yosemite’s magnificent half dome. Yes, they exist on different scales, but they’re both arresting. So it was no surprise that awe and appreciation for New …
Residence Hall Furniture: The Complete Insider’s Guide
Are you in the market to furnish your college or university residence hall? Maybe this is your first time buying dormitory furniture for your school’s residence hall or perhaps you’re a seasoned veteran. Either way, it’s a big job and there are so many emerging trends influencing the conception, design, development, use, and installation of residence hall furniture. So we’ve created a guide to help you navigate the key contexts and questions you should consider. …
5 Stories from Our Sustainable Furniture Solutions Hall of Fame
When it comes to sustainable furniture solutions, we’ve had the good fortune to work with some amazing schools who are steadfastly committed to sustainability. In fact, two of our clients recently won the top two spots in Sierra’s Coolest Schools Ranking, which highlights the work of the greenest schools in the US and Canada. As a company dedicated to building the most sustainable furniture in the residence hall furniture market, we appreciate it …
Student Retention – Can Sustainable Lounge Furniture Really Help?
A lot of people are talking about how furniture can actually help you improve student retention. When we first started to hear about that trend, we were impressed if not a little skeptical. But there’s a lot of anecdotal evidence to support these assertions. And in fact RealPage, which collects data on this topic, has some numbers to back it up. So we thought it would be worthwhile to learn a …
How Student Wellness & Green Furniture Go Together
How do you manage student wellness in your residence halls? There are a lot of dimensions to wellness. Students these days are under a lot of pressure to perform and compete even before they reach college. Whereas straight A’s and top test scores once guaranteed a spot at the best schools, that’s no longer the case. And once students do start college, they’re expected to rise to higher academic standards …
How Our UV Finish Improves Your Indoor Air Quality
Have you ever wondered about that funny smell coming from your new wood floor or your new wood furniture? Or maybe, like me, you felt a little light-headed after being in a building where you encountered that same smell. It turns out that subtle suspicion you were harboring in the back of your mind—It can’t be good for me to be breathing this in!—was accurate. Volatile Organic Compounds Are Dangerous You …