Solar Richmond Lights the Way for Green Jobs

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April 13, 2009

By Kyle Foley

Michele McGeoy, Executive Director of Solar Richmond, is slowly but surely changing the world – one green job at a time.  She founded the nonprofit Solar Richmond in 2006 (and went without a paycheck for the better part of the last 3 years), and has been quietly lighting the way for others in the green jobs movement ever since.  Van Jones, founder of Green For All and one of the most well-known faces of the environmental and social justice movements, sings Michele’s praises as he travels the country and regularly holds up Solar Richmond as a shining example of Green For All’s ideas.  As Green For All puts it, “What’s the best way to give Americans of all socioeconomic backgrounds a tangible stake in fighting for issues like global warming?  Easy: Make it their livelihood.”  And that’s exactly what McGeoy and her dedicated staff are trying to do in their community of Richmond, California.  Solar Richmond’s mission is to promote and inspire the use of solar power and energy efficiency in order to bring the economic benefits of the green economy to Richmond, and to serve the community through solar installation training, empowering a new “green-collar” workforce and opening doors to employment.  As Michele says, “Not only is Solar Richmond training low-income residents in solar PV and solar thermal skills, we’re also creating an entrepreneurial model that is sustainable in the long run and replicable for other cities.”

On March 27th, Solar Richmond and RSF co-hosted a site visit and dialogue, where a group of nonprofit leaders and foundations was able to witness SR trainees in action installing solar panels on the roof of a home in Richmond.  Part of the five-week training includes installing two low-cost solar systems for qualified low-income homeowners – organized in partnership with Grid Alternatives.  A few graduates of the Solar Richmond training program spoke to our group candidly and passionately about how the organization has changed their lives for the better.  They represent solid proof of the green-collar job movement’s vast potential, not only in its ability to provide hard job skills, but also to foster in people a sense of purpose, more long-term career goals, and the knowledge that they are helping make their communities healthier and safer.  In her presentation to the group earlier that morning, McGeoy spoke about the challenges that the organization faces, due to a need for more funding and capacity, in trying to provide holistic services to their trainees.  Making sure that their graduates have the support and ability to find and retain jobs is of equal importance to the concrete skills of solar installation.

One story we heard from a graduate offered evidence of the need for more programs like Solar Richmond’s across the country.  His father called one day to tell him about SR after seeing Van Jones on TV in Detroit, and in order to take advantage of the training, the man decided to move from Seattle to Richmond because there were no such opportunities where he lived.  Another graduate, who has now moved into a role as a trainer, spoke about how thankful he was for the ambition instilled in him by Solar Richmond when he relocated to the Bay area after Hurricane Katrina.  It goes without saying that their stories are inspiring, and the word is spreading: there are a few hundred people on a waiting list hoping for a chance to make similar changes in their own lives through Solar Richmond’s training program.

There is certainly much hope within the green-collar job movement due to President Obama’s frequent use of the term “green jobs” in relation to the economic stimulus plan.  At the moment, it remains to be seen exactly how the funds will trickle down, but the Solar Richmond staff is at least optimistic about their underlying mission becoming a mainstream idea for fixing our economy.  One indication of this broadening dialogue is the deluge of requests they receive to create frameworks that could easily be used by groups around the country trying to start their own versions of Solar Richmond.  Michele McGeoy has major aspirations about what Solar Richmond could do for its community and the country, and judging by her practical, thoughtful model for doing business, entrepreneurs and activists in the green economy movement will certainly be watching Solar Richmond and following its lead for years to come.  To find out more about Solar Richmond and how you can help the organization grow, visit www.solarrichmond.org.

Kyle Foley is Executive Assistant at RSF Social Finance.

• Published by Kyle Foley
• Categories: Ecological Stewardship, Economy, Local economies
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