"Renewable energy installation is best for the community when it acknowledges diversity and the ways we can all be contributors," said Ashley Christy, GRID Alternatives Greater Los Angeles Executive Director.
"Adding solar panels to Camino Esperanza will provide power and help reduce energy costs for all the residents at the property," said Denise Bickerstaff, Director of Business Development and Administration at Cabrillo EDC. "Special thanks to the entire GRID GLA team and also to Simi Valley Council Member Ruth Luevanos for joining us and reminding us how win-win projects like this benefit our community and residents."
We quit work on the same day and then drove cross-country to California to volunteer at Grid Alternatives, a nonprofit that installs solar on low-income households. The [sic] had four offices at the time (Bay, Central Valley (Fresno), San Diego and Greater LA) and we signed up for every volunteer opportunity at each of the offices.
At Grid Alternatives, our plan of action [in Greater Los Angeles] requires a much greater scale to create prosperity and economic security and counteract systemic injustices for the people living there — a model that can be applied to other regions and the wider economy.
"We've helped more than 200 formerly incarcerated people get jobs in this sector," he said, as he showed off a new battery of solar panels built by one of his crews at the L.A. Audubon Society offices.
The free training program, arranged by nonprofit group GRID Alternatives, aims to launch people like [Angeleno and aspiring career-seeker Ramon] Ramos into California's booming solar power industry and get panels installed in more low-income neighborhoods.
It also works with partner organizations to provide training to people such as Gonzalo Varela, who participated in a 2019 training cohort after being incarcerated for almost three decades and facing tremendous barriers to employment.
