SolarCorps

Bank of America - GRID Alternatives Announces Clean Energy Workforce Development Partnership renewal with Bank of America

A $300,000 grant from Bank of America is helping to fund the SolarCorps Fellowship Program, which has up to 40 SolarCorps Fellows complete one-year, full-time paid positions focusing on solar installation, community outreach, and workforce development in GRID offices across the country. Throughout their year of service, participants from diverse backgrounds gain valuable experience and skills in the solar energy and nonprofit industries, helping to launch their renewable energy careers, while making significant contributions to the communities GRID serves.

Pathway to a Career

In 2018, Cristian Tello heard about GRID Alternatives from a radio announcement. Although he didn’t know anything about solar, he was interested in finding out more about a possible opportunity. His current job at a car wash wasn’t providing the prospect of upward advancement and solar just might be the thing that he was looking for in a career. With a little investigative work, he found that GRID Alternatives offered a variety of ways to gain skills in different aspects of the solar industry and Installation Basics Training (IBT) was one of them.

Solar Service
“We’re never going to hit the solar goals that the United States needs to hit unless we create that access in low- and moderate-income communities,” said Rich Brown, Senior Vice President and head of Environmental Philanthropy for Bank of America at our annual SolarCorps retreat in February 2020.