EarthShare Announces Grant Funding for Projects in PA and MD to Foster a New Understanding of Energy and Renewable Energy Choices

BETHESDA, Md. Aug 04, 2020 /3BL Media/ – EarthShare has awarded $150,000 in five grants to organizations that will establish community-level projects in Maryland and Pennsylvania focused on renewable energy choice and equitable energy. The Energy of One, The Power of Many Grant Program is part of a larger programmatic partnership that seeks to foster an innovative approach to the topic of energy by fundamentally changing the public conversation. Grantees will receive funding for projects that empower and inform communities about how their choices can ultimately support a cleaner energy future that improves lives and the health of our planet.

The Energy of One, The Power of Many Grant Program was established from the recognition that engaging a common cause or collective voice approach can be a powerful tool for widespread change, and an important step toward building a more sustainable energy economy.

“EarthShare understands that we need innovative solutions to meet the challenges of our times. A critical part of that involves engaging communities and getting people talking about how energy is used and sourced, and the impact our energy choices can have on society and the environment,” said Brad Leibov, EarthShare’s CEO. “We see this as a step toward a larger, more universal conversation around energy, and we’re delighted to have the opportunity to invest in helping our grantees act as catalysts.”

EarthShare is leading the Grant Program to spur new approaches to public education and conversation around energy equity, advancements in renewables and energy efficiency, and the impact of our energy choices. Grantee projects will seek to make the complex subject of energy understandable by focusing on topics that tend to confuse the public, such as energy policies, energy sources, energy impact and energy options, including projects that address equity, just transition, and job training in the renewable energy field.

Using a tiered approach to funding levels and program criteria, the grantee organizations will pursue strategic approaches to education and outreach, to include new and existing collaborative relationships:

• Children's Environmental Health Network (CEHN): $35,000
  Energy and Children's Health
  CEHN will develop a multi-platform educational campaign about energy sources and children's health and equity and, working with partner organizations, will engage underserved communities in Pittsburgh and empower them to join conversations in their communities and to advocate for just solutions.
   
• Groundswell Community: $25,000
  Putting “Community” in Community Power
  Groundswell will promote community solar and energy storage platforms that are designed to build community power and provide equitable access to clean energy. Program outreach, which will include new strategies and materials to address COVID-19 issues, will ensure that more people in Baltimore and the state of Maryland understand the economic benefits offered to Black, brown, and low-income communities via community solar.
   

• Interfaith Power and Light (IFPL): $25,000
  Home Energy Workshops for Baltimore/Annapolis Faith Communities
  IPL-DMV will work through extensive relationships within the Greater Baltimore and Greater Annapolis faith communities - including those cultivated around shared watersheds by Interfaith Partners for the Chesapeake's One Water Partnership - to conduct grassroots home energy workshops that directly engage participants in reflecting on energy use as a justice issue; choosing clean energy at home; and initiating energy upgrades and solar panels through Civic Works' “sustainable careers” programs.
   
• National Wildlife Federation (NWF): $39,200
  Fair & Inclusive Energy Transition in Pennsylvania
  In partnership with PennFuture and labor organizations, NWF will increase its engagement in energy transition conversations in Pennsylvania, and educate the public statewide, with a focus on Pittsburgh and Harrisburg, about economic opportunities offered by clean energy, natural infrastructure, and natural resource restoration policies. This initiative stems from coalition work NWF is involved in to develop a blueprint for Appalachia’s cleaner energy future.
   
• Villanova University: $25,802
  Power Forward Program
  The College of Engineering will launch a new program to educate underserved communities in Philadelphia about energy choice, equity and justice. The project will include development of a multi-tiered, dynamic, community-based, sustainable network in collaboration with university student mentors; institutional stakeholder managers; high school principals and teachers; high school students in VESTED (Villanova Engineering, Science, Technology, Enrichment & Development program); and the family, friends and acquaintances of students.  

EarthShare established the Grant Program as part of The Energy of One, The Power of Many Initiative to foster innovative approaches to the topic of energy by fundamentally changing the public conversation: acknowledging the ubiquitous impact of energy in our everyday lives and our environment, and demonstrating the importance and value of renewable energy choice, energy equity and the current innovation around renewables. Additional Initiative outreach elements will be added to work in concert with the Grant Program.

Funding for the EarthShare administered Grant Program is provided by the charitable giving department at NRG Energy, a leading integrated power company that recognizes that necessary and urgent action is required to reduce carbon emissions and the opportunity it presents for communities and the establishment of a more sustainable energy economy. By supporting grant projects that address equity, just transition and job training, EarthShare is deploying funding to help advance a societal shift toward a renewable energy-based economy that is equitable and sustainable, to benefit people and our planet. Please contact us or visit our website for more information.