Community Energy Center

Access to electricity for many Native Americans is a challenge. For Native American Heritage Month, we thought it would be fitting to bring awareness to the challenges Native Americans face. The location of tribal reservations poses a significant challenge for Indigenous communities. A sizable percentage of Native American reservations are in rural parts of America. Moreover, the challenge lies in the financial expense of erecting a power grid in the middle of nowhere. Energy Transition on Tribal Nations: From Energy Insecurity to Energy Sovereignty, a piece published by Outrider, highlighted the struggles that many Native American communities in … Read More >>

For Hispanic Heritage Month, the public should be aware that Hispanics in the United States face challenges when it comes to affordable energy among all sources. One of the ongoing issues in the Hispanic community is affordable access to home solar panels, for example. PV Magazine published an article in 2020, “Investing in equitable access to solar energy for Hispanic communities,” which highlights the struggles Hispanic communities in the United States experience when accessing solar power. At the outset, solar panels are expensive to purchase. Moreover, many factors become exclusionary when acquiring solar panels, one of which is home … Read More >>

by Irene Maslowski

National Black Business Month was initiated in 2004 by John William Templeton, president and executive editor of the scholarly publishing company, eAccess Corp, and engineering executive, Frederick E. Jordan, who was unable to obtain financing for his San Francisco-based business. Together, they shared a goal to drive policy change affecting African American entrepreneurs, seeking greater equity and inclusion.

The history of Black-owned businesses in the United States harkens back to the 1700s, when free – and even enslaved – African Americans opened small businesses, which then grew significantly after emancipation. The period between 1900-1930 was known as the ‘golden age’ when … Read More >>