Browning the Green Space

Workforce development: our workforce development initiatives pave pathways to employment in clean energy for students of color through scholarships, curriculum development, and workforce development, as well as help clean energy employers embrace, incorporate, and achieve dei goals in their recruitment, hiring, and retention activities. Our programing in this area includes: i.prospects: Browning the Green Space, in partnership with xodus group, designed and launched a multifaceted workforce program that includes targeted community engagement campaigns to deliver an overview of the offshore wind industry for high school and community college students in environmental justice communities, and demonstration of pathways to industry employment through internships and pre-apprenticeships. Through the program, we have reached 400+ high school students through events with employers and post-secondary institutions to expose students to career opportunities in clean energy. Ii.targeted internship program: as a provider for this masscec program, bgs serves to recruit and place students from underrepresented groups with clean energy employers, as well as host employer orientation and career readiness workshops and provide mentors for the students. We are now in our third year as a provider. Over the first 2 years of the program (2021 pilot & 2022 program), we recruited, placed, and provided mentors to 25 interns in a greater pool of 100+ interns. Iii.renewable energy technology associate's degree outreach and recruitment: in partnership with benjamin franklin cummings institute of technology, bgs provided outreach, recruitment, and financial support to students for a new renewable energy associates degree program at bfit. the goal of this partnership was to increase awareness about the new associate's degree program by exposing students to clean energy topics and high-paying career opportunities in this sector. Bgs and bfit held virtual info sessions about the program, two renewable energy career days for students of dearborn stem academy, academy of the pacific rim, mary lyons pilot high school, youthbuild boston, boston day and evening academy, excel academy charter high school, phoenix charter academy (chelsea), citylab high school (revere) and john d. o'bryant high school of math and science, a bga senior intern project around student video creation, and a power your future career day attended by students of madison park vocational/technical high school, dearborn stem, somerville high school, charlestown high school, and boston Green academy at greentown labs. In total, this program reached 130 students.

Community development: our community development initiatives increase the adoption of energy efficiency and renewable energy products and services in communities of color and/or low-income communities by not only increasing awareness but also by advocating to remove structural disincentives. Our programing in this area includes: i.mass save community first partnership: bgs is a participant in a community first partnership (cfp) program to increase participation in energy efficiency programs in Massachusetts gateway cities and other underserved communities. Ii.doe communities leap: bgs is leading a doe communities leap (local energy action program) pilot in lawrence, ma that provides technical assistance to support community collaboration amongst national labs and other experts, government and non-governmental partners, community-based organizations, and investor-owned utilities, as well as environmental, economic development, and equity organizations. Iii.nrel american-made challenges jedi (justice, equity, diversity, inclusion) power connector: bgs provides services related to recruitment, outreach, and network growth, as well as competitor & programmatic jedi advising. In the jedi power connector role, bgs supports nrel's goal to recruit founders and business owners from disadvantaged communities, support team diversity, help participating organizations incorporate diversity, equity, and inclusion into their company culture, and understand underlying problems limiting clean energy adoption in underserved communities. As part of this work, bgs provided recruitment and outreach support for the amc community clean energy coalition prize that included outreach and recruitment support, teaming events that engaged over 87 organizations and companies, a high school student "hackathon" for 50+ students across three 9th grade environmental studies classes at boston Green academy, and direct application support for 10 teams.

Business development: our business development initiatives enable entrepreneurs and founders working in climatetech, clean energy contractors of color, and investors of color working in clean energy gain access to resources including networks, contracts, capital, accelerators and incubators, and technical assistance. Our programing in this area includes: i.access (accelerating contractors of color in energy for sustainable success): bgs designed, developed and piloted a new 8-week boot camp for aspiring clean energy business owners. the goal of access is to build wealth within black and brown communities by creating new contracting businesses, who will in turn boost adoption of energy efficiency and renewable energy within those communities. Through weekly virtual classes and independent assignments, access participants learn business fundamentals including customer discovery, product-market-fit, and go-to- market strategy, as well as storytelling and presentation skills. the 2022 pilot program served 15 participants, including 9 new businesses and 6 aspiring business owners, across multiple trades: electrical, hvac, ironwork, energy efficiency, engineering, roofing, insulation. Our closing showcase, in which access participants presented the business pitches they developed during the program, hosted over 50 attendees from our partner program, state and municipal supplier diversity officers, trade unions, and others from the clean energy ecosystem. Bgs will continue to support access graduates through mentorship and supplemental webinars, workshops, networking opportunities, and other resources. Ii.accel : advancing climatetech and clean energy leaders program (accel) is a new 12-month climatetech accelerator program for early stage bipoc-led startups that combines a curated curriculum, mentorship that leverages the bgs network, incubation at greentown labs in somerville and houston, and non-dilutive grants of 25k per team to support the startup's growth. Bgs worked with greentown to design the program, recruit applicants, and select our 6 finalists (4 ma-based and 2 tx-based) working in the buildings sector, materials, and energy.

Membership initiative: the bgs coalition is a cross-sector initiative designed to connect, support and educate organization leaders as they work to advance diversity, equity, inclusion and justice (deij) principles internally within their own organizations and collectively throughout the clean energy and climatetech sectors. Our members include clean energy and climate companies, non-profits, venture capital firms, and grassroots organizations that have made a pledged commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (deij) in support of a just energy transition for black and brown communities. Bgs launched its membership by invitation only in 2022 and reached 36 founding members, and opened membership to the public at the start of 2023.