San Diego Green Building Council

The organization, with a staff of four people, is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors and supported by volunteer committees. In FY2022-2023 the organization continued to focus its work on its four pillars of decarbonization, water reuse, equity and health & wellness by offering educational programs, networking events, and opportunities to collaborate and volunteer. The organization continued its in-person networking events with the Summer Social in August of 2022 and the Winter Soiree in January of 2023, while still keeping educational offerings accessible through online platforms. In 2023 the organization started offering in-person tours of local green buildings, showcasing the work of the building's local design teams. The first 2 tours of the year were in partnership with the AIA San Diego Chapter, bringing together our often overlapping constituencies. The organization continued to offer the free induction cooktop loaner kits and expanded the distribution locations to 8 throughout San Diego County through generous local volunteers. San Diego Community Power awarded the program a grant in June of 2023 to help expand the program through 2023 and 2024. As a collaboration between the organization's volunteer led Women+ In Green and Equity Advisory Committees, the Building Connections Mentorship Program continued with it's second cohort starting in August of 2022, comprising 14 mentees and 14 mentors. The program ran on a year-long cycle with multiple networking events and a mid-program Career Panel in February 2023, with all meetings and informal networking events taking place in person throughout the county. UnionBank (now US Bank) awarded this program a grant to expand outreach to BIPOC community members and so the organization partnered with Uplift Institute on their Sustainable Hood - Education and Career Expo in May of 2023. In October 2022, the organization re-launched its annual San Diego Green Building Conference & Expo after a 2 year hiatus due to the pandemic and then the Greenbuild International Conference had been in San Diego. The event, the 8th one for the organization, included 12 education sessions presented by local green building experts on a number of different topics, a keynote address from the San Diego City Council President as well as a meetup for the Building Connection Mentorship Program, plenty of networking and a reception to close out the day. As a partner of the California Green Business Network, the organization continued to offer green business certifications through the organization's San Diego Regional Green Business Network program certifying over 20 businesses throughout the region during the fiscal year. The Green Assistance Program - Students + Sustainability + Service returned in 2022 to provide training, both online and hands-on at a local small business, about green operations + maintenance while preparing students to pass the GPRO Operations + Maintenance accreditation exam. This fiscal year saw the final 2 cohorts of the program. The organization's committee events included a number of Women+ In Green networking and education in-person events at locations throughout the region and the Residential Committee developed a new structure for its SD Green Homes Tour program, offering smaller events focused on just a few homes in different areas of San Diego.