Agenda
Let’s
Live Local Annual Meeting
October 24, 2010
Review, Amend and Approve the Annual Report
Review and Approve the Annual Financial
Report
New Projects for Consideration-Sarah
The Echoing Green Fellowship – Sarah
2011 Energy Fair – Erik
Solar Coop – Paul Kowalski
Expenditure
Requests
Waiver of Forklift Fee
Purchase of Directors’ Insurance
Purchase of Post Peak Living
Courses
Idea, Concerns, Suggestions
Minutes
Let’s Live Local Annual Meeting
October 24, 2010
Call to Order: 2:09 PM
Present: Paul Edwards, Sarah Edwards, Suzanne Hartman,
Elissa Machaud, Erik Sluyter
Review, Amend and Approve the Annual Report
After review, discussion and ammendment, approved as amended
(attached): Moved Erik,
Seconded Suzanne. Unanimous
Review and Approve the Annual Financial Report
Approved as attached: Moved Suzanne,
Seconded by Erik. Unanimous
New Projects for Consideration
The Echoing Green Fellowship – Paul
The Board discussed and agreed for LLL to apply for one of 11
Echoing Green Foundation Fellowships for social entrepreneurs with promising eco-projects
can locate someone with the proper skills and background to be fellow and write the application by the November deadline.
2011 Energy Fair – Erik
Erik and Joan de Bruin would very much like us to do 2011 Energy
Fair. Southern California Edison would like this too. It was agreed that we
will consider doing this if we can get funding to compensate for the staff time
as well as the promotion. Paul will contact Anna Frutos –Sanchez of Edison to
explore the possibility of our submitting a grant for increased funding.
Solar Coop – Paul Kowalski
Paul Kowalski of Alpine Solar presented his concept for the
formation in PMC of various types of solar collectives whereby 1) residents
could join together to purchase solar installations at a discount and receive
rebate from SCE on surplus energy generation as newly required by the PUC. 2)
an entity such as a church, the Water Company or an newly formed LLC could
attract investors to fund solar for the organization and/or member of the
community who cannot afford solar in exchange for collecting the SCE rebate on
surplus generated. He asked for LLL support and an endorsement for this idea as
well as permission to use the 2010 LLL Energy Fair logo for the endeavor.
Upon hearing his plans and reviewing the attached materials he
provided, Suzanne moved and Erik seconded that LLL support this effort to
organize solar collective as part of an overall effort to develop a
distributed, renewal energy economy. It was passed unanimously.
Paul Edwards moved and Sarah Edwards seconded allowing Paul
Kowalski to use the Energy Fair logo. This motion was defeated 3 -2.
Paul Edwards offered to report the results of our decisions to Paul Kowalski.
Expenditure Requests: The following expenditures were passed unanimously.
Waiver of Edwards Forklift Fee. In consideration of the many hours Paul Edwards
contributes to coordinating the
Wood Pellet Coop his $15 forklift fee/pellet delivery will be waived and paid
for by LLL.
Purchase of Directors’ Insurance. Given the balance of funds on hand, the Board will purchase Director’s insurance if it can be purchased of approximately $500 for one year.
Purchase of Post Peak Living Courses. Depending on available funds LLL will purchase one or two PostPeakLiving.com courses, such as Sustainable Health and Chickens 101 and make them available to the
community.
Adjourned: 5:00 PM
Attachments:
Annual Report
Finacial Report
Profit and Loss Detail
Echoing Green Fellowship
Alpine Solar Mountain Energy Collective Vision
Let’s
Live Local Annual Report 2010
by Sarah Edwards, President
Submitted October 24, 2010
This has been an action-packed year for Let’s Live Local (LLL).
Since our inception in 2005 our basic mission and priorities have remained in
place – to work together to build a sustainable resilient community where
people can live, work and shop locally. This year we moved from working primarily in an
educational role raising awareness of the need for building local sustainability and resiliency community to actively
implementing and maintaining projects and programs that move the community
toward sustainability and resilience.
501(3)c
While we have always had a strong volunteer based, one of our
on-going challenges has been to obtain funding for our projects both to expand the work we undertake and to relieve some of the pressure on our already overworked volunteers. That was the basis for our group’s decision in 2008 to
form a non-profit California, which we did that year. Federal recognition of
our non-profit was not so speedy, but on February 19, 2010 we finally receive
official notification by the IRS of our 501(3)c tax exempt status. This ruling was effective 11/20/2008, the dateour application to the on which we submitted IRS. Many kudos go to Rachel Unell who guided us through this long and arduous
journey.
Projects
The following segments summarize the work we’ve undertaken year to
date toward our priorities for sustainable energy, food, health services,
economic development/realignment, and fund raising.
Energy
The Wood Pellet Coop. The coop began by subscribing a late winter truckload of 22 tons of pellets. Since starting the
new season from the early summer, there have been five additional 22-ton
truckloads subscribed by PMC residents. Another is subscribed for delivery
soon. The pellets selected this year were Atlas Premium Quality Red Fir.
Subscribers have found them to be of high-quality and clean burning.
2010 Energy Fair. Plans to sponsor an Energy
Fair began in January 2010 when Joan de Bruin received a call from Southern
California Edison (SCE) inquiring if there might be interest in Pine Mountain
to hold an Energy Fair. Let’s Live Local jumped at the invitation and we were
soon invited for a tour Southern California Edison’s Customer Technology
Application Center (CTAC) in Irwindale on Friday February 19th. Joan
de Bruin, Erik Sluyter and Paul Edwards visited the CTAC state-of-the-art
demonstration center for renewable energy. They were hosted for lunch and a
discussion about Edison’s interest in working with us to hold the 2nd
PMC Energy Faire, for which they offered to contribute funding. An Energy Fair
Planning Committee was formed chaired by Paul Edwards and composed of Erik
Sluyter, Lia Sluyter, Joan de Bruin, Mar Preston, Doug & Nancy Petzold,
Mary Hanson, Tom Haugen, Sarah Edwards, Rosalie Maggio, who wrote news articles
and releases and Milan Polak, who designed the posters and flyers.
The committee met regularly throughout the spring and summer to
plan the Fair. They chose “Cutting Down on Energy Costs and Saving on Utility
Bills” as the theme for the Fair. Committee members identified, contacted and
collected booth fees from exhibitors. In mid-spring the committee invited Edison representatives to visit
Pine Mountain Club and provided a tour and a luncheon for them.
The Energy Fair was held in the Condor Room at the PMCPOA Club House on August 28th.
It was accompanied by an Energy Innovation Contest with cash prizes for
the winners. Tom Haugen carried out and coordinated the considerable work
involved in running the contest. Co-sponsors for the Fair were SCE, which
contributed $1500 toward expenses, and the PMCPOA, which donated use of the facilities including insurance coverage.
SCE brought their two large emergency and educational mobile vans,
which parked in the court yard in front of the Club House and were toured by many
visitors. In the Condor Room were 15 exhibitors booths. Seventeen volunteers
served as greeters, two inside and two outside in two-hour shifts. Two food
service volunteers provided lunches, hosted by LLL, for SCE representatives,
exhibitors and LLL volunteers.
Three artists – Mary Hanson, LIA Sluyter and Ruth Handy – exhibited their
creative work with recyclable materials. Each of our three Innovation Contest
winners – Lanny Davenport, Robert Miller, and 13-year old Katie Barnes – had a
booth to demonstrate their energy-saving inventions. Two hundred and
forty-seven people from the community attended the Fair.
Let’s Live Local had a lively booth highlighted by a display of
Atlas wood pellet samples and large box of Abundant Harvest Organics produce,
donated by Abundant Harvest. We had number of people sign u[ as interested in
our three coops.
Southern California Edison was thrilled with the results of the
Fair, amazed actually that our small community could bring out so large a crowd
to learn about energy savings. They urged us to consider another Fair in 2011.
The exhibitors were
pleased with the response they had from attendees, so perhaps that we could do
so with less effort next year.
The Local Biomass Facility Project. In August
Let’s Live Local continued working with the Chuchupate Forest Service and the Fire Safety Council to resubmit our application to the
National Forest Foundation for capacity building funds. The application focused
on involving the community in a process of educating and exploring the
potential for and interest in developing a woody biomass facility in our area
whereby forest waste could be used for wood pellet production. This would
enable us to obtain pellets for our coop locally rather than bringing them in
from Idaho as we do now. This application was denied “due to an unexpectedly large number of excellent applications.” The only feedback they provided was that we were not broad enough in the sustainable methods we would be engaging
the community in exploring.
During the fall we have continued to work with the Erik Van Walden
and Ivana Noel of the Forest Service on two other grant possibilities for woody
biomass. Our portion of these feasibility grants would be community outreach
and involvement. It is also possible that there will be federal funding for
local enterprise development through the new Small Business Development Center
(SBDC) in Frazier Park. At the suggestion of Paul Edwards, who is on the SBDC
Advisory Committee, the scope of service areas to be considered for funding has
be expanded to include renewable sustainable energy and enterprises such as a
biomass facility.
Food:
The Organic Produce Coop. In conjunction with
Abundant Harvest Organics, the Organic Produce coop we started last year has
continued to thrive under the capable coordination of Vicky Bingaman. There are
approximately two dozen
participants obtaining food boxes at various intervals. Like clockwork a Live
Local volunteer picks up the boxes every Saturday afternoon in Lebec and
delivers them to the Pine Mountain Institute cul de sac where coop participants
pick up their boxes.
Beef Coop. The grass-fed Beef Coop we launched last year
with the Larry Darling Ranch has continued to be an important on-going program.
We understand Larry was able to subscribe most of his herd last year. With many
freezers still full of roasts, stakes, and other cuts of meat from last year
and the unrelenting burden of the continuing economic recession, this year’s
subscriptions have slowed. We have subscribed on cow this fall and, thanks to
Rosalie Maggio, just had an article run the Enterprise featuring the
coop. It is generating calls from other interested residents. Larry also
continues to advertise weekly in the Enterprise.
Native Food Sources Workshop. On April 11th Let’s Live
Local sponsored a workshop with Alan Salazar, a Chumash Native storyteller who
lives in Pine Mountain. He spoke on kinds of foods and plants that have
traditionally been grown here. It was a well-attended, informative and
entertaining presentation.
Food Inc. Showing. On May 19, Art and Susan Hirth hosted a showing
and discussion of the documentary Food Inc for the Food Group and other
interested individuals.
Health and Social Services:
Recognizing that having virtually no traditional medical services locally,
leaves us highly vulnerable, the development of local health services became
one of the new priorities we undertook on this year.
The Health Services Working Group. In January, 2010, Let’s Live
Local sponsored a viewing of the documentary Living Matrix about cutting
edge health services with the intention of determining if there would be an
interest in forming a working group to bring medical care here. A dozen or so
individuals were interested and a newly formed Health Service Working Group
began meeting in January. Participants include Ann and Bill Gurtner, Erik and
LIA Sluyter; Gita and Harry Nelson, Joan de Bruin; Shelia Clark, Mar Preston,
and Paul and Sarah Edwards, Coordinator. They met regularly throughout the
spring exploring a wide range of possible approaches to developing sustainable
local health service for now, the foreseeable future and well beyond. They have
been one of our most active and productive groups.
The following goals and priorities set by the group to pursue
included:
- Recruitment of medical personnel to the area through the federal
program whereby significantloan re-payment (up to $145,000) is available for doctors, physician
assistances, nurses practitioners and other federally designated primary care
providers who opt to ork in small rural MUA and HPSA areas such as ours, even
if they are practicing only part-time, are eligible for this opportunity.
Shelia Clark has completed all the paper work needed for PMC to be recognized
for this program. - Establishment of elder care services.
- Development of a rural health clinic, either asa starting point or possibly from the growth of a private medical practice
- Telemedicine so residents can receive specialistcare remotely.
The Working Group is encouraged to learn that Dr. Fred Lindberg, a
Thousand Oaks family practitioner, is purchasing a home in Pine Mountain and
will open a house call practice first Friday and Saturday the of each month. He
is aware of our goals to bring medical care here and interested in being part
of that effort. Let’s Live Local is hosting a welcoming evening with Dr.
Lindberg and the Working Group November 6th. Shelia Clark and Sarah
Edwards will be working to assist him in dealing with insurance hurdles based
on PMC’s status as a federally designated small rural MUA and HPSA area.
National Sustainable Medicine Pilot.
On behalf of Let’s Live Local Sarah Edwards contacted Dan Bednarz,
one of the leading authorities on sustainable medicine. He was interested in
our efforts and offered to do a tele-seminar for the Working Group on March 27.
The result of that session was an invitation for LLL to be a rural component of
a nation-wide consortium of communities working toward sustainable
medicine. To become part of the consortium we had to submit an extensive
proposal composed of relevant demographics and background on PMC, LLL, and Kern
County. This entailed conducting an informal health survey of PMC residents within
only a few weeks time. We completed and tallied the survey and identified the
most pressing needs and desires for local health care. We also had to complete
a SWOT analysis of our community’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and
threats; construct a vision statement; and project a timeline from 2010 through
2014. The 16-page proposal was submitted on May 3rd and is available
for perusal on our website www.LetsLiveLocal.org.
Based on our proposal we were accepted into the consortium.
Bednarz has provided
a wealth of guidance on how to proceed with our plan. His initial reaction to
our proposal follows:
I read it last night and it’s emotionally moving and well done. It
gives me a rounded feel for your situation and possibilities. … The fact that
you are so remote as to not have cell phone service is telling. The possibility
of your location as a healing environment is intriguing and I’ll think about
that a lot this week. Right now, I envision a sorting out of who is willing to
stay and leave in the
coming years. And the 47% property loss is shocking but you’re in one of the
biggest bubble real estate areas, probably next to Florida and Las Vegas.
We will be one of several cases studies in Bednarz upcoming
Sustainable Medicine course for Boston Community College and hopefully part of
future grant funding he will be lining up for consortium participants.
Home Health Care.
Over the past year Shelia Clark and Sarah Edwards have taken the
Red Cross courses required to become designated as Authorized Red Cross
Providers. They are now setting up a Red Cross Family Care Giving training
program that will enable us to build a cadre of local residents who can do
in-home care giving for family members or other elderly or disabled individuals
in the community. The state of California pays stipends to such caregivers.
After a visit with the Kern County Department of Aging, it
appeared that by working together LLL and CFCN are poised to begin building a
corps of such local care givers and the evolution of a three tier process to
achieve our goals for serving seniors who wish to continue living here as they
age:
1) Actualizing In-home supportive services from the county. PMC
folks can start getting deserved help both in terms of
training and ongoing funds as family and friend caregivers and from trained
caregivers who want to create new jobs for themselves.
2) Creating a Homemaker type service like Ridge Crest that would
have to be funded by participants and/or some sort of grant that would reach
out to elderly and disabled who do not qualify for Kern services or need
services not cover by them, such as shoveling snow and pet care.
3) Establishing a self-funded Village program that would include
all types of services needed by our elderly population to age here in Pine Mt
regardless of income level.
The next steps are to proceed with efforts toward the care-giving
training and to visit or at least interview someone from the Ridgecrest
Homemaker Services, which has created services to fill in the many gaps in
county services. We should also look further into the variety of financial arrangements
for Village programs around the country.
Senior Call Program. LLL is also
working in conjunction with the California Family Counseling Network to
establish a Red Cross Senior Call Program. This is program is currently
operating in Bakersfield now. We have two professional volunteers - Shelia
Clark and Ruth Handy - who are ready to “man it.”
Health Grants. The Working Group was
advised by Dan Benarz to seek as many grants as possible as quickly as
possible. Grant goals were established as:
- The health feasibility surveys, studies and needassessments
- Community outreach and consensus building.
- Personnel recruitment of practitioners seekingrural communities to work with through the federal loan program.
In April Let’s Live Local submitted a grant application to the
California Wellness Foundation for provide strategic planning, social
marketing, public meetings, community workshops and seminars and a public
information program for a rural health program. LLL also applied for a American
Medical Association grant in conjunction with the California Family Counseling
Network (CFCN) to do community outreach for the Teen Screen program CFCN is
starting. In August we learned that “due to an unusual number of high quality
applications” we were not awarded either of these funds.
We’re in process of preparing an application to the Aetna
Foundation for integrative medicine in remote and underserved areas that would
fund survey, feasibility and recruitment efforts.
Victims of Crime (VOC) and Crisis Intervention Team.
Noticing that our area is not taking advantage of the widely
available state program for victims of crime, LLL in conjunction with CFCN has
engaged in educating the public and law enforcement personnel about this
program and have two local VOC providers on the county list now to receive
referrals. We also jointly created a crisis intervention team and have provided
various presentations and articles on crises that have arisen in the community,
such as the recent cyber bullying incident and teen suicide issues that arose
last Spring. Clark and Edwards will offer a Cyber Bullying Workshop for parents
on October 30 sponsored by LLL and CFCN.
Economic Development and Realignment:
Rural Enterprise Development.
Supporting local businesses and creating jobs and services has
always been a high priority for LLL because our dependence on commuting for
most of resident income and spending makes our community highly vulnerable to
economic fluctuation. So with the goal in mind of creating 20 new sustainable
businesses here and the able assistance and support of the regional USDA
representative Dan Johnson, LLL resubmitted an application to the USAD Rural
Enterprise Development Program in April, 2021. Johnson was very impressed with
the application but warned of the large number of applications expected this
year.
In August we learned that “due to an unusually high number of outstanding
applications” we did not get this grant. Neither Johnson nor LLL could obtain
any further information from the state USDA office but it appears that grants
are primarily going to minority-based projects in larger communities.
In view of the fact that this avenue does not look promising, it
seemed prudent for LLL to invest its economic development efforts into supporting the new Small Business Development Center (SBDC) operated by Women’s Enterprise Development (WEV) out of Santa Barbara under the
direction of new Pine Mountain resident Angel Cottrell. This program was just
launched mid-summer in Frazier Park. Paul and Sarah Edwards of LLL now serve on
their Advisory Committee and will be teaching the business start-up course the
SBDC will offer in March 2011. The WEV training program has been highly
successful in Santa Barbara and other central coast communities and is similar
in many ways to the one LLL proposed to the USDA. In addition Paul Edwards of
LLL is now serving as a SBDC consultant to existing businesses in need of assistance.
Cottage Industry Survey.
This year the Pine Mountain Village Merchant Association (PMVMA)
opened its membership to PMC businesses that are located in facilities other
than the Village. That includes many non-profit and home-based enterprises,
many of whom could be more successful if the community knew about the products
and services they offer and if they came together to support one another’s
success. With this goal in mind several LLL members joined the PMVMA.
After attending several meetings it became clear that the current
operation of the PMVMA was not something most home-based and non-profit organizations
would find helpful. So Sarah Edwards, Shelia Clark, Donna Allison and Linda
Madden requested that a survey be conducted jointly by LLL and PMVMA to find
out what such enterprises and resources are available here and how they might
support each other’s success. A survey was constructed and approved with
the help of Pamela Ploeff of the PMVMA which asks those of us who have for- or non-
profit enterprises, or would like to have such an enterprise, in their home office
or workshop could best work together to support each other’s success.
This survey is currently being circulated and is expected to be
completed by the end of the year. We are continuing to solicit assistance in distributing
and colleting the survey.
Hours Program. In the spring of 2009 a
great deal of excitement developed among LLL participants to establish an Hours
Program, or Time Bank, whereby local residents could provide services to one
another for free based on hours they accumulated by assisting others on a
volunteer basis.
Jim Hanson originally volunteered to spearhead this, as it is
usually an online, web-based program. His work load prevented him from getting involved, however, and the project shifted to Milan Polak who also found his work load prevented him for taking it on. Al Hirth stepped forward but due to business and personal responsibilities has also been unable to undertake this effort. So as of right now, this project is on hiatus until LLL finds someone with the interest and time to take the lead on it.
Emergency Preparedness:
At the urging of Shelia Clark, Let’s Live Local became involved
this year in sponsoring the development of a Red Cross Emergency Response Team (DAT) in PMC and surrounds. We quickly ascertained that Red Cross training, with its emphasis on volunteer mobilization for individual and mass feeding and sheltering, is actually ideal preparation not only for natural disasters but also for possible future economic transition. After spending a year working with the Bakersfield Red Cross office, Shelia Clark and Sarah Edwards completed the basic training courses to
enable them to form the first Red Cross Mental Health Emergency Response Team and to begin providing Red Cross training courses locally so PMC residents won’t have to drive to Bakersfield to complete the needed courses for us to have our own DAT in PMC.
Having a DAT here is especially important given that should there be a disaster of any kind PMC could be cut off from outside services and it
could be weeks before we were able to get
assistance. To date Clark and Edwards have conducted to two training programs
for local residents sponsored jointly by LLL and CFCN. Over the past year
Shelia Clark, Bob Clark, Laurel Quinn, Ruth Handy, Sarah Edwards, Gita Nelson,
Cindy Clark, Dustin Bertel, and Paul and
Charlene Kalamen have taken Red Cross coursework with the intention of being
part of DAT efforts. Through the efforts of Paul and Charlene Kalamen, the El
Camino Pines Lutheran Church has been designated as a Red Cross Shelter and the
Kalamen’s represented the Red Cross at the recent CERT Shake Out event in PMC.
In addition due to our
efforts, especially Shelia Clark’s Center of the World
Festival fundraising activities for the Red Cross and our deep interest in
developing a rural DAT here, Pine Mountain Club has been chosen as a model for
development of rural Red Cross units in the California central valley.
Fund
Raising
At the late 2008 LLL reorganization meeting fund-raising was
identified as a pressing need, but when we learned our 501(3)c application
would be delayed for over a year, fund raising slipped to the side. This year
however, with our IRS status officially established a Fund Raising Working
Group was established composed of Coordinator Joan de Bruin, Ronni Ross and
Erik
and LIA Sluyter.
The group generated a host of fund-raising ideas and settled
upon a fund-raiser based on Dubli, a global online trading platform where many
non-profit organizations like Red Cross chapters receive a donation in
conjunction with savings gained
from those who shop there. The LLL Board approved this project in January 2010
and Ronni Ross did a yeoman’s effort to launch this project, dedicating
significant time and her own funds to get a Let’s Live Local Store on Dubli.
That month Ross and Rick Rivette, also a PMC resident, conducted an excellent
workshop on the ins and outs of Dubli.
The workshop was not well-attended, however, and despite a series
of efforts to
publicize the LLL Dubli Store where PMC residents could save money by shopping
at brand stores, the idea did not catch on. Over the year many fund-raising
ideas have popped up in casual conversation from holding a chocolate tasting to
pigeon racing or an auction on edible art or a party where participants would
bid on a homemade meals for two or on chocolate dessert delicacies made by
those attending.
To date, however, there has not been sufficient energy or
funds to do a fund raiser. One possibility that has been raised is to work with
other non-profits to have a large fund-raiser where the proceeds would be
shared about the organizations participating.
President’s Volunteer Awards
Lack of grant awards and fund raising initiatives leaves LLL
relying almost exclusively
on volunteer efforts, making our volunteers not only highly valued and
appreciated but absolute essential. So in an effort to let our volunteers know
just how important they are to us, LLL has become a Certifying Organization to
review and verify a volunteers hours and nominate and distribute the
President’s Volunteer Service Awards (PVSA) to our LLL volunteers.
Through this national program we have been able to track our
volunteer hours
retroactive to January 2010. To date our volunteers have contributed 680 reported
volunteer hours. Several members have already been certified to receive service
awards from President
Obama. Actually though we have benefitted from far more volunteer hours than
this, because not everyone sends LLL their hours, particularly the dedicated
folks who pick up and deliver our organic produce each week.
Continued Awareness Raising
Although our emphasis have shifted from primarily doing
awareness raising and educational activities to project development and
maintenance, we have continued to do various kinds of both.
In addition to the Energy Fair, which as a large educational
and informational event, and the Food Inc
showing the Hirths hosted, LLL also under took the following:
- Regular email news updatesto our participant list with links to articles and how-to-information on awide range of community development, environment, and sustainabilitytopics.
- Participation in thedevelopment of a Media Literacy program for El Tejon Middle School.
- Support for CommunitasTheatre. LLL undertook to arrange for environmentally-relatedperformances of Communitas Theatreperformances for local civic organizations including our own.
- Hosting a well attendedpresentation by Paul Bridgers on Carbon Sequestration for members of LLL,the Sierra Club and Tri-County Watchdogs.
- Creating a maintaining aweb site and Face Book page for Let’s Live Local.
- Providing literature onLLL and our on-going projects at community event exhibit tables.
- Writing articles about ourprograms for the Condor and the Enterprise. LLL has gottenexcellent coverage from both our local papers.
- Mentioning LLL in radioand television appearances.
- Giving presentations tolocal organizations.
Highlights of Financial
Report – October, 2009 to October, 2010
For the year, we operated with a surplus of $714.60
Major sources of income and expenses:
Energy Fair:
Income: 1862.59
Expenses 1770.57
Pellet Coop
Income: 2182.50
Expenses: 1090.98
Current bank balance: 1100.12
The Echoing Green Fellowship
Through our two-year Echoing Green Fellowship
program, we provide start-up capital and technical assistance to help new
leaders launch their organizations and build capacity. We offer:
• A grant of $60,000 for
individuals ($90,000 for 2-person partnerships) paid in four equal installments
over two years
• A health insurance stipend
• A yearly professional development stipend
• Conferences led by organizational development experts
• Access to technical support and pro bono partnerships to
help grow your organization
• A community of like-minded social entrepreneurs and public
service leaders, including the Echoing Green network of nearly 500 alumni
working all over the world
Application Cycle & Dates
The Echoing Green Fellowship selection
process is highly competitive. Applicants progress through three application
stages with eliminations after each phase. By the end of the process, Echoing
Green will have narrowed the 1000+ applications to 12-20 fellowships. The 2011
finalists will begin their fellowship July 2011 and continue until June 30,
2013.
The 2011 Application will
open October 12, 2010 and remain available through November 12, 2010. Please
check back for updates and more information about the application stages.
Eligibility
Applicants must meet the following criteria
to be eligible for an Echoing Green Fellowship:
• Applicants must be 18
years of age or older.
• Applicants must have sufficient English fluency to
participate in interviews and Echoing Green events.
• Organization must be the original idea of the applicant.
• Organization must be in a start-up phase. To be considered
a start-up, the organization may have been in operation for up to two years,
and Echoing Green's financial support should qualify it as significant early
funder. Applicants who have only worked on their organization on a part-time
basis or have yet to start the organization are generally considered eligible.
• Organization must be independent and autonomous.
Organizations cannot be considered independent or autonomous if they are
started under the direction of an existing organization. The applicant must be
the primary decision maker for the organization’s development and management.
Generally, organizations with fiscal sponsors are still considered autonomous.
• Applicants must make a full-time commitment (minimum 35
hours per week) to the organization's development for the duration of the
two-year fellowship. It is expected that all selected fellows resign from their
current employment to dedicate themselves full-time to their initiatives.
Students will not be eligible for their fellowship stipend if their
organization is put on hold due to conflicts with their studies.
• Partnerships (organizations led by two individuals) may
apply. Both partners must meet all eligibility requirements and make a
full-time commitment of no fewer than 35 hours per week to the development of
the organization.
• Applicants can be citizens of any nationality and their
organizations can be based in any country. However applicants based in the US
must have legal status to work in the US. If you are authorized to work in the
US, but this status is granted to you through your current employer and you are
only authorized to work for that employer, you are not eligible to apply for a
US-based proposal.
• Applicants must commit to attending Echoing Green's
training conferences if selected as fellows. All new fellows attend a
conference in summer the year they are selected, as well as a winter conference
for four years. Echoing Green covers all expenses related to these events and
will announce the dates a few months prior to each conference.
Note: Organizations may be
for-profit or non-profit.
The following proposals are not eligible for
consideration for an Echoing Green Fellowship:
• Expansion of an existing
organization that is past its start-up phase
• Research projects
• Lobbying activities
• Faith-based initiatives (in this context, faith-based
implies that you are associated with a religious institution or are promoting a
specific faith; if your work has a spiritual basis but is not tied to any
specific religion or faith, you may be eligible for consideration)
• Recipients of prior Echoing Green funding
Presented to Lets Live Local
Board of Directors
by Paul Kowalski
10/24/10
There are two main features of the Mountain Energy
Collective Vision:
1.Make Photovoltaic (PV) solar easier for businesses and homeowners to have
installed, so that they can realize significant cost savings when they
purchase energy from themselves instead of ConEdison. This can be accomplished
through programs similar to the pellet coop, which uses economies of scale to
negotiate volume pricing discounts.
Example: http://www.mtpleasantsolarcoop.org/about.htm
“Two ideas led us to the coop model. First, if we were going to go
through all the work to figure out how to install solar technology, we decided we would have
more impact by including more people in the project.
Second, we needed a way to make solar power less expensive. We hoped that through bulk purchase, and sharing expenses and expertise we could significantly bring down the cost.
The immediate goal is to make solar affordable, easy and widely available in our neighborhood. Our ultimate
goal is to develop a model that can be tested in Mt Pleasant and then rolled out across any neighborhood in D.C. Washington.
The idea is that members will merely have to sign up—and they will get solar power installed on their roof.”
1.Develop an organization to manage the investment and generation of clean renewable energy projects. Each project will
be limited in scope, but sufficiently large enough to cover anticipated
annual costs for a 30 year project life span.
The organization will provide a way for members to support the
generation and utilization of clean renewable energy, while reaping the financial rewards and
benefits each project will provide from the electricity generated and sold.
The goal of the organization is to provide investment liquidity for each project.
Projects will be priced based on kilowatt hour (kWh) output, and investors should realize a return on investment based on the market price of
electricity. As long as the price of electricity does not go below the fixed and variable costs of the project, the
investors will be paid the returns on an annual basis.
Example: http://theenergycollective.com/wattheadguest/44477/community-solar-pioneers
“Community
Solar Pioneers; David
Brosch had a problem many Americans can relate to. He
wanted solar power, but wasn't able to put it on his house. His roof had the
wrong orientation, a tree partially blocked the sun, and it was more than he
could afford. Many of his neighbors were in the same situation -- some were
renters, others were too busy to handle the process of an installation on their
house.
They got together and formed a company, University Park Community Solar, and approached a local church with a
large roof and good solar orientation. In exchange for placing solar panels on
it’s roof, the church would be guaranteed a long-term low price of electricity.
David told us: “We wanted a project that could stand on it’s own. Not one
funded by donations, but something that was financially viable that folks would
be willing to invest in. A solar project done right can turn a profit, so we
thought, let’s pool our money and do it together.” Sounds simple enough, right?
As far as we can tell, no one had ever pulled off a project quite
like that before. UPCS needed to come up
with the right legal entity, faced Securities regulations that restrict
non-accredited investors (i.e. non-wealthy people) from investing in the
project, and had to figure out how to utilize federal credits that required
"passive income" to apply it to. It took nearly three years but this
Maryland group finally installed the 21.9 kW system this past May. It is believed to be one of the
first community-initiated and owned solar electric systems in the U.S.
The project is expected to generate a 7-8% return on investment
over the life of the project for the 30-plus area members. By providing clean electricity for
the Church of the Brethren, UPCS will be reducing the region’s reliance on coal-based power. PEPCO, the major
electric utility for Washington D.C. and the Maryland
suburbs, purchases more than half of its power from coal-burning generating
plants, which get their coal from destructive Mountaintop Removal mining
operations in Appalachia. [Check http://www.ilovemountains.org to see
if your electricity comes at the expense of mountains too.]”
Paul and Sarah Edwards are award-winning authors of 17 books on sustainable lifestyles with over 2,000,000 books in print. With the emergence of a global economy that challenges our well-being, they are focusing their efforts on training, consulting, and counseling to create sustainable local Elm Street economies.
