Celebrating 19 Years of Verde!
By Daniela De Santiago
This month, we are celebrating our 19 Years of Verde! To commemorate our years of successful advances towards a climate-resilient future, we are highlighting each of our programs that make it possible. Every program does its part for our community in different ways. We invite you to rediscover our programs and learn how we are here to help our community!
Over the years, we have worked and grown to be the most significant help we can be to our frontline communities. To help build environmental wealth, we have put together different programs and projects that work together to build a better tomorrow. Our three programs: Advocacy, Builds, and Outreach, have evolved, and we work tirelessly to grow and support as many people as possible.
Advocacy
The Advocacy Team engages in policy advocacy and community organizing to secure beneficial environmental investments and policies. Their four focuses: Water, Transportation, Energy, and Air Quality justice, are vital to building our environmental wealth.
Our Water Justice focus has greatly improved in having cleaner and more abundant water for our communities. Our previous Water Justice Coordinator (WJC), Cheyenne Holliday, created and led curriculum development for the Water Justice Leadership Institute (WJLI). It was successfully launched last year! Our current WJC, Roselyn Poton, established the Water Equity Fund, which allocates $1 million for clean water access and sanitation projects. Our Transportation focus leads efforts to expand sustainable transportation options at the local, regional, and statewide levels. We successfully received $10 million from Biden’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). It didn’t reflect our priorities, but we intend to direct a program for community innovation! The Energy Justice Leadership Institute (EJLI) represents a significant step forward in building capacity among historically underrepresented communities in the energy sector. Through this program, low-income individuals, people of color, and tribal residents across the state are empowered to take control of their energy supply and generate wealth from it. Our Air Quality focus achieved a partnership with Multnomah County, which received a technical assistance grant from the EPA. The project will focus on using public schools as clean-air and cooling shelters during air quality emergencies caused by wildfire smoke and extreme heat.
Verde Builds
The Builds Team conceives, designs, and implements environmental infrastructure projects. Their four focuses are: Energy Efficiency, Cooling Portland, Renewable Energy, and Urban Infrastructure.
Cooling Portland and Energy Efficiency have provided heat relief and ductless pumps to people in our community. Through Cooling Portland, we assist renters in mobile home parks, apartments, and RVs. For our Energy Efficiency focus, we launched the Ductless Heat Pump (DHP) program for low-income and BIPOC Portland homeowners. We have successfully installed 210 ductless heat pumps! Focusing on Renewable Energy has brought us our Community Solar project. This allows people in our community to subscribe to an extensive solar system and get credit for their utility bills. Together, we support clean and renewable energy with no installation needed for your home! Through Urban Infrastructure, we show our commitment to a better future for everyone. We believe everyone deserves green and clean spaces like our big success, Cully Park!
Blythe Garma, Verde’s Deputy Director, gave us some insight into what it is to run a program! What excites her most about the builds program is the endless room for growth and opportunity for funding, as well as giving exposure to those who don’t get it as often. In the past years, Builds has been having a hard time building their capacity/their staff. It was mentioned that they have ideas and goals in mind, but our team's ability to achieve them is limited without additional staff. Garma said that within the next 19 Years of Verde, she hopes to grow and have a headquarters. It would be a place to host workshops that train our community to be the next leaders toward a greener future. Lastly, she told us what aspects of the team she believes should be emphasized. She said “We’re not asking for folks to know the ins and outs, but have a general want for our missions. People can come and learn and change their perspective… It's for everyone. It’s meant to be a place where people can come into it and expand their knowledge.”
Outreach
Through the Outreach Team, we engage community members, peer organizations, and policymakers in the connection between protecting the environment and building community. We do this with our focus on Club Aves, Líderes Verdes, Urban Habitat, and Community Engagement.
Club Aves and Líderes Verdes are educational programs that teach the community. Club Aves is an after-school program that allows kids to experience green spaces and inspires youth/youth of color to learn and explore the outdoors. We have served 130 youth through our program! Líderes Verdes is a two-year program focusing on building power among low-income people and people of color to collaborate on community issues. We currently have 81 graduates! Urban Habitat installs free naturescapes for low-income homeowners. We have successfully installed 62 of them. Community Engagement partners with local organizations that seek to involve underrepresented and underserved communities in the decision-making process for various projects, including urban development, parks and transportation improvements, air quality, and more.