Green Economy

Second Chance, Inc.

http://www.secondchanceinc.org

Second Chance is a nonprofit enterprise working with residents of Baltimore to train them in a wide variety of skill sets, ranging from carpentry to craftsmanship. The group strives to create skilled workers making a living wage with benefits for themselves and their families. By teaching workers to safely deconstruct a building without damaging its historic elements, they become self-supporting members of the community with new skill sets. Read more about Second Chance, Inc....

San Francisco Community Power

http://www.sfpower.org

San Francisco Community Power is a nonprofit group founded in 2001 with a $1.5 million grant from the San Francisco Department of the Environment. Originally focused on two low-income neighborhoods — Bayview-Hunters Point and Potrero Hill—the group provides energy management services to low-income families and small businesses, and trains under- and unemployed individuals to implement energy conservation measures. Read more about San Francisco Community Power...

The ReUse People

http://www.thereusepeople.org

The ReUse People is a nonprofit business dedicated to keeping usable building materials out of landfills and distributing them for reuse. Since 1993, the ReUse People and its affiliated contractors have deconstructed residential, commercial and industrial buildings ranging from single-family residences to military housing complexes and large-scale movie sets. To date, the business has diverted over 210,000 tons of materials from landfills throughout California. Read more about The ReUse People...

The Rebuilding Center of Our United Villages

http://www.rebuildingcenter.org

The ReBuilding Center is a project of Our United Villages, a Portland-based non-profit community organization. Modeled after successful building material reuse centers throughout North America (over 500 in the United States and Canada), the ReBuilding Center opened to the public in 1998 and moved to a 24,000 square foot warehouse in 1999. By 2001, five tons of materials were being kept out of the landfill each day. Read more about The Rebuilding Center of Our United Villages...

PrairieFire BioFuels Cooperative

http://pfbf.typepad.com/prairiefire_biofuels/advertising.html

PrairieFire is a member-owned cooperative creating access and building infrastructure to support vegetable oil-based fuel sources and usage. Services offered range from the sale of biodiesel to technical support for converting diesel vehicles to run on pure vegetable oil. Read more about PrairieFire BioFuels Cooperative...

Pioneer Valley Photovoltaics Cooperative

http://www.pvsquared.coop

Formed in 2002, PV Squared is a worker-owned business providing turnkey renewable energy system installations at homes, businesses, municipalities, and institutions. PV Squared custom designs and installs solar electric and hot water systems, small wind turbine technologies, and micro-hydroelectric facilities. Read more about Pioneer Valley Photovoltaics Cooperative...

Northwest Sustainable Energy for Economic Development

http://www.nwseed.org

Northwest SEED works to establish a clean, diverse, and affordable Northwest energy system based on efficient use of renewable resources, with maximum local control and ownership of energy assets. The group provides technical assistance for projects that stimulate local economic development, create jobs, and enhance security, while creating widespread popular support for and investment in a sustainable energy system. Efforts to date have included a range of community-owned and tribal-owned wind, solar, and biomass projects. Read more about Northwest Sustainable Energy for Economic Development...

Local Energy

http://www.localenergy.org

Stressing the instability of foreign fossil fuel sources, Local Energy is working to ensure that the renewable energy movement focuses on local projects. Through research, education and projects, such as assisting rural communities to harness solar energy or utilizing waste from forest thinning to heat 35 low-income homes, Local Energy works to stress the best practices for local self-reliance in renewable energy. Read more about Local Energy...

Energy Co-op of Vermont

http://www.vcec.org

Founded in 2000 by local residents concerned by rising fuel costs, the Energy Co-op of Vermont is a member-owned utility that strives to offer its members low, fair prices, renewable energy options, and a chance to be a part owner. Comparing their prices to the Vermont average, Energy Co-op illustrates how it has saved its members more than $400,000 on their heating bills since 2000. Read more about Energy Co-op of Vermont...

Ella Baker Center

http://www.ellabakercenter.org

The Ella Baker Center, in addition to helping spawn the national support group, Green for All, has also been a green collar jobs pioneer at the local level. With $250,000 in seed funding secured from the Oakland City Council in June 2007, the Oakland Green Jobs Corps is expected to launch in early 2008 and will involve at least 20 local and regional green employers in the Green Business Council. Each participating firm will agree to provide internship positions for Oakland Green Jobs Corps trainees recruited from low-income Oakland city neighborhoods. Read more about Ella Baker Center...

EBO Group

http://www.ebogroupinc.com

Founded in 1978, the employee-owned EBO Group (which stands for “Excellence By Owners”) is an engineering firm with 55 employee-owners and $20 million in annual sales. The company originally developed custom-designed clutches and brakes, but in recent years has shifted focus to developing more energy-efficient batteries for plug-in hybrid vehicles and other storage devices that use recyclable sources of power, such as solar energy. Read more about EBO Group...

DC Greenworks

http://www.dcgreenworks.org

D.C. Greenworks runs a group of nonprofit social enterprises that train and employ local "at-risk" youth. D.C. TreeKeepers assists local neighborhoods that are interested in initiating a community greening project. D.C. RainKeepers provides rain barrels and training to households interested in disconnecting one or more rain downspouts from the storm sewer system. D.C. Greenwork's Green Collar Job Training Program reaches out to the city's low-income, ethnically diverse population to foster new job opportunities and training in the urban forestry, nursery, and landscaping industries. Read more about DC Greenworks...

Chicagoland Green Collar Jobs Initiative

http://www.greencollarchicago.org

Working to create a vibrant green collar workforce, the Chicagoland Green Collar Jobs Initiative seeks to integrate green business growth, innovative workforce development, and emerging environmental practices and policies into a vibrant regional economy. The group has chosen to concentrate its energies in four major green collar sectors: urban agriculture and horticulture; building construction, operations and maintenance; green products and services; and energy efficiency and alternative energy. Read more about Chicagoland Green Collar Jobs Initiative...

Buffalo ReUse

http://www.buffaloreuse.org

Buffalo ReUse is a not-for-profit organization, established in 2006 in response to the city of Buffalo's plans to develop deconstruction as a competitive alternative to the demolition of abandoned housing stock. There are an estimated 23,000 vacant structures in Buffalo, a city that once housed a half million people, but whose population is now only 290,000. To date Buffalo ReUse has deconstructed two entire structures, salvaged more than 25 additional abandoned structures, and initiated part-time sales of used materials. Read more about Buffalo ReUse...

American Indian Housing Initiative

http://www.engr.psu.edu/greenbuild/index.asp

The American Indian Housing Initiative (AIHI) is a collaborative effort to adapt and deploy sustainable building technologies on American Indian reservations. Founded in 1998 at the University of Washington and now based at Pennsylvania State University, the American Indian Housing Initiative integrates courses, research, and outreach activities to foster mutually beneficial partnerships between universities and tribal nations. Efforts are currently centered on work with the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in Eastern Montana. Read more about American Indian Housing Initiative...

Elevate Energy

http://www.elevateenergy.org/

Elevate Energy (formerly CNT Energy) is a "think-and-do" tank that combines research with effective solutions. Elevate Energy focuses on helping customers and communities access the information and services they need to control energy costs and to become more energy efficient. Through relationships with municipalities in the Chicagoland region, utilities throughout Illinois, and other non-profit environmental organizations, Elevate Energy is able to achieve actual results in providing innovative solutions to energy challenges.  Read more about Elevate Energy...

Green Worker Cooperatives

http://www.greenworker.coop

Green Worker Cooperatives is a South Bronx-based organization dedicated to incubating worker-owned green businesses in order to build a strong local economy rooted in democracy and environmental justice.  To do so, it runs the “Co-op Academy,” a 5-month long training and support program that helps teams of entrepreneurs develop worker-owned green businesses. Read more about Green Worker Cooperatives...

Green Works Kansas City

http://www.greenworkskc.org

Green Works Kansas City was founded in 2007 as a non-profit dedicated to educating urban youth on sustainability and the green economy through paid internships and experiential learning. Green Works provides experience and skills for careers in sustainability. In 2011, Green Works students began the first phase of a two-year habitat restoration project in Brush Creek as an $80,000-budget project. This project yielded over 3,500 native plants, 35 trees, and 100 shrubs including bird and bat houses. Read more about Green Works Kansas City...

Greenprint Denver

http://www.greenprintdenver.org

Launched by the City of Denver in 2006, Greenprint Denver is a five-year, citywide plan that seeks to reduce global warming emissions by 20 percent through a wide range of energy efficiency measures. The project also aims to position the City of Denver to be a regional center for balanced and renewable energy and green industries by creating 1,000 new training and job opportunities in these areas for metro Denver residents by 2011.
Read more about Greenprint Denver...

Green Energy Ohio

http://www.greenenergyohio.org

Green Energy Ohio (GEO), based in Columbus, is a non-profit focused on the promotion of sustainable energy and economic policies and practices in Ohio. In 2009, GEO had total assets of over $400,000 and annual revenue of $490,000. In 2003, GEO helped to establish the Ohio Clean Energy Business Association (OCEBA), which connects renewable energy manufacturers and providers, and in turn provides more jobs in the green sector. Read more about Green Energy Ohio...