Letter from Susie Chang, Greater Los Angeles Regional Director
Greetings from sunny Southern California! The sun continued to shine on GRID Alternatives' efforts here this summer, as we completed our first retrofit installation in Greater LA in partnership with the City of El Monte, and our first San Diego installation in partnership with San Diego Habitat for Humanity. We now have solar installation partnerships with the Cities of Huntington Park and Inglewood, in addition to our partnerships with local Habitat affiliates.

It was an amazing summer here at GRID Alternatives, as you can see in the newsletter below. We've been completing low-income solar projects throughout the entire state, from the Bay Area to the Central Valley to LA and San Diego, and had our most successful SOLARTHON event ever. We're hoping by the end of the year to open offices in Fresno and San Diego as we continue our statewide growth and expansion, and are currently looking for additional staff and AmeriCorps*VISTA members in Oakland, LA, Fresno and San Diego to support that expansion - see below for all the details in case you or anyone you know is interested in working with us.

These successes are thanks to you - our partners and volunteers whose support and enthusiasm enable us to do the work we do. Together we are building a statewide movement to bring the benefits of renewable energy to the communities that need it most. From all of us here at GRID Alternatives, thank you for your ongoing support, and hopefully we'll see you in sunny LA! --Susie

Summer Volunteer Projects, SOLARTHON 2008 Success, and Job Training Update
This summer we've been as busy as ever, completing volunteer solar installation projects in Alameda, El Monte, Fresno, Oakland, Redwood City, Richmond, Sacramento, San Diego and San Francisco. These projects included SOLARTHON 2008, our annual fundraiser where we installed 8 solar electric systems in one day in partnership with Habitat for Humanity East Bay, while raising nearly $70,000 to support renewable energy for communities in need. A huge thank you goes out to all the sponsors and volunteers who made this possible.

Several of our installation projects this summer were completed in partnership with community-based job training organizations, including Cypress Mandela Training Center, Dr. J. Alfred Smith Sr. Training Academy (DJASSTA), Fresno Local Conservation Corps, JobTrain, and Richmond BUILD/Solar Richmond. We also completed our first ever "women's build", in partnership with Habitat for Humanity Fresno County and the Fresno Local Conservation Corps. Upcoming projects this fall include East Palo Alto, Fresno, Huntington Park, Oakland, Redwood City, Sacramento, San Francisco, Vacaville, and many more - if you want to be notified of volunteer opportunities, please sign up on our website for our volunteer email list.

Job Openings and AmeriCorps*VISTA positions
GRID Alternatives is growing throughout California, and has several new positions available for folks who are passionate about bringing renewable energy to low-income communities. We are currently looking for someone with PV design and installation experience to join our Greater Los Angeles office as a Solar Installation Supervisor, as well as for professionals with management experience to serve as Regional Directors in Fresno, Oakland and San Diego.

For people who are looking to gain experience while spending a year serving low-income communities and building our capacity throughout California, we have six AmeriCorps*VISTA positions currently available in Fresno, Oakland and San Diego - visit our website for job descriptions and application information. AmeriCorps is the domestic Peace Corps, and places individuals on full-time, year-long service projects serving low-income communities and provides them with living stipends, health care, and an educational award. For more information you can visit the AmeriCorps website. Applications for these VISTA positions are being accepted through October 1st, so interested folks should apply immediately.

We're Moving!
With all the changes and growth going on at GRID Alternatives, we're moving again to a larger space. This time we feel that we've found a long-term home for both our administrative offices and construction and warehouse operations that can accomodate our current and future growth. We'll be renting space from the Lions Center for the Blind in Oakland, about a 10 minute walk from the MacArthur BART station. In addition to office and warehouse space, the Lions Center also has a large auditorium that we can use for volunteer trainings and other events. We're planning to hold our annual winter Friendraiser event there this year as a combination holiday party and office-warming - watch your email for more details.

We're still finalizing our permanent mailing address and new phone information, so please check our website for updates in the upcoming weeks. In the meantime, we are looking for volunteers with interior construction experience for a volunteer "office raising" workday on Sunday October 5th. We're particularly interested in finding volunteers with experience and/or equipment for installing carpet. Please email Zach Franklin at zfranklin@gridalternatives.org if you have these skills and are available to volunteer. Thank you!

Thank You!
Once again we have many people and organizations to thank over the last three months who have made all of our work possible. We want to thank all of our SOLARTHON 2008 sponsors, including PG&E, Salesforce.com, MMA Renewable Ventures, Google, Innovalight, WaMu, IBEW Local 595, and ENVIRON, for making this year's event our most successful Solarthon ever. We also want to thank all of our individual participants who raised money for the cause, and in particular our top fundraiser Leland Lai who raised $1,825 to support renewable energy for low-income communities. Finally we want to send a special thank you to Ralph Chesley for his tremendous volunteer efforts helping organize the Solarthon and providing additional assistance at our offices, and Jenny Spitz and Mullen for their amazing volunteer efforts coordinating media outreach for this event and for our organization.

Thank you to Union Bank of California Foundation, the California Consumer Protection Foundation, the Body Shop Foundation, the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund, the Home Depot Foundation, and the Full Circle Fund, who have all provided support to GRID Alternatives over the last few months to enable our statewide growth. We also want to thank the San Francisco Department of the Environment and the Oakland Redevelopment Agency for providing support for our Solar Affordable Housing Program, and to specifically acknowledge Aaron Reaven at the Broadway/MacArthur/San Pablo Redevelopment Project Area Committee for his tireless efforts in building support for low-income solar in the City of Oakland. We also want to thank BP Solar for donating solar panels for two San Diego Habitat for Humanity installations, PG&E for donating a work truck to our construction staff, and Wachovia for providing their amazing in-house video crew to us at no charge. Thanks again to ClifBar for providing ClifBars for our hungry volunteers. Finally we want to send a huge thank you to the Corporation for National and Community Service for their continued commitment to GRID Alternatives as part of their AmeriCorps*VISTA program.

Last but not least we want to send a special thank you out to Faisal El-Azzouzi, one of our Bay Area construction managers who recently moved to Los Angeles to take a job engineering large-scale building-integrated solar projects around the world. Many of you worked with Faisal over the last two years and know his infectious enthusiasm, his generosity of spirit, and his passion for serving low-income communities. We miss Faisal, but he hasn't left the family - he's promised to be a volunteer team leader with our Greater Los Angeles office. Thank you Faisal!

GRID Alternatives eNewsletter - Summer/Fall 2008
Bay Area Office: 1610 Harrison Street, Suite C, Oakland, CA 94612, (510) 550-8535
Greater Los Angeles Office: 969 Sandhill Avenue, Carson, CA 90746, (310) 324-8146
www.gridalternatives.org