AmeriCorps team in Bend, promoting energy conservation
An AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps team, known as Green One, is no stranger to environmental work, and now they are ready to save some energy. The nine-person team will work with the Environmental Center until May 22, educating Bend residents about energy conservation.
The Environmental Center is involved in a competition with 49 other communities to win a $5 million prize from Georgetown University, which they would use for further energy conservation measures.
Green One will promote the Bend Energy Challenge, an opportunity for the community as a whole to lower energy usage and save on individual energy bills, all of which will help Bend compete for The Prize.
TEC hopes 15% of Bend households will take the Challenge and pledge to reduce their energy use by December 31, 2016.
Green One will canvas houses and table outside local businesses to encourage people to take the pledge, give them a Do-It-Yourself energy saving guide, and suggest further actions. They will also input data to keep track of the savings, assist in home inspections, and work in TEC’s Learning Garden, among other tasks.
Green One is the first NCCC team to work with The Environmental Center. “The Environmental Center staff is amazing. They’re so friendly and welcoming. They really want to give us the best experience they can,” said Corps Member Danielle Vogel.
The Environmental Center is Green One’s third project in their ten-month term of service.
The AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) and its FEMA Corps units engage 2,800 young Americans in a full-time, 10-month commitment to service each year. AmeriCorps NCCC members address critical needs related to natural and other disasters, infrastructure improvement, environmental stewardship and conservation, and urban and rural development; FEMA Corps members are solely dedicated to disaster preparedness, mitigation, response and recovery work. The programs are administered by the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS). CNCS is the federal agency that engages more than five million Americans in service through its AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, Social Innovation Fund, and Volunteer Generation Fund programs, and leads President’s national call to service initiative, United We Serve. For more information, visit NationalService.gov .
