Applied Participatory Researcher. Expertise in creating the conditions to work together to generate new ideas and find solutions. Change is possible. Another world is possible. Clients Included: MADRE: An International Women’s Human Rights Organization, Grassroots Global Justice, Jobs with Justice, Dolores Street Community Services, and The Funders Network on Trade and Globalization, San Francisco Municipal Transit Authority, Sasa International Inc., Soko Inc., HealthyPsych, PODER, Avocadoo Inc, and Lighthouse Philanthropy Advisors, San Francisco Department of the Environment.

I work with partners around the State of California to help lower-income people and people of color in access affordable housing, prevent displacement, achieve health equity, benefit from California’s clean energy transition, and have a meaningful voice in decisions that will impact them. My strategies include working to reduce both disparity and GHGs emissions. Uniting the work among Environmental Justice organizations, and building effective partnerships with government staff and national environmental organizations.

Research Designing California’s Clean and Climate Resilient Electricity Grid for Vulnerable Communities.To meet California’s climate goals, the state must rapidly cut carbon pollution from the energy sector while maintaining a reliable grid. Distributed energy resources (DERs) – such as rooftop solar – can help achieve both these aims, but adoption thus far has been uneven and inequitable. As we reinvent our electricity systems, it is critical that low income communities are part of the solution, and aren’t stuck with polluting technologies and higher energy bills. This project will incorporate community perspectives into technical models to design a resilient grid that works for everyone. With funding from the UC Climate Action Initiative, researchers from UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, UC Berkeley, and NREL are collaborating on four interconnected research areas:• Projecting household electrification and adoption of electric technologies • Designing microgrids based on models and surveys• Optimizing resilient distribution networks• Designing incentives to deliver benefits to DACs

This project uses a Participatory Action Research (PAR) framework to study housing decarbonization in communities across California, with a focus on low-income households and communities of color. Housing decarbonization projects include energy efficiency measures, switching to all electric heating and/or cooking, and installing solar panels. These actions can reduce the energy consumption of the home, improve indoor air quality and thermal comfort, and contribute to the health of residents.

Community Climate Shift is a groundbreaking initiative designed to transform how communities and local governments work together to ensure that new building performance standards, or other decarbonization policies, implemented by cities and states contribute to a Just Transition and reflect community priorities.

Built Partnerships. Raised funds. Built research and development to scale. Raised non-dillutive funds. Won USAID DIV 1 grant.