Giving Back: How You And The Green Community Can Help Struggling Families

Today, as HuffPost and AOL unite to launch the Huffington Post Media Group, we're celebrating by making a statement about the importance of giving back and helping others.

Led by HuffPost Impact –- The Huffington Post's section devoted to service, causes, and volunteering -- every HuffPost section is featuring a group or individual who is taking action and inspiring others during these pressing times. Like the rest of the world, our hearts and minds are also focused on Japan, and we've created a resource page for everyone wishing to support the emergency relief efforts.

Additionally, we're thrilled to announce that Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter, is joining the Huffington Post Media Group as Strategic Adviser For Social Impact. Stone will help the company to create innovative social impact and cause-based initiatives.

AOL/Huffington Post Media Group has also issued a 30-day Service Challenge to every one of its employees worldwide, encouraging them to give their time to charities in their local communities and organizing volunteer events in 16 cities.

We hope you'll join us in utilizing the power of online journalism to help people get involved, work together, and bring about real change.

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The organization Green For All redefines the phrase “killing two birds with one stone.” Green For All successfully targets two major challenges facing the U.S. today -- climate change and unemployment. The company throws quite a powerful stone, indeed.

Based out of Oakland, California, Green For All (GFA) is a national organization fighting to lift people out of poverty by providing equal access to clean energy job opportunities.

The company was co-founded by Van Jones, Obama’s former green jobs advisor. Jones was recently featured in the film “Carbon Nation” for his work with parolees installing solar panels on low-income homes, in keeping with Jones's motto: "Green jobs, not jails." GFA’s current CEO, Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, was recently profiled as HuffPost's Greatest Person of the Day, where she explained, “The reality is [old] industries aren't working for most Americans, and most Americans aren't working for those industries."

Green For All strives to unite workforces, train leaders on green economy practices, and push Washington to offer green job training for vulnerable communities. The company has a heavy list of accomplishments already under its belt:

On a federal policy level, GFA successfully pushed for the 2007 Green Jobs Act to include $125 million per year to train workers in green jobs. During the Climate Bill debate in 2009, Green For All helped to win key provisions increasing access to green jobs for vulnerable communities.

Green For All is also working to shape green job policies in states like Washington, Texas, Massachusetts, and New Mexico. GFA worked on the 2008 Massachusetts Green Jobs Act to provide grant money for training programs to increase access to green jobs. The company also worked on the 2009 Washington Senate Bill 5649 to increase the energy efficiency of 100,000 buildings in the next five years, while guaranteeing low-income and disadvantaged populations access to these jobs.

Lastly, Green For All is working on a local level in over 20 U.S. cities, including Seattle, Los Angeles, Detroit, and Boston. In Los Angeles, GFA is supporting projects including a Clean Trucks program, which replaces dirty fuel trucks with clean-burning vehicles while empowering drivers. In Boston, GFA is supporting the Green Justice Coalition in launching a campaign to bring energy efficient upgrades to the homes of low-income communities.

Through Green For All’s Communities of Practice section, practitioners on the ground are connected and mobilized. Communities of Practice encourages energy-efficient building retrofits, re-entry jobs for ex-criminals, and “Green Pathways Out Of Poverty,” an initiative currently focused on employment opportunities for at-risk youth.

There are many ways to get involved with Green For All. By signing up on their website, you will be informed of news, upcoming events, and involvement opportunities. You can also find a nearby green organization to join or make a donation to GFA. Programs such as Communities of Practice and the Capital Access Program are also ways to get involved.

You can also take a leadership role by hosting a Green Economy House Party, starting a community garden, or organizing a service event.

Green For All’s goals are simple, yet effective: “Green For All is dedicated to improving the lives of all Americans through a clean energy economy.” That dedication is evident in what the organization has already accomplished, and with your help, many more American's lives will be improved while moving our country toward an energy-independent future.

Comments

[Onertwo19]

01:55 AM on 03/16/2011

We should give all of America's poor free electricity from Solar. The extra money in their pockets would do wonders to stimulate the economy.

[Genders]

03:32 PM on 03/15/2011

Absolutely, efficiency can cut our energy needs by 75% or more without improving our quality of life. Rooftop PV is cheaper for sunny roofs in CA and Hawaii, even with the loan payments and before the subsidies. Offshore wind fo big cities, and waste biochar and bio fuels for backup and long haul transport. We can get away from nukes and fossils.

[Genders]

03:33 PM on 03/15/2011

while improving our quality of life.

[Draiman for Council]

09:37 AM on 03/15/2011

Draiman's Plan for LA’s Energy Efficiency

Investments in weatherization and efficiency upgrades create jobs, lower household utility bills, make LA businesses more competitive and lessen our impact on the environment. Reducing LA’s energy demand also keeps money in people’s pockets and in the region’s economy.
Nearly 9,000 LA buildings underwent significant retrofits in 2010. Draiman wants to triple that number by creating a $20 million fund that allows current programs to be significantly scaled and expanded. The city’s investment is projected to leverage an additional $120 million in outside resources from LADWP, The Southern California Gas Co., and various governmental and lending institutions. The plan is estimated to create more than 700 good-paying jobs and reduce harmful carbon emissions by more than 7,000 tons – the equivalent of cutting our gas consumption by 818,000 gallons annually.

[OHwhatcouldabeenin2000]

01:16 PM on 03/14/2011

This is great but if you're truly concerned about green energy id like to see you put your money where your mouth is and donate a fixed percentage of company profit to research development and implementation..people, myself included will volunteer but aside from google there hasnt been enough corporate effort to realistically push this movement forward,, we NEED MONEY, words arent enough

[Draiman for Council]

03:48 AM on 03/24/2011

YJ Draiman files papers running for Mayor of Los Angeles - 2013 – Press release

Motivated by the desire to serve the Los Angeles community and to hold City Hall accountable for it’s actions, I have decided the best way to accomplish my goal is to run for and become the next Mayor of Los Angeles As Mayor, it would be my duty and goal to not just protect the quality of life in Los Angeles, but to improve it. More importantly, as Mayor I intend to protect and improve the quality of life for ALL the people of Los Angeles, not just a select few.

The most consistent complaint I heard from some residents of Los Angeles when I ran for City Council was that no one knows what City Hall is doing anymore. The good of the common people seems to have been lost in the process. City Hall has become self-serving with little or no accountability, which is why I have adopted and will instill a policy of "transparency and accountability" in City Hall. A government "for the people" must be held accountable by the people.

One of my biggest goals would be to make City Hall account for every single cent spent. Some of my more specific goals are balancing the budget, encouraging economic vitality, preserving and improving the City infrastructure, protecting the quality of our neighborhoods, supporting our open space and bicycle trails programs, working with the Neighborhood Councils and the Chamber to encourage local,