Hammond Climate Solutions Foundation

In case you missed it, last Monday at a press event it was announced that San Diego Community Power, the San Diego Community Power Foundation and Calpine Energy Solutions, LLC are granting more than $1.2 million toward clean energy and green workforce development projects in San Diego County. We are thrilled to be a grant recipient, and our executive director Tara Hammond proudly attended the event that took place at Olivewood Gardens & Learning Center, the nonprofit receiving a solar and storage project with our awarded grant funding. Over the next 25 years, the National City-based nonprofit is expected to save nearly $400,000 from the clean energy project, which is also made possible by BQuest Foundation! We'll also be organizing educational workshops focusing on engaging youth in Communities of Concern, which Olivewood Gardens will be hosting for the community. Here are some news stories on this announcement: - San Diego Foundation: https://lnkd.in/g7jrd8_5 - NBC 7 San Diego: https://lnkd.in/gZDfE87C - The San Diego Union-Tribune: https://lnkd.in/g-RspD_Z 📸 All of these photos were taken on the beautiful Olivewood Gardens. The group photo is attributed to Councilmember Joe LaCava's office. He is the board chair of San Diego Community Power.

Last week we joined our friends at SanDiego350, Public Power San Diego, Indivisible San Diego and Veterans For Peace for another protest at Sempra Energy, the parent company of San Diego Gas & Electric. Our deputy director, Karinna Gonzalez, was one of the terrific speakers at the event. "Today, we find ourselves at the intersection of a climate crisis and an energy affordability crisis, while the executives in this very building celebrate their $3 billion profits from last year alone, which worsened climate injustices and accelerated the climate crisis. {...} In the past six years alone, California utility companies have spent upwards of $25 million to block, obstruct, or influence policymakers, with SDG&E contributing about $4.4 million to these efforts. It’s truly a travesty to think about how much money, time and effort has gone into defending SDG&E’s attacks on rooftop solar and countering their false claims that delay climate action over the past decade alone. These funds, campaigns and efforts could have resulted in bold climate action that put San Diego on the map as a climate leader, supporting local green jobs, lessening climate injustices and slowing the impacts of the climate crisis. But instead, we’re forced to continue to battle SDG&E and its parent company Sempra, and it’s time to change that." Our executive director, Tara Hammond, was once again joined by her 2.5 year old son, Stryder, the youngest protester out there. Thanks to all of the organizers, participants and the local media stations for covering this event.

🎉 We’re thrilled to share some exciting news! We were once again selected as one of the Community Clean Energy Grant Program grantees, which will support a clean energy system as well as educational and workforce development workshops at Olivewood Gardens & Learning Center in National City! They are expected to save nearly $400,000 from the clean energy project over the next 25 years! ☀️ At a press event this morning at our project partner's beautiful campus, San Diego Community Power, the San Diego Foundation and Calpine Energy Solutions, LLC announced that they are granting more than $1.2 million toward clean energy and green workforce development projects in San Diego County. Congrats to the fellow grantees! 👏 Our grant is going towards a 16.4kW solar power and 35kWh energy storage system at Olivewood Gardens and Learning Center and it's being installed by International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 569 installer Aloha Solar Power. We'll also be organizing educational workshops focusing on engaging youth in Communities of Concern, which Olivewood Gardens will be hosting for the community. This grant, along with a #SolarMoonshotProgram grant funded by BQuest Foundation and a tax credit bridge loan, is making it possible for Olivewood Gardens to invest in rooftop solar and energy storage. The substantial energy bill savings are very impactful for a nonprofit like Olivewood Gardens, and it will allow them to advance their mission and further their important work in the community. Not only will the solar power system provide education, lower energy bills and support local green jobs, it will also lessen the need for fracked gas, reduce CO2 emissions that are accelerating the climate crisis and curtail climate injustices. Stay tuned for more updates on this exciting effort! 📸 Photographed here at the press event from left to right are the executive director and associate director of Olivewood Gardens, Jennifer Nation, MNLM (she/her) and Claire Groebner, our founder and executive director Tara Hammond, SD Community Power's CEO Karin L Burns and SD Community Power board chair Joe LaCava.

While postal workers take a break on Sundays, climate activism never stops. Click here to sign this Earthjustice petition to help electrify the Postal Service. ☀️⚡️ ‘We cannot allow the Postal Service to backtrack on {their electrification} commitment. We’ve fought tooth and nail to push the agency to electrify its new mail trucks, and at every step of the way we’ve been met with resistance. An unenforceable promise to phase out polluting trucks is not good enough — we need that timeline to be legally binding so we can hold the Postal Service accountable if it doesn’t abide by it. Tell the Postal Service it needs to increase the proportion of electric mail trucks and deliver on its promise to only buy electric trucks after 2026.’ #runningonsunshine #electrifyeverything #climateactionplan

Happy #NationalNonprofitDay! We are honored to be recognized by Beneficial State Bank today for our work to expedite positive change for a just and livable future. 🌍 It’s our absolute pleasure to assist nonprofits across the country in their clean energy journeys with our #SolarMoonshotProgram, allowing solar savings to be reinvested back into terrific nonprofits while supporting local green jobs. Nonprofit work is so important to communities across the world. If you have the resources to do so, we encourage you to donate your time, money or services to a nonprofit better lives in your region. 💙

"Across the country and globe, young people are filing lawsuits to try to hold governments and companies accountable for their role in promoting #climatechange. At the center of many are Indigenous youth like Kaliko who feel an enormous urgency and responsibility to step up and protect their land and cultural resources from this latest colonial onslaught on their way of life. For teenagers like Kaliko, litigation offers an opportunity to force change in a political and economic system that has long resisted calls to climate action. It also feels like a necessary step to protect her home. “It’s really important to me that other kids don’t have to go through what I’ve experienced and that’s what drives me to do this stuff,” Kaliko said. “But it’s really just like the thought of, ‘If I don’t do it, then who will?’” Learn more about the important battle Kaliko's has taken on and other Indigenous youth-led #climatelawsuits across the country in this Grist article. #climatejustice #climatecrisis

Today's #SolarSaturday post is highlighting the 3rd #solaranniversary of the Kaupo Community Association in Maui. The nonprofit received a $25,000 #SolarMoonshotProgram grant in 2021 thanks to our philanthropic funder #LeftCoastFund. The clean energy project was designed and installed by IBEW Local 569contractor Aloha Solar Power, whose founder grew up in Maui. "The Kaupō Community Association is honored to receive support from the Solar Moonshot Program which has enabled us to power our newly restored Kaupō Community Resource Center with 100% renewable energy! This special building — formerly a historic 1920s school that had fallen into disrepair — has truly become the heart of our small, rural Hawaiian community. As Kaupō, Hawai'i, and the world continue to navigate the physical, emotional, social, and economic toll of the coronavirus pandemic, indigenous communities across the globe are reclaiming ancestral wisdom and pathways to forge a more resilient future. This important project has taken our community one significant step forward along our journey to reclaim self-sufficiency and return to our traditional practices of aloha 'āina and mālama 'āina (love and care for the land),” said Makalapua Kanuha, Board President. One year ago this week Maui was struck by devastating wildfires, leaving behind a path of deadly destruction and displacing countless families and businesses. A year later, the community still needs our support. Please consider donating to verified relief funds to help those affected rebuild and recover. Your contribution makes a difference. 🌺🙏 #MauiStrong #WildfireRelief 🔗 https://lnkd.in/gCYrjZqY

We greatly appreciate the impactful work Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer and her team do for the San Diego region. 📣 Click the link below to watch a message from Supervisor Lawson-Remer and a link to sign a petition asking the federal government to help us stop the flow of sewage into our ocean and keep our beaches clean and healthy: https://lnkd.in/gN3vxx2K

Did you know that humanity has burned through Earth’s annual budget for resources in just over seven months?! August 1st marked the date on which we’ve used up all the resources that the planet can regenerate in one year. This year’s date is months earlier than the first Overshoot Day on 25 December 1971. This post below by Raising Well Kids highlights part of the consumerism problem we have and offers solutions. We also encourage folx to share donations and ask for items in their community Buy Nothing Project Facebook groups. https://lnkd.in/gfhPz5jf

It's #SolarSaturday and today we're featuring a #solaranniversary post. Of our 150 committed #SolarMoonshotProgram grants, two grants have been for solar thermal projects manufactured and installed by 8th Fire Solar, including this project for Turtle Mountain Animal Rescue in North Dakota. Turtle Mountain Animal Rescue operates in an underserved community where veterinary access is sparse and local animals are in desperate need of a helping hand. They work hand in hand with our community to save thousands of animals each year. Independent rescuers within the community play a pivotal role in shaping local attitudes toward strays, encouraging responsible pet ownership and advocating for the humane treatment of animals. Turtle Mountain Animal Rescue's solar thermal unit was installed over a year ago and provided much-needed clean energy during winter. "Our solar furnaces worked seamlessly, maintained above freezing temperatures and allowed building crews to continue interior construction work throughout our frigid North Dakota winter. Thank you Hammond Climate Solutions Foundation and the Solar Moonshot Program," said Executive Director Keith Benning. Big thanks to our philanthropic partner BQuest Foundation for funding this grant and making the clean energy project possible. 🐕 To learn more about TMAR, check out https://lnkd.in/gJarvRGN 🌍 To learn more about this project, check out https://lnkd.in/giPYqH2d ☀️ To learn more about 8th Fire solar, check out https://lnkd.in/gqvYKbGu