Rising Sun Center for Opportunity

Don't miss Rising Sun speaking at this forum! Glendie Domingo will be sharing about our youth Climate Careers model and Abigail Kubota will share about our policy work in the residential decarbonization space. Register at: https://lnkd.in/gaccAmAx

We’re not going anywhere. We have work to do. Read more in this letter from our President and CEO Julia Hatton: The pictured quote became my go-to sign off on the weekly staff emails I started sending during COVID (and still send). It was part public health advice, part mental health support, part community-building. I want to send the same message to every member of the Rising Sun community today. Take care of yourselves and each other. Regardless of where you sit on the political spectrum, elections are stressful, and this is an objectively hard time to be part of this country. Personally, I’m trying—as a mom, a nonprofit leader, and as a human—to lean into what’s both necessary and effective in this moment: love, connection, and compassion. That’s my best take on what taking care of myself and others looks like, for me, right now. I acknowledge the gifts of agency and power I hold in both my professional position and my personal identities that allow me to say that. There are people who cannot prioritize love, connection, and compassion right now. Many of these people are those that Rising Sun is mission-driven to work alongside: folks with low or no income, people of color, and women. That’s why Rising Sun’s work is more important than ever. We’re not going anywhere. We have work to do. We’ll continue to build career pathways for economic equity and climate resilience because we believe it’s how we will achieve our vision of a just, sustainable future for ALL people and our planet. And we’ll do it in alignment with our organizational values, including: ? Equity: We believe that all individuals and communities should have the respect, opportunities, and material resources necessary to thrive. We strive to produce and sustain racial and gender equity in our programs, policies, and organizational culture. ? Resilience: We focus on and start with the inherent value and strengths of individuals, communities, and our environment. ? Diversity, Inclusion, Justice, and Belonging: We know that diverse, equitable, just, and inclusive workplaces, where people from all backgrounds experience belonging, are inherently stronger, and that our team and leadership must be both talented and representative of the communities we serve. Our commitment to inclusion extends to all aspects of our programs. We’re here. For you, and with you.

Our Climate Careers youth wrapped up their fall externships last week! This year 40 youth were placed with hosts across the Bay Area and Stockton, all for 120 paid hours of work and professional development in the green economy. ?? During presentations last week, every single one of these young climate leaders were able to show off their impressive accomplishments to Rising Sun staff and supporters. "The externship truly changed my life,” shared Jefferson, who was placed with the City of Oakland Sustainability and Resilience Division. “It gave me hands-on experience that I could never have gained in the classroom. I felt my confidence grow with each new challenge. I met incredible people who shared their insights and offered support, which helped me see my career path more clearly. Overall, it deepened my passion for my work and motivated me to pursue my goals with renewed energy." Swipe through to see highlights from the presentations and projects youth worked on!

?? TOMORROW: Our President and CEO, Julia Hatton, will participate in a panel at BIG Oakland - Coworking for the Building Industry’s November Building Electrification Clubhouse. Reserve your free ticket to learn more about how and why Rising Sun is preparing the Bay Area workforce for the demands of this growing industry: https://lnkd.in/gmFqW7k3 This event will explore the critical challenges and opportunities in developing a skilled, diverse workforce for the rapidly growing building electrification sector. It will focus on strategies for talent development, ensuring equity and inclusion, navigating policy and program design challenges, fostering business sustainability, and promoting cross-sector collaboration.

Happy Election Day, Rising Sun family. We’re joining the voices encouraging you to vote in both local and federal elections! ????? This year’s presidential election is critical. While Rising Sun, as a nonprofit, cannot endorse candidates, we can—and, to some extent, have an obligation to—encourage our community to vote, and to stand up for fair and transparent elections where every vote is counted and secure. So please, make your voice count. Take this opportunity to stand up for what you stand for and for the future you want for all people and our planet. If you, like us, live in the Bay Area or San Joaquin County, here’s where you can go for up-to-date, reliable voter information: Alameda: https://lnkd.in/gSy72MJ4 Contra Costa: https://lnkd.in/eakQMHRB Marin: https://lnkd.in/dMNUzDD Napa: https://lnkd.in/gHdNf2e San Francisco: https://lnkd.in/dQ6Snew3 San Joaquin: https://lnkd.in/ggVEknHB San Mateo: https://lnkd.in/gDDSkhED Santa Clara: https://lnkd.in/g_V7Fs2s Solano: https://lnkd.in/gTViKfqf Sonoma: https://lnkd.in/gagqhZy6

Climate Careers is gaining the attention and support of our elected officials! ?? Congressman Josh Harder (CA District 9) and Assemblymember Carlos Villapuda (District 13) visited our Stockton Climate Careers cohort to learn about Rising Sun’s impact last month. Youth shared information about the program, their experience so far, and where they plan to go after Climate Careers. Assemblymember Villapuda shared his role and upbringing in the Stockton community and Congressman Harder completed a virtual Green House Call energy & water efficiency kit that will be sent out to a community member in Stockton. While there, Assemblymember Villapuda also presented our Climate Careers office with an award! ?? Check out the pictures from their visits!

Thank you to everyone who came out to our Mural Reveal Event! ?? Hosting a mural on our building has been a dream since we bought our building in the 2010’s. Sean Griffin and the Emeryville Public Arts Committee have blessed us with one that is simply gorgeous and we couldn't be more proud and grateful to have it be part of Rising Sun. It's a landmark piece and brings so much brightness to the community. “I live right in the neighborhood, so this was a special and meaningful mural for me to do as well,” shared mural artist Sean Griffin. “So I put a lot of thought into the design of this mural, trying to figure out something that captured in making an empowerment piece with vibrant compositions and elements that symbolize hope and growth, integrity and creativity, and putting in the work and seeing it through mentality.” “I love the title Breaking Ground because it's what people do when they come to Rising Sun, they're breaking ground on a new foundation, a new pathway and a new future for themselves,” Rising Sun CEO Julia Hatton added. “That’s what we’re all about here.” Swipe through to see photos of the event!

A glimpse at what our policy team has been up to! This infographic explains the importance of our HRTP work at the intersection of equity and climate (see https://lnkd.in/gd2pKVnH for more info on what the heck an HRTP is). We’re making sure that the green energy transition, specifically residential decarbonization, doesn’t come at the cost of workers being underpaid and lacking benefits. These folks are helping our communities become more climate resilient, and despite a ton of public funding being set aside for the work, most public programs do not include labor standards. The HRTP we’re co-facilitating recently published research papers showing that increasing wage compensation and providing more robust benefits for residential decarbonization workers has been shown to reduce turnover and increase worker productivity, all while only increasing project costs by 3-9%. Adopting labor standards for residential decarbonization workers is a resounding win for people, the planet, and our communities’ economic prosperity and climate resilience. ?? Learn more on our website (link in bio) ??

Very excited and grateful to be a part of this work! This program will deliver direct-install electrification services to low-income households for the next several years, with Rising Sun as a subcontractor supporting customer outreach and education. Through this partnership, Rising Sun’s Climate Careers team will be able to offer decarb-readiness assessments during Green House Calls, and to refer customers to the EBD program contractors for decarb retrofits.?This is an amazing partnership and will be a significant step in helping households across California decarbonize equitably!

There's still time to join us at CalREN’s first annual stakeholder forum! Register today at: bit.ly/calrenforum2024