GREEN OPPORTUNITIES CHRONOLOGY TO DATE

Summer 2007 GO Co-Founder Dan Leroy begins conversations with Margie Meares of the
Clean Air Community Trust about his ideas for a service-based training
program, designed to prepare youth for green careers in the context of
climate-action projects.

August 2007 The Clean Air Community Trust agrees to help incubate and administer the
program development process, thereby serving as a fiscal agent for grants. A
CACT board member donates $10,000 to hire Leroy as the new “Climate
Corps” Project Director.

Fall 2007 Leroy begins an initial exploratory process, meeting with representatives from
several local organizations in an effort to identify potential collaborators.

December 2007 Leroy hires ten Asheville-area high school students who form a “Climate
Corps Youth Design Team.” The team is charged with surveying the local
youth about their awareness and interest in several issues including climate
change, environmental service, and green careers. They also research
several national programs that might serve as models for a local program.

January 2008 Warren Wilson College students in Mallory McDuff’s Community Organizing
class perform a service-learning project in which they identify potential green
business partners and interview them about their interests regarding a
potential green-jobs training program.
Leroy meets community activist and youth advocate DeWayne Barton through a mutual contact at the Western North Carolina Green Building Council. Barton has been working for several years in community restoration and to connect youth in his Burton Street neighborhood with employment opportunities.

March 2008 Leroy and Barton travel to the first annual “Good Jobs, Green Jobs”
conference in Pittsburgh, PA. While there, they decide to combine their efforts
to develop a green-collar job training and placement program for young
people, particularly from the West Riverside Weed and Seed neighborhood in
West Asheville, who are out-of-school and not working.

May 2008 CACT receives a mini-grant from Progress Energy’s Community Energy
Advisory Council (CEAC) for the Youth Leadership in Energy Efficiency
Project (Youth LEEP), a weatherization and job-training project in the Burton
Street neighborhood.
CACT hires Barton to help recruit youth and homeowners for Youth LEEP and
other projects.
Leroy and Barton enlist green building/energy efficiency contractors Carl
Donovan, Marcus Renner and Torin Kexel for Youth LEEP. Kexel begins
volunteering with Leroy and Barton.
Leroy and Barton host a “Community Forum on Green Jobs for Local Youth”
at the Pisgah View Community Center. The forum showcased the work of the
Youth Design Team and the Warren Wilson students. Over 60 community
stakeholders attended the forum and shared their perspectives on the needs
and resources in our region that could give rise to a service-based green-jobs
training program. The forum helped sow the seeds of several key partnerships
including the Housing Authority of the City of Asheville, AB Tech, the City of
Asheville, West Riverside Operation of Weed and Seed, Asheville City
Schools, and the Land of Sky Regional Council.

June 2008 Youth LEEP trains a dozen high schoolers from Burton Street and Pisgah
View in weatherization techniques and performs energy efficiency retrofits on
seven houses and one church in the Burton Street neighborhood.

Summer 2008 CACT develops contracts with the Asheville Housing Authority and Land of
Sky to develop a pilot green-collar job-training program. The funding allows
Leroy and Barton to begin planning and recruitment efforts for the program,
now known as the Asheville Green Opportunity Corps, or Asheville GO. Kexel
is hired on to develop and implement the Clean Energy curriculum.
Representatives from various organizations—many of whom attended the
initial Community Forum—begin attending stakeholder meetings to develop
the Asheville GO pilot program curriculum.

August 2008 Alana Pierce begins volunteering with Asheville GO, performing administrative
and grant writing support.

September 2008 Leroy, Barton and Kexel launch Asheville GO with program support from
several local organizations and businesses. Eight young adults, all from lowincome
neighborhoods including seven from public housing, begin the
program.

December 2008 Six of the original eight Asheville GO members graduate from the “Pre-
Apprenticeship” phase and move on to apprenticeships with local companies
and nonprofits.

Kexel, with Asheville GO trainees, begins performing home energy audits and
basic weatherization services for private clients under the Clean Air
Community Trust umbrella. The program, which became known as the GO
Energy Team, is expected to grow into a fee-for-service program while
providing additional on-the-job training for Asheville GO members.
An Asheville GO Advisory Committee, comprised of key stakeholders,
Asheville GO members and interested parties, is formed and begins meeting
every other month to support public relations, fundraising, program
development, and organizational development activities. One explicit focus of
the group is building the foundation for a new organization, known as Green
Opportunities, to house Asheville GO and other programs.

January 2009 Asheville GO members begin their apprenticeships. Apprentice Hosts include,
FLS Energy, Sundance Power Systems, Winter Green, the Asheville Housing
Authority, Lightning Bug Electric and the GO Energy Team.
Alana Pierce transitions from volunteer to Office Manager.

March 2009 Advisory Committee members and other friends of the program are asked to
submit applications for either the Advisory Council or the governing Board of
Directors for Green Opportunities.

April 2009 Leroy and Barton review applications and formally invite new GO board
members.

May 2009 The first official board meeting for Green Opportunities is held. Among other
business, the board approves draft Articles of Incorporation.
The Articles of Incorporation for Green Opportunities, Inc. are submitted and
subsequently approved by the NC Secretary of State’s office.
The Asheville City Council approves the Housing and Community
Development committee’s Community-Based Development Grant (CDBG and
CDBG-R)) action plan which includes approximately $162,425 in funding for
Asheville GO across two funding categories. The non-construction grant is
administered by Mountain Housing Opportunities and the construction grant is
administered by the WNC Green Building Council.
Leroy contacts Pisgah Legal Services via Thalia Hoy and Anne Bamberger
who in turn link GO with attorney Bill Whelan.

Relevant Future Plans

Beginning in September of 2009 Asheville GO will recruit 24 young adults
from low-income neighborhoods and train them in a variety of green collar
career pathways including sustainable agriculture, clean energy, ecological
restoration and landscaping, and green construction.
Once established as a 501(c)(3), we plan to spin the GO Energy Team off into
its own LLC that would be owned by Green Opportunities managed
independently.
We intend to develop other, similar green microenterprises designed to put
Asheville GO members and graduates to work in a supportive environment
while supporting the ongoing operations of the nonprofit.
We hope to assist other communities in developing GO or GO-like programs
in other parts of the state and region.