bold idea
Create jobs for black men and reduce costs for community organizations by leveraging community-led solar and weatherization retrofits for churches and nonprofits.
organization overview
BlocPower aggregates groups of consumers–like Groupon–to negotiate energy savings, pricing discounts, and community hiring quotas with renewable and energy efficiency firms.
Personal Bio
Donnel Baird is the founder of BlocPower, a startup that markets, finances and installs solar and energy efficiency technology to help houses of worship, non-profits, small businesses and multifamily projects to slash their energy costs. Donnel spent three years as a community organizer in Brooklyn and one year as a voter contact director for Obama For America. He managed a national Change to Win/LIUNA campaign to leverage Dept. of Energy energy efficiency financing to create green construction jobs for out of work populations. He partnered with the Washington Interfaith Network to generate a $100m government investment in underserved communities in the District of Columbia. Donnel has a B.A. from Duke University and an M.B.A from Columbia Business School. BlocPower is backed by Kapor Capital and Andreessen Horowitz.
-
Organization/Fellow Location ?
Our most recent information as to where the Fellow primarily resides.
-
Impact Location ?
Countries or continents that were the primary focus of this Fellow’s work at the time of their Fellowship.
-
Organization Structure ?
An organization can be structured as a nonprofit, for-profit, or hybrid (a structure that incorporates both nonprofit and for-profit elements).
- Visit website