Solar energy can reduce electricity costs and your impact on the environment, but the initial investment can be huge, and the technology and installation process can be confusing. That’s why One Block Off the Grid (1BOG) is trying to make the transition to solar both cheaper and easier.

With the 1BOG model, residents of the same city can team up to get group discounts on photovoltaic equipment. They receive guidance on which technology to use and who to hire to install the systems in their homes. Simply knowing that hundreds of other members of your community are going through the same thing probably helps a lot too!

1BOG is focusing on a few cities at a time, and they haven’t quite made it to the east coast yet, but Brooklyn is on the list of future solar cities! Unfortunately, it’ll mostly only apply to homeowners, not renters. But if you’re buddies with your landlord, it could be worth a try.

News from the past week:

• NYC Students Rally Together (NYC Private Schools Blog)
• Groups Urge Opening of Vacant Condos to the Poor (City Room)
• ‘Suspects’ Talk Back: Muslims Complain to FBI (City Limits)
• Poverty Fighters Get Their Own Consultancy (City Limits)
• Helping Spin Gold From a Pile of Garbage (New York Times)
• U.N. Special Rapporteur on housing comes to Harlem (Amsterdam News via Voices That Must Be Heard)
• Jamaica Consulate in NY: Organizing a community, tapping into the Diaspora through high-technology (Carib News via Voices That Must Be Heard)
• Rally held to demand passage of Student Safety Act (Weekly Thikana via Voices That Must Be Heard)
• Cool Hunting Video Presents: Window Farms (Cool Hunting)

I am officially fixated on The Fixers Collective. This is one of the most interesting mission statements I’ve ever read:

The Fixers Collective is a social experiment in improvisational fixing and mending. Our goal is to increase material literacy in our community by fostering an ethic of creative caring toward the objects in our lives. The Fixers Collective seeks to displace cultural patterns that alienate us from our things, by collectively learning the skills and patience necessary to care for them. Intentionally aligning itself with forces generated in reaction to the current economic crisis, the Fixers Collective promotes a counter-ethos that values functionality, simplicity, and ingenuity and that respects age, persistence and adequacy. The Collective also encourages participants to take liberties with designated forms and purposes, resulting in mended objects that may exist both as art and within a more limited, utilitarian context.

The project grew out of an exhibition at a gallery and reading room called Proteus Gowanus, and meets on Thursdays from 6:00 to 9:00p.m. If you have an item that needs fixing, fill out a form in advance of the session (“Which aspect is broken? Guess 1. Guess 2.”).

If nothing in your life is broken (Hmmm…I wonder if they fix broken hearts?), you can become a Fixers Apprentice and be a part of the solution! And if the knowledge itself isn’t enough for you, perhaps the Fixers Apprentice Badge will be motivating.

The emphasis on mending and re-purposing objects appeals to the environmentalist in me, while the collective brainstorming appeals to the team player in me.

Hat tip: Brooklyn Based

Don’t forget to vote today. The polls are open until 9:00p.m.

To find out who’s on the ballot and what they stand for, see the Campaign Finance Board’s Voter Guide. (Be sure to read the ballot proposals too!) Note that the web version has more updated information than the guide that was mailed to your house, so it’s worth checking even if you already read the print version.

To learn about your rights at the polling place, take a look at NYCLU’s Voter Information.

News from the past week:

• Indigenous immigrants demand adult education programs (Diario de Mexico via Voices That Must Be Heard)
• Condos, Condos Everywhere (The Wonkster)
• At Bronx River, an Invitation to Text the Fish (Tremont Tribune)
• A Room and Not Bored: One Path out of Shelter (City Limits)
• Enviromedia Mobile Unveils at Borough Hall (GreenBeat Brooklyn)
• Bloomberg Announces Green Jobs (Sustainable Cities Blog)
• Keeping My Fire (Entry Level Living)
• Food Advocates Envision Rooftop Gardens and Vertical Farms (City Room)
• Gay Advocates Encouraged by Hate Crimes Bill (City Room)
• Sharing a Ride Before Sharing Their Bikes (City Room)
• Across City, Weekend Rallies to Curb Climate Change (City Room)
• State Crowns Two Brooklyn Trees as Champions (City Room)

Obsessed with food and where it comes from? Hungry for a new radio station/podcast to listen to? Tune in to Heritage Radio Network.

Broadcasting from a re-purposed shipping container in the backyard of Roberta’s, a pizza restaurant in Bushwick, HRN is a new internet radio station dedicated to recording and archiving America’s food culture and traditions and “the growing movement to change how Americans eat.”

The station launched in April with their inaugural show The Main Course, which explores every aspect of food from growing, cooking, and eating it to food politics and ethics. Since then, their list of offerings has grown to include more than 20 different programs including the Heritage Farm Report, Why We Cook, Cutting The Curd, and Cheap Date, a show about food and dating hosted by Cathy Erway of Not Eating Out in New York fame.

All of the content is archived, tagged, and easily searchable on their website, so you can listen whenever you want. Dig in!

According to this press release, New York City foundations and the nonprofit organizations they support tend to have racially diverse staffs, but this diversity decreases at higher levels of seniority.

Sound familiar?

Philanthropy New York and the Foundation Center conducted a major study this year and produced a new report called Benchmarking Diversity: A First Look at New York City Foundations and Nonprofits (which you can download for free here).

The study, the first of its kind in New York and the U.S. to examine foundations and nonprofits side-by-side, “provides a factual basis for understanding diversity in the city’s philanthropic sector.” The idea is to inspire informed conversations and ultimately better progress in the diversity and leadership of these organizations.

Here are just a few key findings of the study:

• Among the 95 Philanthropy New York member foundations responding to a survey, nearly half (48 percent) of administrative staff members are people of color, as are 43 percent of program officers, 16 percent of chief executives, and 18 percent of board members.

• Foundations with at least 25 percent people of color on their boards are more likely to have racially and ethnically diverse staffs, to have diversity policies on staffing and grantmaking, and to specifically target populations of color through their grantmaking.

• Among the 540 nonprofits organizations responding, over a third identifying themselves as “minority-led organizations” do not have a chief executive who is a person of color, meaning that many such organizations are led by white CEOs. (More details about findings and methodology can be found on the press release.)

So… what to do with this information? I had hoped to find hands-on trainings in New York where nonprofit or foundation leaders could learn how to purposefully, sensitively increase diversity within their organizations. I didn’t find any listed on the topic for October or November at the Foundation Center. But on October 29, Philanthropy New York will host a briefing and discussion about the study and the president of the Foundation Center will give an introduction. Hopefully that will be a productive space to learn more or inspire next steps. If you know of other resources, please leave a note in the comments!

News from the past week:

• Arts Education and Graduation Rates (New York Times)
• Lanes for Buses Only, and New M.T.A. Chief Means It (New York Times)
• Ruling Eases Transgender Name-Change Process (City Room)
• Competing visions spark turf war in Longwood Park (Hunts Point Express)
• Green Energy Alternatives: The Theme Park — It’s Happening, on Ward’s Island (gbNYC)
• Hot for farmer! (New York Post)
• The “Trashy” Side of Crown Heights (Nostrand Park)
• The Fine Line Benefit Art Exhibit (Cool Hunting)
• Fallen Angels: Stop the killing (Amsterdam News via Voices That Must Be Heard)
• A forgotten youth: New York City queer homeless youth survive at the bottom of the barrel (The Indypendent via Voices That Must Be Heard)

Solar One, the little environmental awareness center on the edge of the East River, is about to begin construction on a much bigger facility called Solar 2. The new building will be ten times larger than the current facility, and will let them expand their public programs around energy efficiency, renewable energy, green building, and urban ecology.

Of course, the building itself will be a prime example of green building practices. Check out this partial list of features from their website:

Net-Zero Energy Consumption 90Kw non-integrated PV Roof will provide 100% of power needed.

Green Roof will reduce heating and cooling loads on the building; filtering 
carbon dioxide and other pollutants out of the air; combating the urban heat effect, which makes cities measurably hotter than surrounding areas; and 
reducing storm water runoff, helping to alleviate the load on New York City’s wastewater management system and thereby preventing the flow of raw 
sewage into our natural waterways.

Natural Daylight Strategies include the building’s position, a north light 
skylight, glare reduction windows that allow light and solar heat gain to 
save energy.

Rainwater Collection will provide all non-potable water, conserving the 
municipal water supply.

Low Flush Toilets/Waterless Urinals will dramatically cut water consumption.

Recycled and Renewable Materials will be used in the building structure and interior furnishings.

The facility will also include indoor and outdoor classrooms, a green theater with a solar-powered stage, a wetlands exhibit, and an Eco-Café.

Construction begins next month. We can’t wait to see it!

One of the ten finalists of CNN’s Hero of the Year contest is Jorge Muñoz of Queens. A school bus driver, he spends his off-hours handing out free food and beverages to immigrant day laborers who gather on Roosevelt Avenue under the 7 train in Jackson Heights.

Muñoz and his family are there distributing meals seven nights a week, 365 days a year, and he estimates that he has served 70,000 meals so far. Now that’s commitment!

According to the Village Voice blog, Muñoz has already received $25,000 as a finalist, and is using the cash to pay off his own bills and loans. And if he wins the $100,000 prize as Hero of the Year, he’ll be able to cover the costs of his “mobile food pantry” for the next two years.

Click here to find out more about all ten finalists and cast your vote for Hero of the Year.

To learn how you can support the Muñoz family’s efforts, visit An Angel in Queens, which is a registered nonprofit organization.

And to find out about other organizations that help out day laborers, see my previous posts from October 2008 and April 2009.