Engage the Community

For information on how you can engage others in your community with step-by-step instructions and information on how Our Power can help, please dowload the:

Our Power Neighborhood Energy Team Guide

This page lists some ways that you can get involved in engaging the community – we’ll help you act on whatever you want. You can also sign up for or request more information about any of these opportunities on page 4 of the “Take Action Form”

Volunteer With Our Power

You can join us regularly or just once in a while to go door-knocking with other interns and volunteers, table at events, engage folks at MayDay, or many other activities. Here’s how:

1. Think about how you would like to volunteer – what type of work do you want to do, when, etc.
2. Contact mnourpower@gmail.com, 612-548-1333 to join in.

If you are (or know) a young person interested in a paid or for-credit internship doing outreach with Our Power, please check out our current Summer Internship Program.

Become an Energy Block Leader

Engage others on your block (or in a larger area, or your school, workplace, community organization, or place of worship) in the other opportunities of Our Power. Here’s how:

1. Identify what community you want to engage and any details on what you’d like to do
2. Contact mnourpower@gmail.com, 612-548-1333 to find a time to meet up
3. Meet up with an Our Power representative to talk through your plans and get the Our Power Energy Block Leader guide (currently under development).
4. Start engaging the community, and check in with Our Power based on your plans.

Set Up a Neighborhood Education and Training Event

This event is up to you – you define the venue, audience, format, and how you want to recruit people. Our power can help provide facilitators, energy experts, or speakers based on your needs.

1. Identify what type of event you want to run, when, where, and for who. What can you do yourself? What do you want to engage other people in doing? What do you need from Our Power.
2. Contact mnourpower@gmail.com, 612-548-1333 to talk over your event
3. Put it together with support from Our Power.

Start a Community Media Project

You can propose whatever you want to see. Do you want to interview neighbors/ friends to collect their stories? Make a video or audio piece about the community? Write a local news story? Post on the Our power blog?

1. Identify what you would like to do. What are you already ready to do? What help would you need from others? What help do you need from Our Power?
2. Contact mnourpower@gmail.com, 612-548-1333 to talk over your event
3. Put it together with support from Our Power.

Host a Weatherization Work Party

Cooperative Energy Futures & Our Power are currently working together to help support teams of residents in working together to weatherize their homes. Get together a team of community members to host a work party (fun, music, and food, but also training and team-work) to air seal and weatherize your homes together.

If you wish to host a work party and live within any neighborhood bordering Lake Street, the Hennepin County Green Partners grant will cover the cost of what is normally a $50 work party and each participant gets $12 of free energy saving materials. You can choose from window kits, rope/tube caulk, CFL bulbs, high-efficiency shower-heads, and more. We will also reimburse you up to $25 for refreshments per work party. Our Power and CEF will provide all the information and materials. To learn more, you can visit www.mnourpower.org or call Lena at (612) 703-6508.

1. Get together a core team of people who want to host the party, identify where (a certain block, housing development, community center, etc.), when you’d like to do it, and who you want to invite.
2. Contact Lena at  mnourpower@gmail.com, 612-548-1333 to talk over the details and identify what you need (trainers, caulk, window kits, equipment). CEF will allow communities to borrow basic equipment for free and will sell low-cost materials that will be consumed at bulk rates.
3. Promote it, invite your friends, and prepare the festivities!
4. Host the work party with CEF & Our Power support!

Start a Community Energy Team

This is for you if you want to start your own energy-saving project, installing neighborhood solar panels, building do-it-yourself heating sources, developing community-based ownership models for clean energy, really whatever you want.

1. Get at least three people together and define the basic idea and goal of your project. Identify what you have, what others in the community could provide, and what you need from our power.
2. Contact mnourpower@gmail.com, 612-548-1333 to talk over your idea and figure out next steps.
3. Start creating it with support from Our Power
4. The sky is the limit …

(Click here to learn more about Weatherization Work Parties)

Engage Other Local Organization(s) or Business(es)

Local organizations and businesses can help reach other groups while taking big steps to advance energy efficiency and clean energy in their own operations. Help engage other groups:

1. Identify what organizations or businesses you want to engage and your ideas for what you think they may want to do.
2. Contact mnourpower@gmail.com, 612-548-1333 to talk over your idea and figure out next steps.
3. Follow up with those organizations and businesses to get them involved with whatever support you need from Our Power.