with Gina McCarthy!

Hello friends! Marisol Fernandez y Mora here, New Energy Economy's Summer Intern Coordinator. I just wanted to share about our wonderful recent trip to table at the North American Partnership for Environmental Community Action (NAPECA) annual gathering in Boston, and to thank all of you for making it possible! The experience was amazing! I was joined by Josue Damian Martinez, one of Earth Care's Youth Leaders who was there to share the benefits of our Sol Not Coal Zona Del Sol solarization project which, through a collaborative project with Earth Care, Positive Energy, and NAPECA, brought solar to the youth and family center located on the southside of Santa Fe where he and hundreds of other young people in Santa Fe receive training in environmental stewardship, social justice, and community services.
We were the representatives from Santa Fe there to speak about how New Energy Economy has partnered with local nonprofits, public agencies, and local farms to bring the benefits of solar to the community through not only our Zona Del Sol project, but 7 other Sol Not Coal solarizations. People from Mexico, the United States, and Canada visited our table and learned about how feasible these projects are and how they save money, reduce carbon, and provide enormous health benefits.
They were impressed to learn that these projects have successfully leveraged City, County, and state legislative funding for solar energy investments.
Time and time again, people also expressed (in English and Spanish), that they admired New Energy Economy for sending organizational and partner representatives who were actually from the communities we serve, and who were so young. This was an area of conversation that I felt especially confident in speaking about. I told them about NEE's demonstrated commitment to youth in the fight for climate justice exemplified through our partnership with local high schools and organizations like Earth Care and Global Warming Express.
I used my own story as an example. Mariel heard me speaking in the roundhouse, protesting the repeal of New Mexico's Carbon Cap with others from my high school. That next summer, I got an email from her asking if I'd like to testify again, this time in Farmington. I was honored and surprised that the Executive Director of a non-profit would have remembered me, but that was before I got to know NEE's incredible investment in and prioritization of the voices of local New Mexicans. Well, a testimony turned into an op-ed, and an op-ed turned into a job, and three years later we're still going strong. I'm so grateful to New Energy Economy and all of the opportunities it's given me. My published articles, my comfort with fundraising, and now my experience with international conference work, are all as a result of New Energy Economy. And none of it could have happened without you.
So, thank you. Thank you for clicking the link to our crowd funding pages, thank you for taking your loved ones out to our dine to donate events like the one happening on Wednesday at Paper Dosa, and most of all thank you for your constant support of young people like me through New Energy Economy. I can say with confidence that without you, I would not be where I am today... and I wouldn't have a picture with Gina McCarthy!
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