The Good Energy Collaborative (GEC) is a growing and dynamic group of community residents from Chester and Philadelphia working together with students, faculty, and staff from Swarthmore College. The collaborative evolved from an earlier campus-community initiative entitled Serenity Soular, which collaborated with community partners in North Philadelphia to provide weatherization and solar panel installation workshops for residents and helped establish solar energy arrays in the region.

Established in 2022, the GEC aims to raise awareness of the environmental justice concerns faced by community members in the region, as well as highlight the economic and employment opportunities available to communities as our country transitions away from fossil fuels and toward more just and sustainable life-supporting systems.

In Chester, the GEC is collaborating with students in CHOICES, the youth group of Chester Residents Concerned for Quality Living (CRCQL), as well as the Chester Education Foundation, Chester Eastside, and the Chester Mentoring Initiative to help educate young people on careers in environmental justice and solar energy. In the future, the collaborative aims to establish a solar energy information center in the city to support residents in solarizing their community.

In North Philadelphia, the GEC is partnering with Philly Service Announcement, Re-entry Community Farm, Philly Thrive, and the Hunting Park Community Solar Initiative to expand green job training opportunities for residents, ensuring that their initiatives meet the following three goals: create secure, living wage jobs; provide educational and capacity-building opportunities for the community; and attract healthy and sustainable economic development ventures to support a flourishing and green future.

Interested in joining the GEC? Email Ariza Nanji ‘24 at ananji1@swarthmore.edu if you would like to support environmental justice education, workforce training, and community partner capacity building initiatives. The collaborative meets weekly on Wednesdays at 5:30 PM.