Harbor House was founded in 1972 and has been serving the Oakland, California community ever since. Harbor House offers many after-school programs for children and youth, including after-school tutoring and enrichment classes along with summer camps. Through their Youth Leadership Program, Harbor House says, “We identify and raise up leaders from within the community who can use their voices, passions, and gifts for the collective benefit of the community. Our Youth Leadership Program gives opportunities for teens to develop leadership skills while serving as mentors for the younger students in our community.”

Harbor House also offers English as a Second Language (ESL) classes to adults who are immigrants or refugees in the community, provides jobs skills training, and gives out nutritious food bags to those in need. Harbor House provides the community a second place to call home and makes it a safe space for children and youth to grow and learn. 

How Harbor House Will Utilize Their Solar Savings 

By going solar with RE-volv, Harbor House will save more than $102,000 off the cost of their electricity bills over the life of the solar system. With these savings, Harbor House will have more capital they can use to invest into their programs, including offering more after-school programs to youth in the community, providing more ESL classes, and increasing their food bag giveaway program. In addition to their solar savings, by going solar with RE-volv, Harbor House’s electricity rates will be locked in for 20-years, providing Harbor House more financial stability as utility and electricity prices rise in California in the years to come. 

Kacie Stratton, the Executive Director of Harbor House says, “Harbor House is a safe place in Oakland where opportunities, relationships, and resources can be shared amongst families. We do a lot of things in the community and we do it on a tight budget. We have this wonderful facility which is really large and is great in so many ways but it means that we have really high utility bills and one of those bills is our energy bill. [Going solar] will dramatically reduce our energy bills which is more money that can go to our programs. ”

Solar Ambassadors Bring Solar to Harbor House 

RE-volv Solar Ambassadors in the San Francisco Bay Area led the crowdfunding campaign to bring solar to Harbor House. The Solar Ambassadors ran a crowdfunding campaign to raise the up-front campaign needed to bring solar to Harbor House and led a community engagement campaign to educate the community about the importance of solar energy. The Solar Ambassadors also hosted a number of educational lessons for the students at Harbor House to teach them about solar and how solar works. Harbor House’s solar array can be seen from the children’s playground, allowing the children to learn about solar energy while being able to see the panels each time they visit Harbor House!

The RE-volv Solar Ambassador team that brought solar to Harbor House says, “We are volunteers that live in the community and simply want a chance to help our community grow sustainably. The money they save will go to improving the quality of their services and allow them to serve more of the community.”

Community Effort to Bring Solar to Harbor House 

Harbor House went solar with RE-volv for $0 down, allowing Harbor House to go solar without needing to divert money from their programs to do so. Through a 20-year Solar Lease, Harbor House will pay back RE-volv each month for their solar system. As Harbor House pays back RE-volv, their monthly payments will be invested into the Solar Seed Fund, a revolving fund for solar used to bring more solar to amazing community-serving nonprofits across the country. 

This project was made possible through the generous donations from more than 700 donors from across the country who donated to our crowdfunding campaign to raise the up-front capital needed to bring solar to Harbor House. A special thank you to the Neda Nobari Foundation for their generous contribution to this crowdfunding campaign!