Energy Justice: Increasing Access for All
This session will be held virtually on Wednesday June 29th 2022, at Noon
In this session, panelists will present an introduction to the concept of Energy Justice and discuss how clean energy access inequities typically manifest themselves in Massachusetts communities. Representatives from Mass CEC, Mass Save, and All in Energy will talk about several funding opportunities for municipalities to pursue energy justice initiatives. Panelists will answer questions from the audience.
Ruth Georges
Eversource Energy
Ruth Georges was born in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, and moved to the United States in 1990. She attended the University of South Florida and double majored in Interdisciplinary Social Science with a concentration in Africana Studies & Psychology and a second degree in Women & Gender Studies. In 2015, Ruth attained a Graduate Certificate in Gender, Leadership & Public Policy from the Center of Women in Politics & Public Policy at the University of Massachusetts Boston and holds a Master’s in Public Administration from Suffolk University.
Ruth previously served as a Neighborhood and Ethnic Liaison to Mayor Walsh, and as Manager of Engagement & Outreach for the Department of Youth Engagement and Employment for the City of Boston. Currently, Ruth is the Supervisors of Equity, Strategic Partnerships and Workforce Development for Eversource Energy and in her role, she utilizes her Chief Diversity Executive Certification to administer procedural, distributional, and structural equity to expand access to energy efficiency programs and the workforce.
Gabe Shapiro
All in Energy
Gabe has spent the last decade working with communities and institutions to connect their constituents to clean energy technologies and services. At All In Energy, Gabe has worked with cities, community groups and clean energy companies to create outreach campaigns and access pathways connecting low-to-moderate income households, non-English speakers, renters and small businesses to Massachusetts' nation leading energy efficiency programming.
Prior to All In Energy, Gabe worked at Next Step Living where he created a partnership-based customer acquisition model. Working with dozens of municipalities, environmental non-profits and other institutional partners across New England, Gabe’s team helped over 150,000 families save energy and money, created hundreds of jobs and saved hundreds of thousands of tons of greenhouse gases from being emitted.
After his time at Next Step Living, Gabe spent a year working with municipal electric companies to increase adoption of electric vehicles in their towns. These "Drive Electric" programs helped the economics of the partner utilities by adding additional load from electric vehicles and the ability to shift that load to off-peak hours.
Gabe earned an M.B.A from the MIT Sloan School of Management and holds a B.A. in Business Economics from Brown University. Gabe spends his time outside of work perfecting his urban garden with his wife and two daughters and walking his dog, Tessie, in the Arnold Arboretum.
Lisa Dobbs is a Program Manager with the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center. Lisa has been with MassCEC for 8 years and currently focuses on community-based and environmental justice-focused clean energy programming.