Cooperator Profile: Joe Naroditsky / Dupont Commons
When the Dupont Commons affordable housing development was approved 15 years ago in the Fort Dupont neighborhood of Southeast Washington DC, housing density required that a substantial parcel be left open to meet building codes. That land became something of a blight; it required basic maintenance, accrued stormwater management fees, and was littered with garbage and illegal dumping. Joe Naroditsky, Director of Solar Programs for CPA, spent two and a half years pitching the land to solar companies, but kept hearing that the terrain wasn’t ideal for solar panel placement and that the project seemed daunting because the costs of development were uncertain.
Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton with leaders from WIN at the Dupont Commons ribbon cutting ceremony in 2012.
Martin Trimble, now co-director of Metro IAF, was lead organizer for Washington Interfaith Network (WIN) at the time and had been heavily involved in the work to get this property developed to benefit low-income residents. Because of their dedication to the homeowners, he and WIN had an existing relationship with the HOA. “Their trust in Martin, knowing that he had only the best interests of the residents at heart, was what allowed them to trust in CPA and our process,” says Naroditsky. As a CPA board member, Trimble was able to bring the interests of the Dupont Commons HOA together with CPA’s adaptable style of adding value to both member and service provider.
Last year, Naroditsky and Dupont Commons were connected with Enflection Energy Consulting, a grantee of the DC Department of Energy and Environment’s “Solar For All” [https://doee.dc.gov/solarforall] program, which seeks to bring solar energy to 100,000 low to moderate income families in the District, with the hope of generating enough solar power to provide energy at zero cost. Infused with new momentum, the growing team then partnered with New Columbia Solar, an entity that has built 15-20 solar projects for CPA members in the past few years. “This project felt like it was never going to happen,” says Naroditsky, but, in this long-term example of networking around the needs of a community, we see the convergent interests of government, the HOA, local nonprofits, low income families, solar energy providers, grantors, and environmental concerns. It was through unrelenting, long-term community organizing that this seemingly impossible project came to completion. And the benefit to the Dupont Commons residents has been immediate: the HOA receives lease payments for this land for 15 years, which will pay their land management fees and improve their community, and all Dupont Commons residents who meet income requirements receive free electricity.
Joe Naroditsky (left) and CPA Co-op Executive Director Felipe Witchger (right) show off a $30,000 dividend check to support Metro IAF in 2017
A large part of CPA’s work is the sort of relationship building that Trimble did with the HOA and property manager and the sort of equitable brokering that Naroditsky facilitated between income-driven and mission-oriented organizations. The decision-makers of these entities don’t often have the bandwidth or expertise to assess, bid, evaluate, and negotiate for solar contracts. They may not even be aware of viable opportunities or know that they have an asset hiding on their roof or in an empty parcel of land. This is CPA at its best: taking the existing power and potential of community institutions and maximizing the good that can be done for community members.
“It’s the story of what it takes to get things done and I think that’s part of who CPA is - at the end of the day it comes down to us, the individual team members, who have to have this dogged relentlessness to make things happen and to do it at all costs.” With this success under his belt, Naroditsky looks forward to future rounds of the Solar for All grant, where more resources will be available to subsidize similarly difficult projects.
Special thanks to guest contributor Susannah Long for writing this piece.