Columbia, Maryland-based energy solutions firm, greeNEWit, has teamed up with Cathy Allen, a self-described Green Ambassador, who believes that “all 55 of Baltimore’s public elementary schools should go green” — for a renovation project at Baltimore’s K-8 public school #322, New Song Academy, that will empower students to get environmentally involved.
greeNEWit is a comprehensive energy solutions firm that provides prioritized economical solutions to drastically reduce energy consumption and costs for residential, commercial, and government clients — fostering a healthier lifestyle and safer environment.
The project is a first of its kind, according to Allen, because it engages students and gives them real-time experience working in the field alongside industry experts from greeNEWit’s Government Contracting division. “In this way, they will learn the importance of green technology, horticulture, and energy sustainability,” says Allen.
Allen’s community engagement began with a successful 2009 initiative to plant 15 trees at her local elementary school, Westside Elementary. Since then, through Project H.E.A.R. (Horticultural Environmental Awareness Raising), she has organized programs to plant trees at many of the area schools and has launched a website on which she sell trees for the purpose of planting them at city schools.
In addition to her nonprofit largesse, Allen says she is an “outreach broker,” who creates relationships between corporations and nonprofit groups in the environmental space. She has been in business for three years, and is also a registered green technology lobbyist, green project developer and public speaker.
According to Kevin Gibson, president, “greeNEWit is committed to create new solutions for life's challenges by involving the community to support continued education, humanitarian advancement, and economic development. We have formed a strategic relationship with Green Ambassador Cathy Allen to increase the scope of our green building proposal and to make an impact on the lives of Baltimore’s youth.”