Press Clips

Groundswell's Co-Founder & CEO, Will Byrne, was selected to Forbes magazine's "30 Under 30" list of Social Entrepreneurs. With this award, Forbes recognizes Groundswell as part of a select group of next-generation social change organizations that has the conviction, talent, business model and proven results to make a serious impact on some of "the world’s most intractable problems." See the full list

Washington Post's Capital Business features Groundswell Executive Director Will Byrne in an article exploring impact investing. Will describes how Groundswell is working to wean its dependence on outside investors by exploring earned revenue models, including the collection of a small fee.  Read the full article

Executive Director Will Byrne wrote a piece on "Civic Consumption", the big idea behind our work. His essay is part of a series in which Fast Company features civic consumption innovators. Read the full commentary

Urban Turf, the online D.C. residential real estate publication, sat down with Strong Homes Program Lead Organizer Brett Wiley to learn how D.C. homeowners could benefit from participating on one of our community weatherization projects.

How does Strong Homes bring like-minded homeowners together?

Brett: "People say friends of friends are the best friends. We have homeowners come to a house meeting where they invite their friends and neighbors, and then they can meet the friends of their neighbors…it’s a melting pot. Leaders are also essential. Each of our projects have had two or three leaders who not only say ‘I want to do this,’ but they bring in five to ten other people." Read the full interview

In an interview with Grist magazine, Managing Director Elizabeth Lindsey decribes Groundswell's model of empowering communities: “It’s a wave that builds over time. If you have one person, it’s great. But if you have five people, 10 people — we’re really building these powerful groups of consumers together.” Read the full article 

The Root, a daily online magazine that offers commentary on the news from a variety of African-American perspectives, published an opinion piece by Jacqui Patterson, Director of the NAACP's Climate Justice Initiative about their participation in the Community Power Project this spring. The NAACP's Baltimore headquarters switched to clean energy and is slated to save $7,000 annually. Read the full commentary

GOOD Magazine spotlights the Community Power Project. Lead Organizer, Sam Witherbee: “A lot of businesses and governments do this very well. They've been getting these rates for awhile, but the community's been left out of the benefits of deregulated markets, especially those small institutions that might not have the staff capacity or research capacity.” Now, community institutions have been able to tap into the same savings." Read the full article

"An increasing number of small businesses, nonprofits and community groups are banding together to negotiate lower electricity prices, using their collective purchasing power as leverage with energy providers. The organizations can then reinvest that savings — thousands of dollars a year in some cases — into their corporate or social mission at a time when the lackluster economy has put a strain on most budgets. Shoring up that money and converting organizations to clean energy has become a point of focus for District-based Groundswell." Read the full article

A Maryland company has been chosen by more than 100 religious, community, labor and low-income housing groups in the Washington area that are joining forces to save money on electricity. Read the full article

This local public radio piece describes how Mt. Pleasant homeowner Stephen Cox and more than a dozen of his neighbors are banding together for a group weatherization of their homes with help from Groundswell. Read the full article