St. Louis Park students canvas for solar

Homeowners and small businesses in Minneapolis are working together to go solar and/or add an electric vehicle charger to their homes through the Minneapolis Solar and EV Charger Co-op. Helping in this effort are a group of high school students who’ve gone door-to-door in their community of St. Louis Park to spread the word. The students are part of an organization, iMatter, that raises the voices of youth leaders on the issue of climate change. iMatter was founded more than a decade about by a middle schooler concerned about climate change. (Yes, the story feels familiar to us.)

iMatter’s support of the Minneapolis Solar and EV Charger Co-op builds upon work the students have done to persuade St. Louis Park leaders to take action on climate. They successfully testified last year before their city council to urge it to develop a climate action plan. As a result, the city is on a path to be carbon neutral by 2040.

Solar United Neighbors connected with students through the Great Plains Institute. The organization selected 300 St. Louis Park homes to canvass based upon the homes’ solar potential. We hosted an information session for students to educate them about solar technology and the process of going solar. This armed them with the knowledge they needed to explain going solar to their neighbors. Thanks to the information Great Plains Institute provide, the canvassers had custom fliers that gave homeowners specific information about their home’s solar potential.

“Students really enjoyed the training session,” said Larry Kraft of iMatter. “The door knocking was good when they could talk to people.” Kraft said the group was interested in other ways to help publicize the co-op such as tabling at community events.

Canvassers recruited homeowners to attend a solar information session so they could learn more about the solar and the solar co-op. The co-op is actively seeking members. If you’d like to join the co-op, or just learn more, you can do so here.