Coomy Kadribegovic, Drew Shula, USGBC-LA Director Dominique Hargreaves, Annie Argento, Fernanda Zuin, Veronica Flores, Jed Donaldson [Photo: Courtesy of USGBC]
USGBC – LA recognized for its “Road to Greenbuild” campaign.
USGBC-LA recently received the Los Angeles County Green Leadership Award for a nonprofit agency for its 2016 campaign “Road to Greenbuild.” While the award in and of itself is an achievement, the many programs that made the award possible are the real inspiration—and they continue to thrive in and around LA long past the Greenbuild International Conference & Expo.
The campaign was prepared over months to showcase sustainable built environments and initiatives across LA County to more than 18,000 people attending the international green building conference. The annual awards recognize outstanding efforts by individuals and organizations in fulfilling innovative strategies to improve our environmental sustainability.
“We are honored to be among the awardees selected by the committee for this year’s Green Leadership Award.”
DOMINIQUE HARGREAVES
“We are honored to be among the awardees selected by the committee for this year’s Green Leadership Award. This is a win for all of the USGBC-LA members and our partner organizations who keep working to make every day Earth Day in LA,” says Dominique Hargreaves, executive director of USGBC-LA.
In October 2016, the USGBC-LA chapter hosted the conference, which draws tens of thousands of visitors annually, for the first time. Los Angeles’ Greenbuild co-chairs Annie Argento of Argento/Graham and Randy Britt of Vanir Construction Management said their “Road to Greenbuild” campaign was an amazing opportunity to engage with volunteers and the community at large. The highly effective outreach initiative paid off, as the team continues to note that nearly all of the programs are ongoing.
Efforts that helped to meet this achievement include:
- The launch of Eco-Tech Makerspace at T4T.org in Gardena, where young people explore sustainability challenges and solve problems using technology and other STEM learning. This “legacy” project was a gift to Los Angeles for hosting Greenbuild. Through collaborative efforts, USGBC-LA was able to install a hi-tech design workspace at T4T, as well as help cool the building with green screens (walls of plants). This project is replicable and a second is in the works.
- Going door-to-door, USGBC-LA engaged 100 businesses with giveaways and toolkits to help them green their operations, and encouraged Greenbuild attendees to patronize these businesses.
- Creation of EcoMapLA, an online, real-time, interactive, and searchable tool for all things sustainable in L.A.
- Eighty tours over three days of green buildings, transportation hubs and routes, and outdoor facilities, showed off L.A.’s greening efforts across a region that was the most geographically expansive of any prior Greenbuild host city.
- Connecting and developing 600 local women leaders in sustainability throughout the year and leading up to participation in Greenbuild.
- The BuildSMART Trailer brought knowledge and resources about sustainable building materials, new technologies, and utility incentives to more than 4,000 area residents. This mobile learning tool offered a one-on-one learning opportunity to various communities throughout 2016.
- On-the-job energy and water conservation training and certification for 400 janitorial workers across the county. Through this program, janitors earn a seat at the sustainability table alongside building owners and managers, empowering them to participate in the goals of LEED, with emphasis on energy efficiency and building health.
