Green Opportunities, Inc.

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Green Opportunities Inc.

Location:

Asheville, NC

County:

Buncombe

Description:

Equipment and working capital

Total Project Costs:

$30,000

People:

Founded in 2008 by Dan Leroy and DeWayne Barton, Green Opportunities (GO) is an Asheville-based nonprofit with the mission to “empower low-income neighborhoods in Asheville by preparing the residents for well-paying jobs in the green sector, completing hands-on projects that make Asheville neighborhoods safer and more sustainable, and by linking the residents of these neighborhoods to jobs and other community resources that lead to greater empowerment.” Since 2008,GO has served more than 75 disadvantaged youths and adults.

GO has three primary programs: Asheville Go is an intensive job training and placement program designed to prepare low-income, unemployed young adults (ages 16-24) for living wage, green collar jobs; the Go Energy Team, a paid apprenticeship program focused on preparing low-income, unemployed adults for careers in clean energy, functions like a small business, providing low-cost or free energy audits and weatherization services to homeowners and other small businesses; and Hood Huggers, an afterschool program designed to introduce at-risk middle and high school students from low-income neighborhoods to green collar careers through service-learning projects that improve local communities.

Role of NCIF:

In 2010, the Natural Capital Investment Fund met with Green Opportunities to discuss the group’s application for a loan to fund equipment purchases and working capital. Both will fuel the GO Energy Team’s expansion into the public and private sectors. GO is currently a subcontractor to the Asheville Housing Authority and anticipates future contracts, but it is unable to finance this shift from small-scale residential jobs to large-scale, publicly funded commercial jobs without the aid of the NCIF loan.

Impact:

With a $30,000 loan from NCIF, GO was able to purchase the necessary equipment and direct the addition to its working capital toward the expansion. This shift has enabled GO to survive the recent economic turmoil; while private sector jobs have disappeared, federal spending is a critical mechanism for job creation and growth. GO’s expansion into the public sector, with the assistance of the NCIF loan, has provided its members with steady jobs and economic certainty. GO also received capital in the form of grants from The Conservation Fund’s Resourceful Communities Program.