On Earth Day, we joined SOWEGA Rising in Albany, Georgia, for “Tech Flex Innovation Earth Day,” a celebration centered on e-mobility developments and ahead thinkers devoted to their communities like Joshua Anthony.
Madelyn Collins | June 7, 2024
| Clear Transportation, Electrical Black Futures, Electrical Autos, Georgia
On Earth Day final month, SACE and EVNoire, united in serving to to craft a extra simply and dynamic electrical e-mobility future, got here out to help an occasion orchestrated by SOWEGA Rising in Albany, Georgia. “Tech Flex Innovation Earth Day” was a fantastic alternative to have a good time Earth Day and the way forward for expertise grounded in innovation, sustainability, and ingenuity.
SOWEGA Rising is the most recent undertaking companion to affix Electrical Black Futures, an thrilling undertaking SACE and our companions EVNoire and Clear Cities Georgia lately launched to advance equitable entry to electrical automobiles (EVs), infrastructure, and jobs in underserved communities in Georgia. With funding from the U.S. Division of Vitality over the subsequent three years, we’ll be a part of a number of native companions to help Black communities and form the e-mobility panorama in Albany, Savannah, and Atlanta. SOWEGA Rising will spearhead efforts to make sure seamless communication and engagement inside Albany communities. SOWEGA can be co-leading the creation of a community-centered strategic plan to align federal electrical transportation funding with neighborhood mobility wants and priorities in Albany.
The Electrical Black Futures group was additionally delighted to satisfy a couple of neighborhood champions on the occasion. These leaders are already carving out a greener, extra simply future. One among these trailblazers, Joshua Anthony, got here by the Electrical Black Futures desk to share his revolutionary transportation imaginative and prescient for Albany. Anthony is a 21-year-old scholar at Georgia State College who lately ran for a seat within the Georgia Home, in search of to signify Georgia’s 153rd Home District, which incorporates downtown Albany. He’s a neighborhood Albany descendant who has massive goals of rising and nourishing his hometown, and is decided to manifest the long run he envisions.
Joshua shared his five-year revitalization plan, which incorporates constructing an electrical mild rail system to attach his hometown with different Southwest Georgia cities. He defined how Albany as soon as had a purpose to be the railroad hub of Southwest Georgia, however this precedence turned uncared for as time handed. Joshua is decided to resurrect and implement this historic Albany dream:
“The purpose of a light-weight rail could be to attach our southern hub of communities in tandem with Albany, bolstering our financial energy throughout southwest [Georgia].”
Anthony imagines a clear transportation future that doesn’t depart the individuals of his city scrambling to discover a journey, one which faucets into the elevated financial and social alternatives that include higher connectivity and transportation methods. This mild rail undertaking may very well be an important different to the Greyhound and transit buses presently operating in Albany, particularly contemplating latest transportation hardships the neighborhood members have confronted and the scarcity of bus drivers.
The Earth Day occasion was held outdoors the Thronkeesta Heritage Heart, which sits on the final remaining brick avenue within the metropolis in Albany. The time period “thronateeska,” derived from the Muskogee Creek language, is commonly translated as “place of flint gathering.” The Decrease Muskogee Creek Tribe, situated east of the Mississippi River, has its headquarters at Tama Tribal City in Whigham, Georgia, about 60 miles south of Albany. “Thronateeska” refers back to the space overlaying present-day Albany and the Flint River in Southwest Georgia.
In 1974, involved residents spearheaded the revitalization of Albany’s historic downtown railroad depot space and created the Thronateeska Heritage Basis, Inc. As we speak, Thronateeska’s Heritage Plaza homes the Science Museum, Wetherbee Planetarium, and Historical past Museum. This location was the right backdrop for SOWEGA Rising to host this Earth Day occasion, which was a wonderful convergence of the improvements of the previous, current, and future.
Sustainable expertise and its useful impression on communities like Albany was the central theme of the occasion. Neighborhood members had probabilities to expertise developments in e-mobility, in addition to cyber safety, drone expertise, well being, gaming, robotics, and extra. SACE and EVNoire supplied schooling and hands-on experiences, permitting individuals to drive cutting-edge EVs. Whereas using alongside within the EVs and speaking to of us on the occasion, SACE and EVNoire listened to individuals’ tales of neighborhood innovation and their visions for a fascinating electrical mobility future!
Video: SOWEGA Rising’s CUE Coordinator Aunquarius Brown taking his first take a look at drive in an EV
Along with take a look at drives, SACE and EVNoire supplied schooling to construct neighborhood consciousness about completely different avenues obtainable for schooling and profession paths within the subject of e-mobility, together with horizon alternatives to take part in Electrical Black Futures’ undertaking work for futurescoping growth of e-mobility expertise of their communities.
For a lot of in Albany, this was a primary encounter with electrical automobiles, and the expertise opened eyes to the probabilities of how improvements in transportation can intersect with neighborhood must foster social connectivity, recreation, and leisure – to scale back transportation limitations and promote a clear, accessible multimodal system that facilities social inclusion. It was additionally an opportunity for neighborhood members to find out about workforce and profession progress alternatives within the e-mobility subject, such because the Electrical Car Fundamentals (EVF) program at Albany Technical Faculty, facilitated by one other Electrical Black Futures undertaking companion, the Technical Faculty System of Georgia (TCSG). Albany Technical Faculty is among the many schools within the TCSG system to supply a low-cost, non-college diploma pathway for EVF to organize college students for the certification take a look at essential to embark on a profession as an SME-EV entry-level employee and to entry superior manufacturing profession pathways.
“It’s unlocking prospects and unleashing potential! Tech Flex Innovation Earth Day introduced innovation to life. Many organizations joined us for a day of inspiration and collaboration in environmental and local weather justice and creativity as we explored the most recent applied sciences and traits shaping our future right here in southwest Georgia!” – Aunquarius Brown, SOWEGA Rising’s Local weather, Utilities, and Environmental Justice Coordinator and lead for Electrical Black Futures’ Albany neighborhood liaison work
The Electrical Black Futures group left the occasion impressed, knowledgeable, and outfitted with a newfound understanding of the way this undertaking can use its bandwidth and connections to collaboratively empower and futurebuild inside Black communities in Georgia in order that they’ve the instruments and data wanted to construct an e-mobility future that displays their visions and wishes.
Electrical Black Futures is a collaborative program between Southern Alliance for Clear Vitality, EVNoire, and Clear Cities Georgia, dedicated to invigorating e-mobility management and job alternatives in Black communities in Atlanta, Savannah, and Albany, Georgia. By centering communities’ data, imaginative and prescient, tradition, and creativeness, this undertaking goals to place extra Black palms on the helm of driving the path and crafting the electrical future. To be taught extra, go to the Electrical Black Futures web site, join e-mail updates, or e-mail [email protected].
