Webinar - Local Advocacy Sets the Standards for Community Choice Energy Agencies on Workforce Development & Environmental Justice

Learn about the vital advocacy needed to secure safe workforce and environmental justice standards at *Ava Community Energy (formerly East Bay Community Energy) and at Community Choice energy agencies statewide.
Join us on December 6th at 12 Noon PST to learn more.
 
 
LCEA has held Ava Community Energy accountable to the commitments made at the agency’s inception in 2016 and reaffirmed in the 2018 Local Development Business Plan. We are now advocating for strong workforce, environmental and environmental justice standards to ensure this legacy is upheld into the future and sets an example to CCAs statewide and across the country. We need your help to keep Ava Community Energy accountable to the community in its name!
 
*Ava Community Energy is Alameda and San Joaquin County’s Community Choice energy agency.
 
The movement for Community Choice energy agencies also known as Community Choice Aggregation (CCAs) was started with the intention to create publicly accountable energy procurement agencies, for the first time giving ratepayers the opportunity not only to buy energy from an agency that prioritizes renewable energy but also one that invests revenue in local clean energy, local economies, workforce development, programs and community innovation. Most importantly, unlike the California Public Utilities Commission, the California Energy Commission or PG&E, the CCAs have boards of elected officials and community advisory committees so we can make our voice heard. To uphold this vision we must continue to engage and push the CCAs to meet and safeguard public needs. We are at a crucial juncture in our advocacy to lock in standards workforce, environmental and environmental justice standards at Ava Community Energy and need your support! Join us on December 6th at 12 Noon PST to learn more.
 

Zoom information below: 
 
Join Zoom Meeting (December 6th 12:00 Noon PST)
 
Meeting ID: 821 0838 2074
 
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Facilitator for the event:
 
Ratha Lai
Ratha is the Founder and Executive Director of Critical Impact Consulting.  Critical Impact Consulting consults with community organizations and government agencies in solving their critical problems. Ratha is a first generation Cambodian-American. Having grown up in a refugee household and experiencing poverty firsthand at a young age propelled him to develop a career in social justice. When attending Cerritos community college outside of Los Angeles Ratha cultivated a passion for social movements that lead to studying power, linguistics and social theory. Ratha transferred to UC Berkeley where he was able to study under some of the best minds and developed a theory of change that has been tested and improved over a decade and a half of working in high profile social justice campaigns and initiatives.
 
He has built several coalitions, passed landmark policies for air quality and environmental justice and has helped clients in their efforts to dismantle mass incarceration, rapidly respond to the Covid crisis by disseminating important information to underrepresented communities, helped bring awareness to the Amazonia rainforest and put together winning strategies for grassroots political campaigns.
 
Panelists for the event:
 
Alexis Sutterman
Alexis is one of the Energy Equity Managers at the California Environmental Justice Alliance, and supports community-led and people-powered campaigns toward an energy system that is clean, healthy, equitable, and just. She leads CEJA’s clean and distributed energy work with a focus on bringing community solar online to serve and benefit environmental justice communities. While climate change may be one of the biggest threats our society faces, Alexis is inspired by the opportunity it brings to transform systems. Throughout her work, she is motivated to create un mundo donde quepan muchos mundos (a world where many worlds fit), per the Zapatista mantra.
 
Jason Gumataotao
Jason Gumataotao is currently the Lead Organizer for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 595. He has worked in the electrical construction industry since 2001 and graduated in 2006 from the Inside Wireman Apprenticeship Program as a CA State certified Journeyman General Electrician. From 2006-2015 he worked as an apprentice, then Journeyman Inside Wireman to Foreman and General Foreman with Del Monte Electric. In 2015 he was appointed as an Organizer and his role includes: working to educate and empower unrepresented electricians, to partner with non-signatory employers and to ensure labor standards are adopted on construction projects in Alameda County. Since his appointment he has served on the Alameda County Inside Apprenticeship Trust, Health & Welfare Trust, and Labor Management Cooperation Committee as a Labor Trustee.
 
Eric Veium
Eric has been working for over 15 years to create a vibrant, just, and climate-resilient community, Central Coast, and beyond. Eric is Coordinator for the CCA Workforce and Environmental Justice Alliance pursuing standards for clean energy projects at California's CCAs. He recently received a Master's of Public Policy from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, focused on energy democracy, equity, decarbonization, and resilience. Eric is founding member and current Chair and Co-Executive Director for the SLO Climate Coalition, an organization which brings together community expertise, creativity, and resources to champion high impact regional climate solutions that inspire other communities to do the same.
 
Previously, Eric managed Energy, Utilities, and Sustainability at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, He was also founding partner and Senior Energy Engineer for Stockman’s Water & Energy, a San Luis Obispo based company helping to optimize water & energy use on Central Coast Farms and Vineyards. Eric also served as co-author and local team lead on the California Energy Commission funded RESCO project examining the potential to develop renewable energy sources in San Luis Obispo County.
 
 
Anne Olivia Eldred
Anne Olivia is a committed advocate for environmental, social, racial, and economic justice, with a particular focus on housing, transportation, and energy policy. Her career is marked by a strong commitment to labor advocacy, fostering cooperation between the environmental justice and labor movements. Drawing on her extensive professional background and training, both internationally and in the United States, Anne Olivia has fought to bring social, racial, and economic justice into climate policy.  She works on the public health impacts of policy and law and the corresponding social ramifications when applied to trade, development policy, public works, and electoral politics. She is a strong advocate for effective outreach and meaningful engagement in policy formation to increase transparency and equity in policy outcomes.
 
In her current roles, Anne Olivia serves on the Board of Directors and as Chair of the Community Advisory Committee for Ava Community Energy (formerly known as East Bay Community Energy). She holds the Environmental at-large seat on the 9-county Policy Advisory Council for the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, served on the Equity and Access Subcommittee, including holding the Vice Chair position, and numerous other subcommittees and working groups, working on the formation of Plan Bay Area 2050. Her past service includes roles on the Interfaith Council of Alameda County as an Elected Council member and on the Equitable Climate Action Plan Ad Hoc Community Advisory Committee for the City of Oakland, and numerous other board and civic positions. As a consultant, she has worked with companies, municipalities, and nonprofits to realize actionable, community based, effective and transformative change. Anne Olivia works full time running and rewriting Labor Compliance policies on the County level. With a career spanning over two decades, she is a passionate advocate for affordable housing and the rights of unhoused residents. Anne Olivia holds a Master of Environmental Law and Policy degree from Vermont Law School, with a concentration in Energy Law.