As a resident of Takoma Village Cohousing community in Washington, D.C., Alison formed and led a team of community members to develop a proposal to purchase and install 67kW, or 242 solar panels to power the community’s common space electricity usage. Governance in a Cohousing community is by participatory decision-making. The solar project was a major decision, thus Alison presented the proposal at community meetings to achieve consensus from the entire community of 43 households. Support from the community was a result of the team’s efforts to build community awareness, listen to all concerns, and develop comfort with solar technologies, how they work, the costs of the system, and other concerns.

After the community decided to proceed forward, the team chose the contractor with the best proposal for the solar installation and maintenance and saw the project successfully through installation, commissioning with the utility, and turning the switch on to connect our power producing panels with the electric grid. To ensure project success, Alison applied her ability to design a financially feasible technical project; built and maintained momentum through project completion through strong project management skills including forming a strong working team; and practiced her usual care in communicating with audiences of diverse backgrounds.