SEE In Our Communities
Dear Reader,
This month we wanted to shine a little light on our fellowship program. Over the past three summers, we have partnered with the City of Ann Arbor’s Office of Sustainability and Innovations (OSI) to offer fellowships to University of Michigan students. Using a SEE-informed approach, fellows work alongside OSI towards their goal of transitioning Ann Arbor to community-wide carbon neutrality by 2030.
A Conversation with a reDirect Fellow
I caught up with one of our 2024 fellows, Jason Krick, to hear about his project. Jason worked with OSI staff to communicate new initiatives available to the community through their Ann Arbor Home Energy Advisor (HEA) and Rebate programs. With SEE principles in mind, he took fairly technical topics (like home weatherization) and broke them down into step-by-step processes, to create a less overwhelming process for Ann Arbor residents to navigate.
I asked Jason how SEE shaped his approach to the work, and he said:
At first, I didn't have much of a mental map for home energy efficiency and electrification, so I spent the first month or so building one. As I asked for and received help, I could see the clouds lifting, clarity forming, and by the midpoint of my fellowship, I had tremendous momentum and I felt energized to keep working on the Home Energy Effectiveness toolkit. I rode the “SEE waves” from the lows to the highs!
Fast forward to just last week, I was asked if I would meet with a resident to review my toolkit and answer their questions about home energy efficiency. I had coffee with this person for about an hour, and I connected them back to staff at OSI, thrilled to still be serving as an informal OSI and SEE ambassador.
Crafting Visual Environments for Sharing Information
Our latest blog post offers some tips on how to visually organize information and craft more easily navigable environments. This post was written by our fellow Tara-Sky Woodward who has spent the past three summers working with OSI on solarization and climate resilience initiatives.
Until next time,
Rachel Schad
