Welcome to the Solarize St. John crowdfunding campaign page!
What is Crowdfund St. John?
Solarize St. John is a movement to a cleaner and more resilient St. John for all St. Jonians. Too often, low-income families cannot afford the upfront cost of solar energy and public programs that help support low-income families join the solar movement are lacking or non-existent. To remedy this, Solarize St. John has started this crowdfunding campaign to raise funds for low-income families in St. John.
Where does my donation go?
All funds raised go straight to the St. John Community Foundation and will be used to help buy down the cost of solar + storage for low-income households as part of its Disaster Care Management program.
Why it matters: energy burden in the USVI is among the highest in the United States.
Energy burden, energy insecurity, energy poverty are among the terms used to describe an ongoing problem in the United States and the USVI: when a household spends more than 10% of their annual household income on energy utilities. In the USVI, average household income is lower than on the mainland while the cost of electricity can be up to four times higher. This means low-income families in the USVI are spending much more than 10% of their annual income on electricity.
Using solar energy to generate your own energy on your own property can greatly reduce the energy burden for low-income families while simultaneously make them more resilient to increasingly powerful weather events common in the region.
A donation of $100,000 has already been made to seed this effort! Your donation will go to the St. John Community Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (SJCF) and SJCF will administer the funds as part of the Resilient Housing Initiative (RHI).
RHI is a program to help the most vulnerable residents on St. John rebuild their homes after Hurricane Irma called the Resilient Housing Initiative. Up to 74% of low and middle-income residential structures on St. John were damaged, according to a media brief published by Love City Strong, a non-profit organization that was formed in response to the hurricane and is collaborating with the new program. Learn more about the Resilient Housing Initiative here: https://stjohnsource.com/2018/09/30/stj-groups-announce-resilient-housing-initiative/.
Adding solar energy to these newly rebuilt homes will help reduce the high energy burden for the most vulnerable St. Jonians and become part of a movement to a cleaner and more resilient St. John.
MORE TO COME! Please be patient while we continue to build out this crowdfunding campaign.
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