Urban Corps of San Diego County Unveils 'Green' Campus
Mayor Jerry Sanders joins Urban Corps, San Diego Redevelopment Agency and SDG&E at Grand Opening Ceremony
SAN DIEGO, Calif. — Today, more than 220 youth Corpsmembers from the Urban Corps of San Diego County joined City of San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders, the San Diego Redevelopment Agency and San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) for a grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the unveiling of Urban Corps’ new ‘green’ campus.
“I wish you could stand in my shoes and see just how far we’ve come,” said Urban Corps CEO Sam Duran. “San Diego’s youth now have a permanent home where they can improve their lives by gaining green job skills and an education. This is a campus they can be proud of, one that will help inspire them to become environmental stewards along their journey.”
Urban Corps’ green campus includes two soon-to-be LEED-certified buildings – the Recycling Education & Community Outreach Center, and the Community Training Room, where a 23-kilowatt SDG&E-owned rooftop solar system provides clean energy to the community through the Sustainable Communities Program. At the event SDG&E presented Urban Corps with their Sustainable Communities Champion Award – given only to projects that well exceed standard building codes in the areas of energy efficiency and sustainable design. They also announced that the Urban Corps solar system marks the programs two megawatt milestone.
The campus also features a sustainable vehicle wash with water reclamation and filter technology; a Rooftop Garden featuring an ‘edible wall,’ drought-tolerant landscaping, native plants, a water capture system, and composting and vermiposting stations; and SDG&E’s first “Sustainable Experience” kiosk, where guests can explore the site’s green building features, and learn about energy efficiency and renewable energy solutions.
“There is a tremendous need to protect and preserve our environment,” said Janice Weinrick, Deputy Executive Director for the Redevelopment Agency. “Urban Corps’ new campus shows us how we can all become stewards of our future.”
The Urban Corps campus was completed in three phases:
Phase I: Renovation of Administrative Offices
Phase II: Recycling Education Center, Rooftop Garden, Offices & Equipment Storage Room
Phase III: Multi-purpose Community Room & Sustainable Vehicle Wash
In all, the development cost for the three phases totaled $5.5 million. Funding was provided by a variety of grants from public and private entities including California State Assembly Bill 3056, the City of San Diego Community Development Block Grants Program, Prop 84, Bank of America, the County of San Diego, the Sempra Energy Foundation, CAL FIRE, and the San Diego Redevelopment Agency, which contributed $475,000 to help various program elements.
About the Urban Corps of San Diego County
Since 1989, the Urban Corps of San Diego County has served as a bridge to a better life for thousands inner-city youth ages 18-25. The organization provides paid green job training in the fields of recycling, conservation and community service while offering young people a second chance to earn their high school diploma. It is the only local organization that links youth development, job training, and education with the preservation of natural resources. In 21 years, more than 7,000 have benefited from this visionary civic platform. More than 1,300 have graduated with a high school diploma from the on-site John Muir Charter School. Urban Corps has removed more than 72 million square feet of graffiti in San Diego County, diverted 16.5 million pounds of recyclables from the waste stream, and planted more than 12,000 trees.
About the City of San Diego Redevelopment Agency
The City of San Diego Redevelopment Agency, created by the City Council in 1958, uses special legal and financial mechanisms to eliminate blight and improve economic and physical conditions in designated areas of the City. The Agency’s purview encompasses 17 project areas, study areas and affordable housing. Activities within the project areas are carried out by the city’s Redevelopment Division and two public, nonprofit city corporations: Centre City Development Corporation (CCDC) and Southeastern Economic Development Corporation (SEDC). The Agency also administers seven Project Area Committees (PAC) that advise the agency on the adoption of redevelopment plans and implementing redevelopment projects. For more information, visit: www.sandiego.gov/redevelopment-agency/
About SDG&E
SDG&E is a regulated public utility that provides safe and reliable energy service to 3.4 million consumers through 1.4 million electric meters and more than 840,000 natural gas meters in San Diego and southern Orange counties. The utility’s area spans 4,100 square miles. SDG&E is committed to creating ways to help our customers save energy and money every day. SDG&E is a subsidiary of Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE), a Fortune 500 energy services holding company based in San Diego.
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