Environmental policies create more than environmental benefits or environmental winners and losers.

Environmental policies also create economic benefits, and economic winners and losers.  With the rise of sustainability, environmental policymakers pay more and more attention to creating these economic benefits.  Verde wants them to pay more attention to the economic winners and losers.

Advocacy groups and individuals have worked for generations to ensure that disadvantaged communities get a meaningful share of publicly-funded or publicly-subsidized projects.

These models need to be applied to sustainability.

Verde Outreach works together with many partners to educate environmental policymakers about practices which promote workforce diversity and support minority business participation in sustainable development.  Programs we work with include the City of Portland's Grey to Green initiative, Multnomah County's Weatherization & Energy Assistance Program, and Clean Energy Works Portland.