Member Spotlight: Kate Ayres

Kate Ayres is a Confluence AmeriCorps Member serving as a Community Education Specialist with Solar Oregon.

Kate’s primary focus with Solar Oregon is to increase awareness in underserved communities about the benefits of solar and clean energy. Kate is conducting educational workshops, tabling events, and interactive activities related to solar energy and energy efficiency.

Kate shares her story of service:

After recently completing a master’s degree in Environmental Policy and Management, I was super excited to step into a career in the environmental sector back in my home state of Oregon. Confluence Environmental Center’s position with Solar Oregon as their Community Education Specialist came at just the right moment during a very challenging period of time for many across the country. Through my previous experience in education and community development, I’ve solidified my love for empowering communities through utilizing their own knowledge and sharing educational tools that allow them to gain access to resources and opportunities that create real change. My work with Solar Oregon is allowing me to expand on that previous experience by utilizing my skills within the renewable energy sector. 

So far with my service at Solar Oregon, I have been able to target agriculture communities, help a project spearheaded by the African Alliance for Homeownership to increase directed education to African American audiences across the Portland Metro area, and have helped build out Solar Oregon’s peer to peer storytelling program which focuses on highlighting stories of individuals who have regularly been left out of the solar narrative. 

Being able to focus education surrounding clean, renewable energy to those who have routinely and historically been left out of environmental conversations while highlighting the knowledge and experiences of other community members is exactly what I hoped for when beginning to work in the environmental sector. The power that communities can have by hearing stories from people who look like them while gaining the information to help them succeed is a powerful force. I cannot wait to see how these partnerships and programs continue to grow throughout my service year and what steps can be made in making the environmental sphere within Oregon to a more equitable and inclusive sector.