EVD Hight Lights (3)

In August of 2011, I was also selected by St. Augustine College recommended by my colleage Alicia Ponce www.apmonarck.org to start teaching Green Construction Practices and to prepare students for the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Associate USGBC exam. This was a very gratifying experience. The well-known Hispanic American Construction Industry Association HACIA developed this training program for minorities and small business in the construction industry in collaboration with St. Augustine College Workforce Development providing quality programs in sustainable green construction.

My students are all entrepreneurial owners of smart small construction companies, many struggling in these hard economic times but all willing to learn and implement green construction alternatives as a way to be more competitive and to include responsible alternatives to improve our environment. As I review with students the existing alternatives and concepts in green construction practices I also learned from them the difficulties and choices they deal with everyday in the construction field. I also had architects in my class and other colleagues with whom I have worked for many years in the City of Chicago Department of Planning and Development and with the Mayor’s Green Team. As a result, architect Franceline Villasenor now collaborates with EVD on a regular basis. We celebrated the students’ success in the class with a Brasilian Feijoada at EVD Home/studio on December 17, 2011. I wish all my past students good luck after the LEED Green Associate exam! I’m also very grateful to John Albrecht, the first LEED AP in the City of Chicago, who come to my classes to answer questions the students have about the LEED certification process.
From left to right in the picture are SAC LEED GA students Luis Arias, Gamil Myers, Derrica Merriweather, me and Oscar Meade. Good luck in the LEED GA exam!


THE RESURRECTION PROJECT WITH THE NEIGHBORHOOD STABILIZATION PROGRAM

In August of 2011, I started a close contact with Guacolda Reyes from The Resurrection Project who invited EVD to participate and bid on a request for proposal for the rehabilitation of 2- to 4-unit buildings lost to foreclosure that are ready to the rehabilitated in the Back of the Yards neighborhood. EVD decided to present a proposal in combination with Landon Bone Baker Architects , a well known architectural company with extensive experience with affordable housing. Our team was awarded the rehabilitation of 5 buildings. Rebeca Fernandez Lee was a hard-working collaborating architect dedicating endless hours to complete the projects on schedule in a very professional matter. LBBA Principal Catherine Baker and Tyler Brown, Project Manager, were and still are instrumental to the completion of these projects.