Greetings from San Francisco

Greetings from dear Michael in San Francisco!

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Greetings from Fog City! That is, of course, the nickname given to San Francisco, CA for the blankets of fog that roll into the city through the golden gate. Unbeknownst to me, San Francisco has very mild summers, and I made the mistake of packing mostly t-shirts and shorts. Oh well.

These past three weeks have gone by in a flash… that can probably be attributed to the amount of work we have been doing lately. I am interning at Rubicon National Social Innovations (RNSI), which was being incubated by Rubicon Programs, Inc. and is now spinning off to be it’s own non-profit. RNSI’s mission is to create social enterprises that have the primary purpose of improving the economic well being of low-income people and communities. To achieve this, RNSI works with businesses, philanthropy and non-profit organizational partners throughout the country to develop nationally scaled social purpose businesses which rely on market forces to achieve financial sustainability while maximizing social returns for working poor and disenfranchised communities.

The project that I have been assigned to is the development of a national-scale energy efficiency retrofitting business. RNSI is currently running a feasibility study on the market opportunity and viability for the retrofit business with a focus on a “triple bottom line,” an expanded criterion for measuring economic, social, and ecological success. There has been a lot of talk about an opportunity to create a “green collar” economy, one that is inclusive and provide pathways out of poverty for disenfranchised communities.

I truly believe that the goals of mitigating global warming and creating well-paying jobs here in the United States for those who need them the most can be accomplished at the same time. That is RNSI’s vision for this enterprise, and we see it as the perfect triple bottom line opportunity.

So why is RNSI focusing on building energy efficiency retrofitting as a social enterprise? For one, building energy use accounts for about 40% of U.S. energy consumption. Secondly, buildings are highly inefficient and waste energy through leaky ducts and inefficient appliances and light bulbs. By improving the efficiency of energy use in homes and commercial buildings, less energy would be needed to heat and cool buildings resulting in lower energy bills and green house gas emissions. It isn’t uncommon for low-income households to spend 16% or more of their income for their energy use. Not only will this business provide entry-level job opportunities to the target population, but it will also be serving the target population by reducing their energy bills and granting them more financial stability.

Since the enterprise is still in development, I have been very fortunate to experience all of the difficulties of coming up with a business plan. I’ve been exposed to how business models are crafted, how businesses seek out public and private capital, how they pursue potential partnerships, how they research high potential markets, and how they see the market through competitor analyses. It is a very exciting process but also very crucial to the success of the enterprise. RNSI has been working at a rapid pace to construct a business model and form partnerships due to the limited amount of time to secure federal stimulus money that was allocated for green job training and energy efficiency retrofitting. Our biggest challenge is that the space is extremely new and underdeveloped, and because of this we are taking a great risk. But because of the increase in funding from the Recovery Act, we also have an amazing opportunity to use our non-profit status to capitalize on the stimulus package and the lack of capacity to spend it wisely.

So far, I have been having an amazing time here in San Francisco. I love the work I’m doing with RNSI, the city is very progressive in terms of sustainability and civil rights, and it has so much amazing history. My place here is not too far from the “painted ladies” shown in the photo below. I am also very close to the Haight-Ashbury district, home to many free-loving hippies and artists. I hope that everyone else is enjoying their internships as much as I am, and I can’t wait to read all of your entries! J

Take Care,

Michael Paci