Purpose Prize

Marc Freedman Portrait

The Latest from CoGenerate

Documentary Brings the Beauty of Cogeneration to PBS

Documentary Brings the Beauty of Cogeneration to PBS

A new documentary film, Ink & Linda, chronicles the unexpected friendship between Inksap, a Vietnamese-American street artist in his 20s, and Linda, a white modern dance teacher in her 70s. Shortly after a chance encounter brings these two together, they begin...

Announcing the CoGen Challenge to Advance Economic Opportunity

Announcing the CoGen Challenge to Advance Economic Opportunity

We’re out to show the world that older and younger people can help solve pressing problems when they work together. To that end, today we’re launching the CoGen Challenge to Advance Economic Opportunity, a partnership with the Ares Charitable Foundation to elevate...

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Mildred Dandridge

Awareness for Communities about Energy
Purpose Prize Fellow 2007

Engaging young people with their communities on issues of energy efficiency.

After retiring as Director of Academic Advising and Adjunct Faculty from The Sage Colleges in Troy, New York, Mildred Dandridge moved to California to develop her passion for engaging youth in their communities. In 2002, she launched Awareness for Communities about Energy (ACE), a program of the nonprofit Strategic Energy Innovations. With the belief that young people will catch the eye of community stakeholders, Dandridge teaches elementary and high school students about energy management and auditing techniques, then connects them to small business owners and older adults to help them improve energy efficiency. More than 300 young people have participated in the program, at eight locations in California and Hawaii. Five organizations that work with at-risk youth have adopted the ACE model, using energy efficiency as a means to engage young people and build stronger community relationships. Dandridge’s next step: national expansion with the hopes of targeting after-school programs.