Forbes Spotlights We Want Green Too's Approach to Workforce Development

By Jamesa Johnson-Greer and Jennifer Somers

What does it take to build energy programs that communities trust?

That question is at the center of a new Forbes article, in which contributor Brynn Cooksey makes the case that community-based organizations (CBOs) are often the difference between energy efficiency programs that look good on paper and those that actually work in practice for  the communities they intend to serve. Cooksey spotlights Collectrify grantee-partner We Want Green Too (WWGT) and its founder, Gloria Lowe—known to many as Mama Gloria—whose team recruits and trains its workforce from within those very communities.

The story of WWGT’s work echoes a pattern we see across Collectrify's national network, which is that when frontline communities lead, programs more effectively meet residents’ needs. A few highlights and insights from the piece: 

• When communities lead, they define success on their own terms, not according to metrics set by funders or program designers.

• The most effective strategies are shaped by lived experience, not outside assumptions about what residents need.

• Community representation in program delivery translates directly into stronger participant engagement and follow-through.

• Trust grows fastest when residents can see measurable outcomes, not just promises.

• Community-driven data gathered door to door reveals exactly where intervention is needed most.

None of this is new to Mama Gloria. It's the same approach WWGT has used to build a trusted, homegrown workforce for energy efficiency implementation on Detroit's East Side.

What this piece surfaces is an invitation for funders to recognize organizations like We Want Green Too as the experts they already are, and to resource them accordingly. At Collectrify, this belief is foundational to our trust-based approach: when community leaders have the investment, autonomy, and time they need, they don’t just close the trust gap—they close the implementation gap too.