April showers...

...May be keeping some folks indoors, but the PLC crew has been out and about, and flowers aren't the only things springing up on Baltimore lawns...within the next week, 20 new yard signs will be up throughout our Challenge blocks, and we can't wait to see how this affects our numbers. Hopefully with more signs popping up outside residents' homes, recruitment will become a bit easier. Muhammed and I have also decided to re-canvass our target blocks with a new flier informing residents that the Challenge is already well underway and that we need full block participation. Once residents know that others on their block are involved (and that we aren't trying to get them to switch their energy company!!) I believe they will be much more receptive to the Challenge. It's definitely "crunch time" as far as recruitment, but things are coming together quickly and by the end of the month we expect to have at least 10 participating households on each of our 10 target blocks.

Our block captains have been a HUGE help in recruiting more residents. One of our captains called me this evening and told me she had personally gone around--on foot--to each of her neighbors' homes and told them about the PLC. I feel so grateful for the passionate, involved citizens I have had the honor to meet and collaborate with thus far during my term of service with Civic Works. It is truly inspiring to see residents taking the initiative and getting folks involved in the program. What a morale booster for the PLC crew! I can't thank our block captains enough for all of their help :o)

Today we also began brainstorming the logistics of the *drum roll* ......BLOCK PARTY! The block party will go to the block that collectively saves the highest average number of kWh's over the course of the competition, and will probably happen sometime in July. A big party like this takes a lot of planning and we want to make sure that we give the winning block a really awesome thank-you gift for months of hard work. One great idea that was brought up today would be inviting the crew from the Baltimore Neighborhood Energy Challenge as well as the folks from Real Food Farm to the party. This would be a great way to get a lot of energy-conscious individuals together for a good time and introduce our block residents to other awesome services available to them through Civic Works. It should be a fun time for everyone to relax, eat, play games, and also network...because although the Challenge will culminate in the block party, ideally our residents will continue to collaborate and work as a team to save energy and save money for a long time to come. Lots of new events are on the forecast...check in with the PLC crew for more updates soon!