Four Directions Native Vote Co-Executive Director OJ Semans was recently appointed to the Board of Power Forward Communities. Power Forward Communities was created through a partnership with
Rewiring America, Enterprise Community Partners, Local Initiatives Support Corporation, United Way, and Habitat for Humanity to promote affordable residential decarbonization and electrification.
Stacey Abrams, a voting rights activist and guest at Four Directions’ Georgia Tribal Nations Town Hall, serves as General Counsel for Rewiring America.
Power Forward Communities has over 300 partners who have pledged to decarbonize homes across 46 states. One such partner is the Coalition of Large Tribes, and Semans serves as its Executive Director.
This is not the first time Semans and Abrams have worked together through their respective organizations. In 2021, Four Directions and Fair Count—founded by Abrams—partnered in a fight against voter suppression in Georgia. Semans said that partnership affirmed their “shared belief of equal access at the ballot box, engaging civic programs and communications in hard to count communities.” Semans’s appointment to the board of Power Forward Communities aligns with his and Abrams’s shared belief in equal access and their previous partnership in combating voter suppression. Read more about the 2021 collaboration here.
Power Forward Communities applied for $9.5 billion from the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Clean Investment Fund. This fund was created to create greater access for families, small businesses, and communities to install cost-saving and pollution-reducing clean technology projects. Power Forward Communities aims to bring clean technology projects to underserved communities, including low-income, disadvantaged, rural, and tribal communities.
The appointment of Semans to the board demonstrates the recognition of his expertise and the importance of incorporating diverse perspectives in achieving sustainable and equitable solutions.
Read more about Power Forward Communities here.
