Dwight DeMar

When Dwight DeMar started volunteering with GRID Alternatives through a partnership with Homeboy Industries, a non-profit serving formerly gang-involved men and women, he just couldn’t get enough. A recovering addict who was trying to turn his life around, Dwight saw solar as a chance for a fresh start. He attended East L.A. Skills Center to get certified in solar, but he says that volunteering with GRID is what made everything click. “You can spend years studying a language and not understand it until you’re immersed in it,” he said. “It’s the same for solar.” Today, thanks to support from GRID’s Greater Los Angeles staff, he is a lead installer for Solar Universe and counts several other GRID and Homeboy veterans among his installation crew.