{"id":3994,"date":"2017-09-28T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-09-28T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gridalt.wpenginepowered.com\/the-current\/second-chances-through-solar-for-returning-citizens\/"},"modified":"2026-09-03T12:04:25","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T16:04:25","slug":"second-chances-through-solar-for-returning-citizens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\/es\/the-current\/second-chances-through-solar-for-returning-citizens\/","title":{"rendered":"Second chances through solar for returning citizens"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s a story that Darean Nguyen of Los Angeles tells frequently: He\u2019s sitting in his LA County prison cell, praying for a sign, and a book is tossed into his cell by a passing prison librarian. A solar manual. A book that would forever alter the course of his life after prison.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember telling myself that this was something I was going to look into when I’d served all my time,\u201d he wrote in a recent guest post<\/a>, \u201cI read through that solar manual, and I was sure I wanted to understand this. I started thinking about homeowners for the first time: I knew how much they spent on electricity every month, and with some of them handling mortgages on the side, it could be a big stretch to pay utility bills.\u201d<\/p>\n

A little over a year later, Darean would find himself in a position to help those homeowners, while also shaping his own future. He landed at Homeboy Industries<\/a>, after hearing about it from a friend, and began training to install solar.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy training took me to the East Los Angeles Skills Center<\/a> (ELASC), where I’d go by bus three days a week, all the while telling my girlfriend, \u2018This is what I want to do.\u2019 Every time that I was working on solar I thought: \u2018This is it, the path for me.\u2019 I was picked for ELASC class president, where they gave me a nickname “Tools”, and by September, my girlfriend had bought me real tools, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the solar industry growing 20% year over year, there\u2019s room for everybody, including returning citizens like Darean Nguyen. This year we\u2019re launching our first correctional facility solar training program in the Central Valley, which will prepare individuals for solar careers after prison. And this week, we hosted \u201cSolar Jobs and Second Chances<\/a>,\u201d a forum on breaking barriers to employment for the formerly incarcerated, presented in partnership with LA Mayor Eric Garcetti’s Office of Reentry and LA Metro Employer Advisory Council.<\/p>\n

As for Darean, he was connected with GRID Greater Los Angeles (GLA) through ELASC, and signed up for Installation Basics Training to start getting real-world installation experience with the GLA crew. He put in over 600 hours of training, and eventually earned Team Leader status and the chance to lead volunteers through solar installations for low-income families. Today, he works as a SolarCorps Construction Fellow for GRID GLA, putting his newly minted skills towards a career in solar.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean it when I tell my volunteers not to give up, especially the ones who are wondering about the job opportunities out there. I let them know that they’ll get a chance to lead their own teams someday, too, and that GRID will keep driving your learning, with every roof being a different classroom. It\u2019s work that I feel excited to do every morning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Donate now to fuel an inclusive transition to renewable energy.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s a story that Darean Nguyen of Los Angeles tells frequently: He\u2019s sitting in his LA County prison cell, praying for a sign, and a book is tossed into his cell by a passing prison librarian. <\/p>","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":3995,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[79],"tags":[],"audience":[],"content-type":[12],"focus-area":[20,73],"region":[],"series":[],"content-author":[],"class_list":["post-3994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-workforce-education","content-type-news","focus-area-job-training","focus-area-workforce-development"],"acf":{"hero_media_type":"image","hero_media_image":null,"hero_media_url":"","hero_media_poster":null,"hero_video_play":"inline","related_stories":null,"pattern_override":null,"story_callouts":null,"media":null,"featured_blog_post":null,"featured_event":null,"pdf_download":null,"blockquote":null,"author":null,"notice":null,"social_embed":null,"contact_card":null,"meta_details":null,"faq":null,"table":null},"yoast_head":"\nSecond chances through solar for returning citizens - GRID Alternatives<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It\u2019s a story that Darean Nguyen of Los Angeles tells frequently: He\u2019s sitting in his LA County prison cell, praying for a sign, and a book is tossed into his cell by a passing prison librarian.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\/es\/the-current\/second-chances-through-solar-for-returning-citizens\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"es_MX\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Second chances through solar for returning citizens - GRID Alternatives\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It\u2019s a story that Darean Nguyen of Los Angeles tells frequently: He\u2019s sitting in his LA County prison cell, praying for a sign, and a book is tossed into his cell by a passing prison librarian.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\/es\/the-current\/second-chances-through-solar-for-returning-citizens\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"GRID Alternatives\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-09-28T04:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-09-03T16:04:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Darean-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutos\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\\\/the-current\\\/second-chances-through-solar-for-returning-citizens\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\\\/the-current\\\/second-chances-through-solar-for-returning-citizens\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Second chances through solar for returning citizens\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-09-28T04:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-03T16:04:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\\\/the-current\\\/second-chances-through-solar-for-returning-citizens\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":498,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\\\/the-current\\\/second-chances-through-solar-for-returning-citizens\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/09\\\/Darean-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Workforce & Education\"],\"inLanguage\":\"es\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\\\/the-current\\\/second-chances-through-solar-for-returning-citizens\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\\\/the-current\\\/second-chances-through-solar-for-returning-citizens\\\/\",\"name\":\"Second chances through solar for returning citizens - GRID Alternatives\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\\\/the-current\\\/second-chances-through-solar-for-returning-citizens\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\\\/the-current\\\/second-chances-through-solar-for-returning-citizens\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/09\\\/Darean-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-09-28T04:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-03T16:04:25+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"description\":\"It\u2019s a story that Darean Nguyen of Los Angeles tells frequently: He\u2019s sitting in his LA County prison cell, praying for a sign, and a book is tossed into his cell by a passing prison librarian.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\\\/the-current\\\/second-chances-through-solar-for-returning-citizens\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"es\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\\\/the-current\\\/second-chances-through-solar-for-returning-citizens\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"es\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\\\/the-current\\\/second-chances-through-solar-for-returning-citizens\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/09\\\/Darean-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/09\\\/Darean-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"Man wearing white hard hat with \\\"DAREAN\\\" label and orange shirt, smiling outdoors\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\\\/the-current\\\/second-chances-through-solar-for-returning-citizens\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Second chances through solar for returning citizens\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\\\/\",\"name\":\"GRID Alternatives\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"es\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Second chances through solar for returning citizens - GRID Alternatives","description":"It\u2019s a story that Darean Nguyen of Los Angeles tells frequently: He\u2019s sitting in his LA County prison cell, praying for a sign, and a book is tossed into his cell by a passing prison librarian.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\/es\/the-current\/second-chances-through-solar-for-returning-citizens\/","og_locale":"es_MX","og_type":"article","og_title":"Second chances through solar for returning citizens - GRID Alternatives","og_description":"It\u2019s a story that Darean Nguyen of Los Angeles tells frequently: He\u2019s sitting in his LA County prison cell, praying for a sign, and a book is tossed into his cell by a passing prison librarian.","og_url":"https:\/\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\/es\/the-current\/second-chances-through-solar-for-returning-citizens\/","og_site_name":"GRID Alternatives","article_published_time":"2017-09-28T04:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-09-03T16:04:25+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1707,"url":"https:\/\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Darean-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"2 minutos"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\/the-current\/second-chances-through-solar-for-returning-citizens\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\/the-current\/second-chances-through-solar-for-returning-citizens\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"Second chances through solar for returning citizens","datePublished":"2017-09-28T04:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-09-03T16:04:25+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\/the-current\/second-chances-through-solar-for-returning-citizens\/"},"wordCount":498,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\/the-current\/second-chances-through-solar-for-returning-citizens\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Darean-scaled.jpg","articleSection":["Workforce & Education"],"inLanguage":"es"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\/the-current\/second-chances-through-solar-for-returning-citizens\/","url":"https:\/\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\/the-current\/second-chances-through-solar-for-returning-citizens\/","name":"Second chances through solar for returning citizens - GRID Alternatives","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\/the-current\/second-chances-through-solar-for-returning-citizens\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\/the-current\/second-chances-through-solar-for-returning-citizens\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Darean-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2017-09-28T04:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-09-03T16:04:25+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"description":"It\u2019s a story that Darean Nguyen of Los Angeles tells frequently: He\u2019s sitting in his LA County prison cell, praying for a sign, and a book is tossed into his cell by a passing prison librarian.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\/the-current\/second-chances-through-solar-for-returning-citizens\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"es","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\/the-current\/second-chances-through-solar-for-returning-citizens\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"es","@id":"https:\/\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\/the-current\/second-chances-through-solar-for-returning-citizens\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Darean-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Darean-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1707,"caption":"Man wearing white hard hat with \"DAREAN\" label and orange shirt, smiling outdoors"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\/the-current\/second-chances-through-solar-for-returning-citizens\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Second chances through solar for returning citizens"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\/#website","url":"https:\/\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\/","name":"GRID Alternatives","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"es"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3994","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3994"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3994\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8483,"href":"https:\/\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3994\/revisions\/8483"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3994"},{"taxonomy":"audience","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/audience?post=3994"},{"taxonomy":"content-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-type?post=3994"},{"taxonomy":"focus-area","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/focus-area?post=3994"},{"taxonomy":"region","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/region?post=3994"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=3994"},{"taxonomy":"content-author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-author?post=3994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}