“Homeboys” Get A Fresh Start

WHEN DWIGHT DEMAR started volunteering with GRID through its partnership with Homeboy Industries, a non-profit serving formerly gang-involved men and women, he just couldn’t get enough. A recovering drug addict who was trying to turn his life around, he saw solar as his chance for a fresh start. He attended East LA 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/Homeboy veterans among his installation crew.