$120,000 to Fund Sustainability and Clean Energy Projects from Emerging Business Minds
SAN FRANCISCO – National nonpartisan business group E2 (Environmental Entrepreneurs) and sustainability-driven hotel brand 1 Hotels today announced the 2023 1 Hotels Fellowship at E2 . This is the fifth year of the annual fellowship, which awards six young business leaders $20,000 each to execute projects that advance sustainability, clean energy, and environmental policies across America.
This year’s projects include creating a clean energy justice toolkit; enhancing opportunity pathways for the clean energy workforce; creating a clean business playbook for the hotel and lodging industry; educational outreach to electrify ski resorts; building a virtual resource to help workers find clean economy jobs and producing resources to democratize access to sustainable food sources.
“Young people understand that solutions to the climate crisis – and many other issues – can be found at the intersection of environment and economy,” said Bob Keefe, E2 Executive Director. “One way to help foster the vision and big ideas of young entrepreneurs like these is through this fantastic fellowship program.”
Started in 2017 with a generous donation from 1 Hotels founder Barry Sternlicht and the Sternlicht Sustainability Fund, the fellowship program is designed to help early career environmentally minded entrepreneurs and community leaders to create and implement unique projects at the intersection of economy and environment.
“The impacts of the climate crisis have never been more visible, and innovative solutions that lift up all communities and address the diverse facets of this crisis are urgently needed,” said Sternlicht. “With this fellowship, we hope to empower young leaders and innovators to pursue ideas that pave the way for long-term solutions that support a healthy planet and thriving economy.”
In addition to support for their projects, fellows also receive mentorship from E2 members across the country and membership in E2’s Emerging Leaders program. For information on past E2 1 Hotels fellows, visit https://www.e2.org/fellows.
2022-2023 E2 1 Hotels Fellows & Their Projects
Autumn Burton – Durham, NC
Create a clean energy justice toolkit that provides evidenced-based alternative policy and business practices that consider and address the environmental justice implications associated with renewable energy.
Maya Whalen-Kipp – Washington, DC
Build opportunity pathways for a diversified next generation of the clean-tech workforce, grounded in equity and climate action.
Sana Mahmood – Chicago, IL
Create a business playbook to inform and motivate hotel and lodging businesses to reduce carbon emissions when planning capital expenditures.
Stefan Johnson – Carbondale, CO
Develop and implement educational outreach to assist ski resorts to rapidly electrify their fleets.
Uriel Lopez – Bronx, NY
Create the Green Jobs Collective (GJC), a virtual resource center that will prioritize matching individuals that are legally authorized to work in the U.S. with clean economy jobs in New York City.
Vivian Tai – New York, NY
Create an interactive map of sustainable farms to enable localized supply chains.. Through democratizing access to sustainable food sources and regenerative farms, communities can be connected and hyper-localization can empower people to eat more locally.
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Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2) is a national, nonpartisan group of business leaders, investors, and professionals from every sector of the economy who advocate for smart policies that are good for the economy and good for the environment. Our members have founded or funded more than 2,500 companies, created more than 600,000 jobs, and manage more than $100 billion in venture and private equity capital. For more information, see www.e2.org or follow us on Twitter at @e2org.
As a luxury lifestyle hotel brand inspired by nature, 1 Hotels cultivates the best of sustainable design and architecture, together with extraordinary comfort and an unrivaled level of service. 1 Hotels, which launched in 2015 with the opening of exclusive properties in Miami’s South beach and Manhattan’s Central Park, followed by Brooklyn, located on the East River, in February 2017, West Hollywood, on Sunset Boulevard, in June 2019, Sanya (China) in 2020 and most recently Toronto is inspired by a simple idea: those that travel the world should also care about it, it is, after all, 1 world. Additional information can be found at 1hotels.com.