White House Author

Michele Clark has been the director of the Youth Employment Partnership (YEP)—a high performing job-training organization in Oakland, California, with consistently successful outcomes—for the last 24 years. An effective strategy of Michele’s is the creation of living classrooms; teens learn skills by building houses in the neighborhood, operating airport cafes, and renovating YEP’s facility. Most recently, Michele has partnered with Mosaic to bring solar energy to YEP, creating a new living classroom that provides solar education and exposure to hundreds of teens annually. Mosaic’s crowdfunding model provided the opportunity for YEP to engage the community in the production of clean energy and promote the green education of Oakland’s youth. Since the implementation of this successful pilot, Michele is excited about crowdfunding’s growing potential in community change.