News > These are the champions: SUN helps community leaders build an energy system that benefits everyone

These are the champions: SUN helps community leaders build an energy system that benefits everyone

• Energy democracy & policy

November 5, 2026

Solar United Neighbors (SUN) is on a mission to build a better energy system — one that is clean, affordable, and equitable. By focusing on distributed solutions to our energy challenges, we are directing control back to local communities and democratizing who can participate in and benefit from the clean energy transition. 

To amplify this work, SUN developed a free, hands-on, state-based training initiative, our Energy Champions Program, which empowers people, organizations, and communities to fight for their energy rights. The program brings together a cohort of 10 to 20 participants that is tailored to each state’s unique energy landscape. It builds a shared understanding of energy democracy and strengthens the capacity of nonprofit staff, community-based organizations, and community leaders to advance a just and equitable energy transition. 

We launched the program through two cohorts of energy champions in New York. We have since expanded to Ohio, Massachusetts, and are looking to further expand the program. We designed the program so that it can easily be tailored to a state’s unique energy context, while still achieving the same goal of building knowledge and empowerment among participants. 

“We need more people thinking about how we can make energy accessible, affordable. This program helps people connect the dots between their work and the energy system.”

— Diana Eddowes, SUN’s Director of Community Access.

Power in Partnership 

The course contains five modules over the course of six weeks. Participants left with a deeper, intersectional understanding of just transition principles and the skills needed to be effective advocates for it. 

“I appreciated all of the resources that were available that were there to compliment each of the sessions,” said Rhea Quiñones, who participated in the New York program.

Designed as a train-the-trainer model, the program sparks a growing network of energy champions across the country. It closed by helping participants create actionable plans to implement their learnings. “The program introduced us to different types of clean energy projects happening across New York State,” Quiñones said. “I was able to think more broadly about where I could find projects, and develop curiosity about who was doing what, battery storage, energy auditing, solar, etc.”

Putting what they learned into practice

Participants in the New York and Massachusetts programs received a microgrant to build on what they learned. Emily Mauro of Mid-Hudson Energy Transition used the grant to expand the organization’s reach into the Black community in the Hudson Valley. As a result, they were able to add three new members to their community council. Bradley Towle from the Cornell Cooperative Extension used the funding as a bridge to support local residents who depend on fuel for home heating. 

“If someone has delivered fuel, they can’t get it delivered if they still owe on last delivery,” Towle said. “Say you had a delivery in April, and now it’s October and you start to need it for the next few months. The idea was to give them support to get their fuel started again.” This support was particularly timely given a government shutdown temporarily cut off federal home heating assistance.

By training participants to view their own work through the lens of energy democracy, SUN is strengthening the clean energy movement. By establishing partners in energy-adjacent sectors, such as housing and environment, we create more diverse coalitions to join us in advocating for stronger solar policy. Through our Energy Champions curriculum, we are cultivating a new network of community leaders prepared to fight for a just and equitable energy system.