Former Congressman and President of Citizens Energy, Joe Kennedy III, visits Southern California to announce donations of EVs funded through SDG&E transmission project

San Diego, Calif., and Boston – Citizens Energy Corporation, a nonprofit organization, and San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E^®) announced the donation of electric vehicles to San Diego Canyonlands and the Neighborhood House Association (NHA). The grants awarded to purchase these vehicles are funded from Citizens Energy Corporation’s profits from its investment in high-voltage transmission lines through a partnership with SDG&E.

“Empowering communities has always been central to our mission at Citizens Energy,” said Joe Kennedy III, President of Citizens Energy. “In California, we saw a unique opportunity to collaborate with SDG&E to strengthen the grid while applying our transmission business’ innovative social and environmental justice model—reinvesting profits back into the communities that support this critical infrastructure and lifting up those in need.”

Citizens’ most recent charitable contribution in California is the latest allocation of its profits from clean energy projects directed toward organizations supporting low-income and marginalized communities in San Diego County.

In addition, SDG&E is supporting San Diego Canyonlands through its Transportation Electrification Advisory Services (TEAS) program to help build the infrastructure needed for charging its fleet.

“We are thrilled to support San Diego Canyonlands and the Neighborhood House Association as they transition their fleets to all electric vehicles,” said Scott Crider, president of SDG&E. “SDG&E’s collaboration with Citizens Energy is a win-win for customers. It enables us to make essential grid improvements that enhance reliability and resiliency while delivering the benefits of electric transportation and cleaner air to the communities we are so privileged to serve.”

At Azalea Park in City Heights, Citizens and SDG&E joined San Diego Canyonlands to unveil four new electric trucks, which will help the organization conduct habitat-friendly wildfire resilience, ecosystem restoration, equitable conservation workforce development, and at-risk and youth engagement programming.

“These new EV vehicles will augment the organization’s capacity to conduct crucial habitat-friendly wildfire resilience and ecosystem restoration within underserved communities of San Diego,” said Clayton Tschudy, Executive Director, San Diego Canyonlands.  “The vehicles will also benefit their equitable Conservation Workforce Development and outreach programming that supports local youth, vulnerable populations, and provides pathways towards purposeful local careers working with nature.”

At Neighborhood House Association’s 41^st Street location, home to NHA’s HeadStart and Homework Center programs among others, Kennedy and members of the SDG&E Community Relations team toured the facility before viewing several of the eight electric vehicles Citizens funded for the organization.

“The Neighborhood House Association serves thousands of children, adults, and seniors each year, and adding energy-efficient vehicles to our fleet has been critical to our operation,” said Rudy Johnson, President and CEO of the Neighborhood House Association. “The vehicles are a needed extension of our ‘Go Green Initiative’, an agency-wide effort to increase efficiency and lower our carbon footprint. We deliver nearly one million meals each year and travel over 90,000 miles annually, providing vital social services to communities that need us most. We are proud to know that, with the addition of electric vehicles, we are doing good for the community and the environment.”

About Citizens Energy Corporation

Citizens Energy Corporation is a Boston-based nonprofit founded in 1979 by former U.S. Congressman Joseph P. Kennedy II. Under his leadership as Chairman, Citizens Energy has compiled a 45-year history of channeling revenue from successful energy ventures in oil, natural gas, electricity trading, energy efficiency and conservation, transmission, wind power, solar arrays, energy storage and microgrids to programs that help the underprivileged.

Citizens Energy owns and operates the largest low-income, community-shared solar project in the country, located in California’s Imperial Valley, as well as the largest program of its kind in Massachusetts, in keeping with its goal to make the renewable energy revolution accessible for all. For more information, visit citizensenergy.com.

###