National Energy Foundation (NEF) Announces New Collaboration with
American Association of Blacks in Energy (AABE)
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH – (October 9, 2023) – As a part of Black Energy Awareness Month, the National Energy Foundation (NEF) is pleased to announce it has recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the American Association of Blacks in Energy (AABE) to further NEF’s mission of cultivating and promoting an energy literate society. In related news, NEF is pleased to announce that AABE’s President and CEO, Ralph Cleveland, joined the NEF Board of Directors last June.
This collaboration will help strengthen NEF’s relationship in communities where our organization is already established, according to Elissa Richards, NEF’s president and CEO. “We greatly appreciate the work that AABE does nationwide in promoting awareness of energy workforce opportunities across all communities, especially those with significantly underserved populations. This partnership will allow NEF and AABE to collaborate and work to make a difference in those communities.”
NEF achieves its energy literacy mission primarily by designing and implementing K-12 materials, programs, and services. Areas of focus for pursuing that mission have been mainly energy efficiency and energy safety programs for both electric and gas utilities, increasing efforts to help educate about the burgeoning area of transportation electrification, and energy career awareness. According to Ms. Richards, the AABE collaboration will help NEF more effectively and inclusively bring these critical messages into a more comprehensive network of students and communities.
Initial targeted efforts for the collaboration include NEF’s promotion of AABE’s nationally prominent scholarship program and AABE’s promotion of opportunities to become NEF Energy Educators within its own network of energy professionals. For more information about the NEF-AABE collaboration, please contact NEF Marketing and Communications Manager Dana Pogar at (303) 217-0062 or [email protected].
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About National Energy Foundation
Organized in 1976, the National Energy Foundation (NEF) is a not-for-profit educational organization headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah. Serving utility partners nationwide, NEF is dedicated to developing, disseminating, and implementing supplementary educational materials and programs focused on energy efficiency, safety, and electric transportation. For more information, visit nef1.org or follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.