Building Urban Resilience by Integrating Community-based Power Supplies
Ruda Pollard
2022-2023 | City of New Orleans - Office of Economic Development
RUDA POLLARD has experiences in public and private sectors from the U.S. Legislature to neighborhood associations and has focused on implementing and replicating innovative solutions. Most recently as Senior Community Marketing Manager for PosiGen Solar, Ruda lead a team of impassioned community ambassadors for residential solar across the South and Northeast U.S. Among his commitments to service are his previous experiences as the Civic Engagement Senor Corps Member for City Year Little Rock/North Little Rock, co-founder of a Black Men’s professional network in the U.S. Senate; The Brooke-Revels Society, and his service to the Urban League of Louisiana’s Young Professionals as Parliamentarian. Ruda has earned a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and an International Management MBA from Brighton University, England and all’Università degli Studi di Torino – SAA, Italy.
Project
New Orleans faces immense challenges in the wake of hurricanes and their aftermath that have been exacerbated by power outages and electric grid failures – most recently highlighted in August/September of 2021 when Hurricane Ida knocked out all eight transmission lines into the city. To enhance the resilience of its power grid infrastructure and improve the overall resilience of its community, New Orleans will partner with FUSE for one year to support the implementation of a pilot of microgrids, community resilience nodes, in areas of the city with a large number of infrastructure services.