Vote for US!!!!

(Photo from http://www.islandcrisis.net)

Nspiregreen LLC is in the running for Washington Post DC Top Tweeps of 2010 in the category is Best Local Business. Veronica is also in the running for Best Local Blogger. Please visit Washington Post and vote for us.

Best Local Business: nspiregreenllc (Company twitter name)
Best Local Blogger: DizzyLuv25 (Veronica's twitter name)

Voting is open until December 31, 2010 at 11:59 PM. Only one vote per person.

Our new office digs

Nspiregreen LLC is excited to be moving to The HIVE (Home of Innovators/Visionaries/Entrepreneurs) located in the Historic Anacostia Neighborhood of Southeast, DC. The HIVE hosted a grand opening on December 14, 2010. We posted photos from the event on our Facebook Page.

The HIVE is a new wave of sustainable office space popping up in DC. The HIVE features 4 private offices, 6 private desks for use by one company or to be shared by two companies, a lounge for affiliate members to use at their leisure, and two conference rooms. There is a receptionist who is a shared resource between all companies.

The great thing about our new office is we have several public transportation options, including a Captial Bikeshare station less than a block away. In addition, we will be in a Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) as defined by the Small Business Administration.

Our new address is:

2027 MLK Jr Ave SE, Suite 102,
Washington, DC 20020
Phone: (202) 450-5267 [after January 1, 2011]

We are moving!!!!

In January 1, 2011 we are moving to The HIVE (Home of Innovators/Visionaries/Entrepreneurs) located in the Historic Anacostia Neighborhood of Southeast, DC.

Come check out our office at The Hive Grand Opening and Holiday Party!

Tuesday, December 14 from
05:00 PM to 8:00 PM
2027 MLK Jr Ave, SE
Washington, DC 20020

Host: ARCH Development Corporation, DHCD, River East Emerging Leaders, and Eat Shop Live Anacostia

Updated Capabilities Statement

Want to learn more about who we are and what we do? Check out our updated capabilities statement. It outlines our services, experience, and the resumes of our partners. Please feel free to share with your friends!!!

Nspiregreen has a lot to be thankful for this holiday

Nspiregreen received word on Friday that we are officially certified as a Disadvantaged Business Enterprise with the District of Columbia Department of Transportation and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA). These certifications were extremely important as we have a contract pending that required certification. We have a lot to celebrate this Thanksgiving!!!

We are also a certified Women-Owned Business Enterprise by the US Women's Chamber of Commerce and a Small/Local Business Enterprise by WMATA.

Happy Entrepreneur's Day

Nspiregreen would like to wish all fellow business owners a Happy Entrepreneur's Day. People often ask us why we quit our great paying jobs with benefits to start our own company. Nspiregreen wasn't something we cooked up over night. This is something we've been thinking about since the first day we met.

In 2002, we were roommates at a leadership conference for the National Society of Black Engineers. At the time Veronica was in graduate school working on her thesis exploring environmental inequity in DC. Chancee was an undergrad and had a strong interest in brownfield redevelopment. Within ten minutes of meeting each other we developed the concept that we were going to combine our engineering degrees with our community organizing backgrounds and create an engineering company that specializes in public involvement.


Fast forward to April 2009, we read "Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill. That book was the catalyst taking our dream and making it a reality. In June of 2009, we had a pow-wow at Chancee's house to develop a mission, vision, core values, and begin fleshing out the framework for the business. In January 2010, we stepped out on faith to devote ourselves full-time to bringing our vision of "facilitating the empowerment and transformation of every community on the planet."

We believe we are destined to be a global leader in the sustainability movement.

Here are some quotes that Nspire us:
"Faith is taking the first step, even when you don't see the whole staircase." - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr

"Don't let people who are living their nightmare tell you that you can't live your dream" - Unknown

"There's no sense in blaming the mountain for being too high. Instead, find a way to climb it." - Ralph Marston

"No man ever achieved worth-while success who did not, at one time or other, find himself with at least one foot hanging well over the brink of failure."
Napoleon Hill

The green revolution will be tweeted

On Monday November 8, 2010, I attended "Local Solutions to a Global Challenge" presented by the Humanities Council of Washington, DC. The panelist include Ward 6 Councilmember Tommy Wells, Rhon Hayes of GreenDMV and Cynthia Hartley of the Capitol Hill Energy Co-op.

The panelist addressed sustainability initiatives in DC such as the implementation of the DC Bag Tax (5 cent tax on plastic bags), Capital Bikeshare program (borrow a bike for a nominal annual fee), urban agriculture projects that provide food to the DC Central Kitchen and public schools, and city-wide green building program. Mr Hayes mentioned GreenDMVs weatherization programs as a means to achieve sustainability by meeting energy reduction goals, while creating living wages jobs that increase the economic tax base.


Ms. Hartley describes sustainability as building communities through cooperative living. She provided an example of sharing food from her garden with her neighbor. He gives her vegetables from his garden and she gives him fresh herbs from her garden. Capital Hill Energy Co-op is another example of a community coming together to address renewable energy.



Councilmember Wells described sustainability as 5-minute living. The essence of 5-minute living is that people should be able get to things they need in 5-minutes or be able to access public transportation within 5-minutes. Our built environment should support this lifestyle choice.

All the panelist emphasized the green culture is growing in DC because of dedicated individuals working to make a difference. While DC is still in its infancy in the green movement, we still have the potential to be a leader. Councilmember Wells suggested that we have to continue to push the green agenda using social media. For example, he says the DC Councilmembers regularly read blogs and tweets related to legislative issues while on the dais.

I live tweeted the event from @NspiregreenLLC #WorldHouseSeries.

Written by Veronica
(Photos Courtesy of Humanities Council of Washington, DC)