Verde Energy will offer training in solar panel installation.

Two Portland-based activists were awarded fellowships in November backing their work to culturally diversify environmental efforts in the city, including a project to train low-income and minority residents for energy-sector jobs.

Marcelo Bonta and Tony DeFalco were among 40 recipients of TogetherGreen Conservation Leadership Program fellowships. Part of a joint initiative between the National Audubon Society and Toyota (NYSE: TM), the fellowships provide training in project planning, execution, outreach and evaluation. Each fellow also received $10,000 for projects aimed at getting community members involved in conservation.

DeFalco plans to partner with Verde, a Portland-based environmental justice organization focused on bringing the economic benefits of the sustainable economy to low-income and people-of-color communities. Through a new program called Verde Energy, DeFalco plans to train low-income Latinos and Native Americans in Portland for sustainable-energy-sector jobs, such as solar panel installation and building retrofitting.

Bonta, who is the founder and director for the Center for Diversity and the Environment, plans to create a dialogue series called Diversifying the Environmental Movement. It will address the cultural divide in the conservation movement and explore ways to inject cultural diversity into sustainability efforts in Portland.

Lack of diversity is a major challenge facing the environmental movement, according to Bonta, adding that the issue must be tackled if sustainability efforts are to be influential in the long term.