Newcomers get a firsthand experience behind the wheel of electric vehicles

Empower Me^® , Canada’s only energy conservation and behaviour change program designed for and delivered by members of diverse, multicultural and multilingual communities held a series of workshops recently with Tesla Edmonton. Empower Me’s award-winning, community-based delivery model overcomes language and trust barriers by connecting to the community through a peer-based program where communities are centered in both the design and delivery of the workshops.

Since 2019 Empower Me has delivered over 295 workshops supporting nearly 4,400 newcomer and immigrant Albertans to understand electric vehicles, how to read and understand energy bills, how homes use energy and how to reduce bills through behaviour changes, small upgrades and larger home retrofits.

In July of this year, one of these workshops was delivered in partnership with Tesla Edmonton at the Edmonton Mennonite Centre for Newcomers (EMCN) at 82nd Street. Workshop participants and Centre staff were thrilled to experience both classroom content with Empower Me and get a hands-on experience with Tesla who introduced their vehicles to participants and offered test drives for those who were interested. Participants had many questions for the Tesla team and the Empower Me staff was on hand to answer questions in multiple languages when needed.

This exciting in-person event marked a wonderful moment for Empower Me after two years of offering workshops online due to the pandemic. The workshop preceded the highly successful Electric and Hydrogen Vehicle Expo that occurred in September.

Empower Me is a community based, grassroots organization that strives to ensure newcomers and immigrants are included in climate programming. Thanks to the City of Edmonton, Natural Resources Canada, Tesla Edmonton, and the dedicated team of community members and partners, Empower Me was pleased to support and encourage the adoption of electric vehicles within our communities.