Rebuilding Together Philadelphia and Popular Mechanics encourage low-income neighborhoods to “go green.”

Rebuilding Together Philadelphia, an affiliate of the nation’s leading nonprofit working to preserve affordable homeownership, has partnered with Popular Mechanics to create and complete a project that will encourage an entire low-income neighborhood to "go green."

Popular Mechanics, a nationwide DIY magazine with over 8.8 million active readers, has funded energy-efficient modifications for 22 homes scheduled to receive work on the unit block of Garfield Street in Germantown. The energy-efficient upgrades delivered in the homes will impact the entire community and assist direction of the green revolution to low-income neighborhoods, where energy-efficient modifications and upgrades can have the most direct impact to the homeowners.

The "Go Green" project is scheduled for June 5 and consists of an entire volunteer day of over 60 volunteers from Popular Mechanics and other organizations, local community leaders, and executives from both Rebuilding Together and Popular Mechanics. The comprehensive workscope for the day includes, but is not limited to: creation of a community garden, installation of energy efficient lighting to several homes, new insulation, caulking windows and doors, installing programmable thermostats and delivering tutorials, and the rebuild of the front porch of a home and a bathroom of a home to be more energy efficient.

"This environment-centric project is intended to not only create direct impact for all the homeowners, but also initiate a movement in the entire community to become more educated on the benefits of green practices and preserve the affordability and integrity of their housing stock in the long-term," said Carrie Rathmann, Executive Director of Rebuilding Together Philadelphia. "With the incredible help and generous funding by Popular Mechanics, we will deliver critical home modifications while simultaneously giving homeowners the incredible value of lower utility and operational costs in their home."