Alaina Kuhlman

Email: alaina.kuhlman@lcri.org
Title: Renewable Energy Coordinator
Organization: Lake County Resources Initiative
Community: Lakeview, OR/Lake County
Population: 2,559 (Lakeview, OR); 8,276 (Lake County)
County Served: Lake County

Meet Alaina Kuhlman (she/her):

Alaina Kuhlman is a graduate of Northland College in Ashland, Wisconsin. At Northland College she obtained a B.A. in Sustainable Community Development and a minor in Climate Science. Alaina has experience in community development and sustainability and is looking forward to applying these areas of expertise in her new position. She is also very passionate about volunteering and has assisted in human trafficking efforts through volunteer work at an organization out of Minneapolis, Minnesota called Breaking Free for the last 10+ years. In her free time she enjoys exploring the great outdoors, cooking delicious meals, and spending time with her cat, Radical. After the completion of her RARE service year, Alaina plans to attend the University of Oregon (Go Ducks!) to obtain a master’s degree in Nonprofit Management.

Community and Organization:

Lake County Resources Initiative primarily serves Lake County, but also works with businesses and agricultural producers throughout the whole state. Lake County was established as a county in 1974 (two years before Lakeview was established as a town) and was named after the vast number of lakes that once stood in the boundary of it. Since then, many of those lakes have dried up. Lake County covers over 8,000 square miles and the economies it relies most on include agriculture, timber, and livestock. Lake County Resources Initiative is all about bringing Lake County economic and environmental prosperity through working with local businesses and agricultural producers to provide them with the tools and knowledge necessary to make energy efficiency and renewable energy upgrades. Through the University of Oregon and USDA, LCRI is able to provide Alaina with the opportunity to assist these businesses and producers with technical assistance to apply for the REDA (Renewable Energy Development Assistance) grant to help fund their energy projects. Lake County Resources Initiative does much more than just provide grant assistance. They also play a role in monitoring local forest and grasslands and even provide home energy assessments on the residential level.

Project:

Alaina is assisting rural small businesses and agricultural producers in applying for funding from the USDA Renewable Energy Development Assistance. She plays a part in most all of the steps in the process, beginning with intake. Intake involves sitting down with an interested party and finding out what their energy needs are/will be, what their business is like, what their ideas about potential systems they would like to change or implement are, and starting to figure out what the first steps they need to take in order to best qualify for the REDA program are. Usually this includes an energy audit or assessment, which Alaina does not play a direct role in. Once the party has completed an audit or assessment, they must then find a contractor willing to get their hands dirty and get the project started, worked on, and completed. Alaina’s role in this step is collecting and organizing important documents along the way that can help support the party in receiving grant funding through REDA. Alaina also assists with compiling these documents into an application for the party to then submit. Grant funding through the REDA program is competitive and applicants have 2 options of deadlines they must apply by, so it is extremely important that she stay organized and on top of things, as well as ensure that the applicant and their builders and contractors are also sending and completing aspects of the application process in a timely manner.