About Possible Rochester

What is Possible Rochester?

Possible Rochester is an initiative of Possible Planet. a 501(c)(3) nonprofit focused on clean energy, resiliency, and ecosystem restoration using Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE).

Our ultimate goal is the reinvention of our culture, our communities, and our global civilization as ecologically regenerative, socially equitable, and economically prosperous within our planetary boundaries. “Regenerative Finance” is an integral and essential element of this, since we need to invest our financial capital in a way that transforms our economy into one that supports all of life.

Our purpose in establishing this site is to explore the possibility of a sustainable Rochester, a regenerative Rochester, and a socially and racially equitable Rochester, as a model for other communities. It is one of our special places, one that we increasingly call “home,” though we’re still newcomers to the area, in more senses than one.

We are here on the unceded territory of the Haudenosaunee. We acknowledge and honor the traditional stewards of this land, the Seneca, original members of the Five Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, who themselves recognized the prior existence of a people called the “Mound-Builders.”

The history of this place is fascinating but also disturbing; sometimes instructive, often inspiring, and equally often dismaying. We celebrate its champions of liberty for African Americans, equality for women, people of color, and LGBTQ, and progressive ideas and actions. What we have to offer are tools and resources, and what we seek is trust, understanding, and collaboration.

Community PACE

We call our approach Community PACE as well as Commercial PACE (C-PACE), to emphasize our commitment to leveraging Commercial PACE for community benefit.

Possible Planet was originally incorporated in 2013 as the Center for Regenerative Community Solutions. We are currently active in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, offering Regenerative Financing to:

  • Commercial
  • Industrial
  • Multifamily (5+ units)
  • Agricultural
  • Institutional
  • Nonprofit

properties.

In neighborhoods and communities, we seek to provide Sustainable Local Economic Development Strategies (SLEDS), especially in underserved areas, by leveraging clean energy and other forms of regenerative financing.

 

 

 

Possible Rochester is also:

  • A “What’s Happening” in Community PACE and community empowerment in Rochester
  • A membership site for residents, supporters, sponsors, and partners

 

If you’d like to contribute to our work in Rochester, please contact us.

 
To meet our team members, see Who We Are.

The Backstory

Our long-term purpose is to facilitate the transition from a degenerative, fossil-fuel, chemical-based, and resource-intensive economy, to a regenerative, renewable, nature-based, and resource-efficient one.

We do this through partnerships with local nonprofits, capital providers, municipal leaders, businesses, and residents who recognize that our society is currently undergoing a profound transformation as a result of converging crises—climate change, biodiversity loss, the pandemic, and financial turmoil affecting tens of millions—and appreciate that it is up to us to build an alternative future.

In the midst of the chaos in health care, education, and the economy, we provide the two most important elements for community transformation: possibility, and the access to capital and other resources needed to realize that possibility.

 

Choosing a Regenerative Future

Here’s our Guiding Framework: The world is a living system that sustains itself—and sustains us—by recirculating nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon in the air, water in the rivers and oceans and hydrological cycles, and living organisms in the soil, supporting the profusion of life. It takes a moment to grasp the truth that life creates the conditions for life. But the biosphere, the web of life that exists within that thin layer of earth, water, and air, has been severely damaged, and that damage continues. 
 
Most people understand more or less intuitively that we need to change course, but need help thinking through the issues, working through the challenges, and seizing the opportunities for action.
 
The Paradigm Shift: The framework we generally operate in typically determines our outcomes.
 
We operate from a regenerative perspective vs. a degenerative, scarcity-based, extractive, and declining economy.
 

Here’s the best diagram we’ve seen so far that shows how “regenerative” goes beyond “sustainable.”

“Regenerative” means a lot more than just “sustainable.” (Source: Regenesis Group)

Possible Rochester is also the first stop on our proposed Road Trip for a Possible Planet, to engage with communities, share solutions, and plan for a different future. Our goal is to finance what’s actually needed in each community to become more regenerative and hence not only more sustainable, but also and as importantly capable of expanding its regenerative capacity, and helping others along the same path.

And over time we will be writing and compiling materials for an even more ambitious project, our Road Map to a Possible Future. Stay tuned.

Now, back to our main topics…

 

Step up to PACE

 

Want to see your logo here? Join our founding partners and sponsors:

©  2024 Possible Rochester Community. 
USING CAPITAL AND INNOVATION TO REGENERATE COMMUNITIES
Our mission is to promote education, consulting, and financing for community resilience and regeneration.
We are an independent nonprofit originator of clean energy and ecosystem restoration projects
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