BlocPower
Donnel Baird's motivation came from deeply personal experience. As a child in Brooklyn, he watched his parents use the oven to heat their apartment—a dangerous, inefficient practice born out of desperation. Years later, while traveling the country with the Obama for America campaign, he saw this same pattern repeated countless times across low-income homes and apartments nationwide. Families were jeopardizing their safety and wasting energy because of outdated, failing infrastructure that nobody seemed willing to fix.
In 2014, Donnel founded BlocPower with a clear mission: modernize buildings in low-income communities and transition them to clean energy sources. Rather than chasing affluent markets where innovative solutions often congregate, he deliberately focused on the communities most overlooked by Silicon Valley startups—the neighborhoods where the need was greatest and the impact could be most transformative.
BlocPower's approach resonated with both capital and civic leadership. The company has raised more than $100 million from Wall Street and Silicon Valley investors, validating both the business model and the social imperative. Through strategic partnerships with cities across the country, BlocPower has scaled its impact, modernizing buildings and creating greener, safer spaces for residents in multiple communities.
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