Realizing Houston’s Climate Action Plan

On Earth Day this year, the City of Houston published its first Climate Action Plan. The plan is the culmination of thousands of volunteer time from industry professionals, policy stakeholders, and community advocates. Together the working groups have laid out a concise plan to address the climate challenges that Houston faces along with maintaining a leadership role in the energy transition.

This year’s Climathon will look to realize some of the goals of the plan through design sprints led by local subject matter experts in the areas of Transportation, Energy Innovation, Building Optimization, and Materials Management.

Join us as we share some of the most interesting ideas to emerge from Climathon Houston 2020, and announce the winning solutions that will go on to the Climathon Global Awards!

Featured Challenges

Transportation

#1 – This Challenge will be led by the team at EVolve Houston. EVolve Houston has set short- and long-term targets to increase the awareness, affordability, and availability of electrified transportation in the Greater Houston area. The Electric Vehicle Roadmap, developed in collaboration with over 40 stakeholders, sets forth the goal for 30% of new car sales to be EV by the year 2030.

Energy Transition

#1 – Make Houston the leader in carbon capture technology and energy innovation.

#2 – Restore, protect, and enhance Houston’s natural ability to capture and store carbon.

Building Optimization

#1 – Reduce building energy use and maximize savings.

#2 – Expand investment in energy efficiency.

Materials Management

#1 – Reduce waste and transform the circular economy.

#2 – Optimize waste operations and create power from waste.

Thank you to our sponsors:

Sponsor this year’s Climathon: https://www.betterunite.com/impacthubhouston-climathonhouston2020sponsorship

… Or be a part of next year’s Climathon! Contact Impact Hub Houston to explore how we can collaborate on #ClimateAction!

Entrepreneurs, Investors, Innovators & Changemakers: Join us for more #THIS2020 Events! See the full calendar of 35+ *virtual* talks, panels, hackathons and more at https://thehoustonimpactsummit.com/

Help promote and expand inclusivity and equity across Houston’s entrepreneurial ecosystem: Sponsor THIS today! > https://www.betterunite.com/impacthubhouston-this2020sponsorship

Case studies, examples, role models…we often learn better from seeing what others have done, how they responded to setbacks, and how they improved their outcomes.

Join us as we kick off “Feedback Fridays” on the last day of The Houston Innovation/Impact Summit, evolving our Founders Forum to include and invite all who are working on communicating their value propositions to present their offers and get advice from local experts on how to improve their pitches.

Featured Startups

Zently Workplace www.zentlyworkplace.com

We believe that when we as humans feel better we create better. Zently workplace is changing the way feel and work to create better daily routines, to create better connection in and out of the workplace, and to create better ideas through mindfulness-based leadership tools and social impact driven engagement. We believe the practice of getting present enhances positivity, productivity, and community in the workplace empowering innovation and creating leaders driving impactful change! Presence Empowers Innovation

Our new app allows the mindful leadership tools and program to be easily accessed and integrated into daily life while creating an opportunity for corporate social impact. As the employee engages more with the content on a daily basis the more money is earned towards chosen charities. Feel good, do good, and create good!

Just Add Beats www.justaddbeats.com

At Just Add Beats, we help kids in historically underserved and overlooked communities in grades 2-12 build important 21st-Century Skills like collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking through our project-based learning after school programs and internships in beat making, podcasting, and sound design. Our goal is to build the next generation of collaborative and resilient creatives.

AmazingBond www.amazing-bond.com

Amazing Bond is changing what it means to be a senior needing care and what it means to be a caregiver to those seniors. We deliver proven results every time, providing therapeutic art, breathing techniques, tai chi and chair yoga classes for seniors, leaving them feeling better. Amazing Bond teaches self-care practices and gentle yoga that replenishes the energy and vitality of caregivers, giving them the support they need, leaving them better able to care for themselves and their seniors. Amazing Bond has partnered with the Alzheimer’s Foundation, YMCA and Silver Sneakers, Dementia Houston and Enactus UH. In 2020, when Covid-19 hit, Amazing Bond’s programs were paused so we pivoted, creating online services for seniors and caregivers. We created Senior Connect, a project that has volunteers connect weekly with seniors who are isolated. The University of Houston’s business group Enactus chose Senior Connect as their fall semester project and the program is a success, leaving both seniors and volunteers fulfilled and giving them all rich conversations to look forward to each week.

Trendy Seconds www.trendyseconds.com/

Trendy Seconds is a website that aggregates the secondhand clothing space, where you can browse curated results according to your preferences, mix & match pieces, get recommendations to complete your look and pay for everything in one transaction.

Guest Mentor

Brandry Guidry (Board Member, Impact Hub Houston)

Brandy Guidry is an entrepreneur, STEAM advocate, and consultant. As an independent consultant, she supports startups, established businesses, investment and private equity firms, and non-profits. Her consultant services assist with Product Lifecycle, pivot, and growth opportunities. Brandy is a fourth-generation female business owner who comes from a long line of entrepreneurs. Her consulting industry experience includes education, NDT, SaaS, energy, chemical, consumer products, IoT, food and restaurant, and retail. Prior to consulting, she held multiple leadership roles within Engineering and Business Operations for the Department of Defense and GE. She has led and/or assisted in the development of over 100 products and driven annual P&L savings between $18.5-45 M. In addition, Brandy has been featured in Worldwide Who’s Who Branding, Women of Distinction, Madame Noire, Rigzone, and First Colony Neighbors.

*If you would like to be a future presenter and get expert feedback on your pitch, please let us know!*

Entrepreneurs, Investors, Innovators & Changemakers: Join us for more #THIS2020 Events! See the full calendar of 35+ *virtual* talks, panels, hackathons and more at https://thehoustonimpactsummit.com/

Help promote and expand inclusivity and equity across Houston’s entrepreneurial ecosystem: Sponsor THIS today! > https://www.betterunite.com/impacthubhouston-this2020sponsorship

Entrepreneurs have to juggle multiple responsibilities successfully in order to grow their businesses. For those who are stronger at developing their products/services than doing their books, here’s your chance to learn from Danelia Argueta of Cy-Fair Federal Credit Union how to establish good financial practices and improve your personal creditworthiness in order to build a bankable business.

About 82% of businesses that fail are due to financial problems. That is why companies, no matter their size, sooner or later need loans to be able to continue developing projects effectively and scale their business. Set your business from the start with a strong financial foundation so you can be prepared for future growth.

In this workshop you will learn:

• How personal credit impacts your lending options
• Tips to help you establish and grow your creditworthiness
• Key financial reports you need to understand and have available
• Loan options offered and the requirements to obtain a loan

Cy-Fair Federal Credit Union aims to be the key partner on your financial journey. Learn more at https://www.cyfairfcu.org/

On November 28th, 1956, ten local educators founded Cy-Fair Federal Credit Union with a vision for a better way to bank. Since then, we’ve grown into a leading not-for-profit, member-owned financial institution on the strength of our mission and vision to strengthen the community. Today, membership is open to individuals who either live, work, worship or go to school in Harris County or parts of Waller County, as well as to anyone who has immediate family who are currently members of Cy-Fair FCU.

Entrepreneurs, Investors, Innovators & Changemakers: Join us for more #THIS2020 Events! See the full calendar of 35+ *virtual* talks, panels, hackathons and more at https://thehoustonimpactsummit.com/

Help promote and expand inclusivity and equity across Houston’s entrepreneurial ecosystem: Sponsor THIS today! > https://www.betterunite.com/impacthubhouston-this2020sponsorship

“Black business ownership, more so than even education, is a tangible pathway for African Americans to achieve economic parity and close the racial wealth gap.”

– Tiffany Howard, UNLV political science professor and recent Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF) senior research fellow

While business ownership may be a promising path to generational wealth creation for black entrepreneurs, the Kauffman Foundation reports that black entrepreneurs are almost three times as likely as whites to have their profitability hurt by lack of access to capital, and more than twice as likely to be negatively impacted by the *cost* of capital. So how do we ensure that opportunity and support for their financial equity, is equitable itself?

Black entrepreneurs in Houston have been launching new ventures to address these challenges with a systemic approach. Join us to learn from founders Kiley Summers, Phillip Yates, and Tiffany Williams about their startups, the problems they’re working to solve, and how they plan to grow their initiatives and scale their impact for under-represented and underserved entrepreneurs. Who knows: They may inspire you to start your own solutions for equity!

Guest Speakers:

Tiffany L. Williams

Kiley Summers

Attorney Phillip J. Yates

Entrepreneurs, Investors, Innovators & Changemakers: Join us for more #THIS2020 Events! See the full calendar of 35+ *virtual* talks, panels, hackathons and more at https://thehoustonimpactsummit.com/

Help promote and expand inclusivity and equity across Houston’s entrepreneurial ecosystem: Sponsor THIS today! > https://www.betterunite.com/impacthubhouston-this2020sponsorship