We are excited to announce that the Social Equity Pilot Credits received the most likes, shares, and comments and has been named this year's USGBC Malcolm Lewis Volunteer IMPACT! Award winner. The Social Equity Pilot Credits will be recognized at the Leadership Awards Luncheon at Greenbuild this week.

Over 15% of Americans live in poverty. One of our most effective tools to address inequities in the building world is through LEED. Nine volunteers—Susan Kaplan, Joel Todd, Heather Rosenberg, Heather Joy, Brad Guy, Lance Hosey, Raphael Sperry, Shawn Hesse, Max Zahniser, and Sara O’Mara—dedicated more than 250 volunteer hours to develop three LEED pilot credits addressing social equity in the built environment.

The three pilot credits are:

The social equity in the project team pilot credit outlines strategies to positively affect the people connected directly with the building.
The social equity in the community pilot credit rewards project teams for identifying and responding to inequities faced by people of the local community.
The social equity in the supply chain pilot credit encourages project teams to use materials from suppliers or manufacturers that ensure basic human rights for their workers.

The USGBC Malcolm Lewis Volunteer IMPACT! Award recognizes a high-impact, volunteer-driven project or initiative. This award honors Malcolm Lewis, Ph.D., the founder of Constructive Technologies Group, who served on USGBC’s board and chaired its Technical and Scientific Advisory Committee. Drawn to high performance buildings in the early 1970s, Malcolm spent the next 30 years engaged in making an impact in the green building movement.

This year we had six impactful nominations, and each received numerous likes, shares, and comments. Additionally, in 2013 alone, over 540,000 volunteer hours were given across the USGBC Community by a diverse group of people who are dedicated to green building and communities for all within a generation.

We are so excited to recognize and highlight the great work of our volunteer community!

Announcing the 2014 USGBC Malcolm Lewis Volunteer IMPACT! Award winner