About us and our 1house at a time^TM program

A Nurtured World

A Nurtured World, Inc. was founded in 1997 in Austin, Texas as a research and educational not-for- profit to develop programs which make the connections between the environment, our health, satisfaction, and finances. We are dedicated to a global change in the way people think about the environmental impact of their day-to-day activities - at home and in the workplace. We help people live environmentally sustainable, financially successful, and satisfying lives. Our work is unique in that we provide motivation and education for people of all backgrounds. Click here for more information.

The 1house at a time^TMprogram

In 2007, Mike Frisch founded 1house at a time to provide home efficiency work events and Effie Brunson founded Rays of Hope to provide solar installations for low-income homeowners.  They decided to combine forces and merge both into one comprehensive program under A Nurtured World.  A Nurtured World launched the 1house at time™ program to further advance our educational efforts and committment to social service in a way that empowers communities to help vulnerable populations while also making measurable changes in their own lives to reduce their environmental footprint, save money, and improve their quality of life. 

The program is focused on low-income homeowners to help them meet their basic needs by providing home utility retrofits. In 2008, the program was expanded to include installation of solar photovoltaic systems and renewable energy technologies.  Our goals is to reduce their utility bills by 20-70% depending on the type of retrofit.  By using volunteer labor and in-kind donations to support the events, we increase the impact of the program while reducing costs. In addition, we have designed the events so that volunteers can complete their service in less than one day of time commitment.  Not only do the volunteers have the opportunity to make a difference for the homeowner, but they also commit to and implement changes in their own lives that result in environmental footprint reduction because of their participation in our work events.

How do we find homes?

We find our homes through partnering with other not-for-profits or local governments who already provide services to low-income homeowners.  In Austin, Texas, our current model for identifying homeowners is through a unique partnership with Meals on Wheels and More of Austin, which provides us with a list of their clients who we interview to determine if they qualify for our program. By partnering with organizations who share similar missions, we ensure that we do not replicate the many existing, successful client intake programs that government and not-for-profit housing repair service providers offer.

Rosie Linda, a disabled homeowner who recently achieved approximately a 10% reduction in energy and water use through our retrofits and education said that:

"It used to be so hot in here.  It’s a lot cooler. Everything is cool."

The 1house at a time^TM program was able to help this homeowner achieve greater comfort and quality of life, while at the same time reducing energy and water use. We installed two high efficiency window AC units, a high efficiency washer, a high efficiency refrigerator, compact fluorescent bulbs and rain barrels and also educated Rosie in the use of these technologies.

Meals on Wheels and More Austin Chief Executive Officer Dan Pruett, has embraced this program for the enhancement of quality of life reported by his clients, and recently shared with us that these types of improvements can actually save lives, as heat exposure can be a serious risk for the elderly.

Please review our portfolio of some of the families we have helped through this effort.

How do we know it’s working?

A Nurtured World measures the environmental results of all our programs using measurement methods that have been approved in our Quality Assurance Plan by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) for both the homeowners and volunteers.  To obtain our reductions, we use innovative behavior change techniques that we have developed to drive actions at home and at work with our volunteer base and homeowners.  A recent evaluation of results from our pilot program in Austin, Texas shows that homeowners have reduced their utilities by 20% on average and the volunteers have saved approximately $1,000 per year per person and reduced their carbon footprint by 1 ton per year per person.  Based on that data, we have refined our education elements and set our goal for FY2010 events to yield a 30% reduction in homeowner utilities and $2K cost savings and 2 ton/year carbon footprint reduction for our volunteers.

Download a one-page brochure that summarizes our program (Austin, Texas version).

Contact Us for more information