Today, his leadership is perhaps most apparent through WE ACT’s green workforce program, the Green Institute. Callaway says people affected by environmental ills should reap the benefits that a green economy brings, including well-paying and lasting jobs. Otherwise, “what good is it?” he asks.

WE ACT’s Green Institute has trained more than 800 unemployed or underemployed northern Manhattan residents for careers in the construction industry. Students obtain certificates for OSHA, energy efficiency, solar photovoltaic installation, asbestos removal and flagging and scaffolding. Of the Green Institute’s four focus areas (solar, offshore wind, electric vehicles and building electrification), solar is where they’ve made headway, Callaway says, with the rest on the horizon. Since 2016, he has worked with nonprofits Solar One and the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board to organize a buyer’s group of low-income co-op houses that would make purchasing affordable rooftop solar systems possible. His leadership included grassroots efforts such as driving through Harlem to post flyers and conducting workshops. Callaway “would energize the whole room about how we can use solar to make Harlem a leader in the clean energy transition,” says Anika Wistar-Jones, director of Solar One’s Affordable Solar program.

Callaway is “relentlessly committed to his team of worker-owners and making sure they get paid good wages to do good work,” says Wistar-Jones. “Where other people might lament the lack of good job opportunities for workforce trainees, Charles sees the problem and thinks, ‘What needs to happen for this to change?’”

Callaway hopes the worker solar co-op becomes a fully sustainable business and completes solar projects in neighborhoods that need it most. “In disadvantaged communities there are usually the worst built environments possible,” he says. “Our goal is to actually build our own community back up.”

All ENR 2023 Top 25 Newsmakers will be honored at the Award of Excellence Gala on April 11 in New York City.