buses

When the Cartwright School District purchased the first 84-seat electric school bus in Arizona, it was a satisfying day for moms like Erika Cortez, who spent months volunteering time to make that dream a reality. “It was very exciting to be part of this first electric school bus in our district,” said Cortez, who, along with her eldest daughter, logged hundreds of phone calls in 2020 to help pass a school bond that would fund some of the infrastructure needed for the electric school bus. Other organizers knocked on doors and put up flyers, and Cortez gave presentations to parents explaining the dangers of air pollution — particularly how it impacted the Phoenix neighborhood of Maryvale, where Cortez lived before relocating. Cortez, a mother of four, had been working with Chispa — the Lat...

My nonprofit converts buses into fully functioning, attractive 240-square-foot tiny houses on wheels for homeless children and their parents. The rains came down sideways. We had one hour to get our first new “skoolie”—a school bus converted into a tiny house on wheels—out of the construction yard and into its new home at an RV park. We needed to get Betsy the Wonder Bus plugged into power, test the hot water heater and get the fire going in the brand new wood stove. This would be its first night as a home for an unsheltered family. Made by our newly minted nonprofit, Vehicles for Changes, Betsy rolled down the highway to its new space at the Jackson Wellsprings RV Park just outside of Ashland, in the southernmost tip of Oregon. Everything worked as we checked it off: sto...

Tag: buses

Moms Are Driving A Push To Get More Electric School Buses On The Streets