Raleigh Celebrates Juneteenth With Electric Vehicle Future

When Southeast Raleigh residents gathered at their local YMCA on June 20 for a Juneteenth celebration, they got more than music and good food. They got a voice in shaping how their city moves toward cleaner transportation.

The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy and EVHybridNoire joined local organizations Southeast Raleigh Promise and Partners for Environmental Justice for the event. Between fitness activities and health resources, project staff shared information about electric vehicles and asked residents what they actually need from transportation.

The celebration kicks off a bigger mission called Electric Futures Raleigh, a two-year initiative launched last year with support from the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation. The project aims to make sure community voices lead the conversation about electric transportation instead of just reacting to decisions made elsewhere.

Southeast Raleigh Promise has spent more than a decade building trust in the community through its work on housing, education, and economic opportunity. The organization helped develop the 32-acre Beacon Site campus where the celebration took place, a space that already features electric vehicle charging stations alongside affordable housing and wellness services.

Now project leaders are conducting surveys and focus groups to understand what residents think about electric vehicles, charging infrastructure, and job opportunities in the growing EV industry. Those findings will directly inform the City of Raleigh's transportation plans.

The Ripple Effect

The timing couldn't be better for Raleigh to lead this conversation. Transportation currently accounts for 52% of the city's emissions, making electric vehicles essential to Raleigh's goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050.

North Carolina already ranks ninth nationally in clean energy employment. Toyota is building its first North American battery manufacturing facility just an hour away in Randolph County, a $13.9 billion investment creating over 5,000 jobs.

The Electric Futures Raleigh team plans more town halls and community events to identify barriers and solutions that help residents benefit from the clean transportation shift. The Southeast Raleigh community is proving that the best way to plan for an electric future is to ask the people who live there what they need.