'Greening the Ghetto'

Community organizers are helping turn their often neglected neighborhoods into more sustainable places through broad volunteer greening efforts.

"Harris is one of 200 local residents taking part in an innovative program designed to help bridge a green divide. Many residents of low-income neighborhoods say they've been left out of the environmental movement and that clean-tech businesses are avoiding urban neighborhoods while they pitch green advances elsewhere.

'There's a tendency to not seek out communities like these,' said Jeffrey Richardson, chief executive of solar installer Imani Energy Inc., one of the few companies that have been actively working on projects in South Los Angeles. 'There's the idea that people here don't get it, don't want to get it and can't get it when it comes to green.'"