Work

“Kellen and I have worked together on several affordable housing projects. He is organized, diligent, and committed!”
- Ginger Segel, GS Consulting

Project Management

Capital development projects
Non-profit, tribal, and governmental support
Project visualization and planning
Stakeholder and team engagement

Your projects depends on effective planning and communication to make better decisions more quickly.

Whether it’s ongoing support or short-term projects, I provide project management to facilitate and align realistic team expectations, manage internal and external communication, and support stakeholder engagement.

The result is fewer surprises, more predictable progress, and projects that stay grounded in both timelines and real-world constraints.

Grant Writing

Private and public grant research
Detailed technical and narrative writing
Post-award grant management

I support organizations in securing public and private grant funding for affordable housing and clean energy projects.

I have helped clients secure over $4.5 million in grant funding by developing clear, well-documented applications and staying engaged through the award and implementation phases.

Through detail-oriented project managing I can help you apply for funding and be there with you when you’re awarded.

Energy Analysis

Building-energy performance modeling
Energy production and off-grid modeling
Agricultural renewable energy design

Working with contractors, farmers, utilities, and project owners, I deliver right-sized models that clarify tradeoffs, identify opportunities for efficiency and on-site generation, and reduce uncertainty before significant capital is committed.

I offer early feasibility building-energy performance modeling that highlight the opportunities for advancements in energy generation and efficiency. Why not move ahead with confidence and clearer options for your project?

Annual Highlights

2025: Resiliency Grant Management:
East African Community Services

East African Community Services fills gaps in the lives of many throughout King County, WA: childcare, language support, affordable housing, etc. We’ve been able to both support securing grant funding to pursue a clean energy microgrid at their new housing development, and to lead the necessary grant management to ensure that they are receiving the attention and expertise required to meet their targets.

While working with multiple parties with deep technical expertise, we’ve kept projects moving towards the fundamental goal of supporting the families being served by EACS.

2024: Community-Based Organization Grant: Chimacum Commons

Working with the Olympic Housing Trust, we are addressing affordable housing for our local farming and food system workers on the Olympic Peninsula. Partnered with the Jefferson Land Trust, we are moving ahead on the Chimacum Commons project as an innovative approach to rural affordable housing for a critical workforce.

As a team, we secured a $197,000 grant for pre-development costs through the Department of Commerce. Read about this grant and our work here.

*Battery Energy Storage System in Tulalip*

2024: Clean Energy Installation:
Tulalip Village of Hope

Solar panels and batteries were funded and installed for the Tulalip Tribes’ Village of Hope following the successful 2023 grant with Department of Commerce’s Solar + Storage For Resilient Communities program. This system will be used during frequent power outages and bridge the energy needs so that this rural, supportive neighborhood can keep doing their great work in all seasons. Read about this collaborative project here.

In 2024, I was honored to secure 9 awards for housing and energy projects totaling more than $550,000.

2023: Solar + Storage for Resilient Communities and Community Solar Expansion: Five Grant Awards

In collaboration with GS Consulting, I helped lead our team in submitting and being awarded on five grant applications to the Department of Commerce’s first ever Solar + Storage for
Community Resiliency fund. These collected awards, worth more than $600,000, will help
nonprofits, tribes, and local governments pay for critical energy storage systems to build resilience in the face of an uncertain energy future.

Additionally, with my clients I was able to secure two successful grants for solar installation worth over $200,000 from Washington State University’s new community solar program.

*Dundee Hill Community Homes, Port Townsend*

2023: Housing Trust Fund and CHIP:
Olympic Housing Trust

I was proud to support the Olympic Housing Trust in their successful applications to the Dept of Commerce’s Housing Trust Fund and CHIP programs. Together, we were awarded over $570,000! These large grants will help this community land trust organization provide five units of permanently affordable housing in Jefferson County for the Dundee Hill project.

Dundee Hill will be the first of its kind and emphasizes green development standards throughout the project, as well as the inclusion of a neighboring community garden.

In 2023, my grant writing and project managing earned my clients a total of $1.7 million in grant awards from 14 successful grants applications.

2022: Beneficial Electrification Toolkit:
Environment and Energy Study Institute

As a lead content writer for the Beneficial Electrification Toolkit, I planned, researched, and drafted pages of informative copy for rural electric utilities across the nation.

Visit the website to see over 40 unique pages on how to create beneficial electrification programs to support rate payers, utilities, our environment and the grid.

2021: Share Our Spaces Campaign:
Housing Solutions Network

To support the strategy of utilizing existing homes as the fastest and most inexpensive housing solution, Housing Solutions Network ran the Share Our Spaces campaign.

We produced unique content including videos, illustrations, handbooks and even designed the Housing Link program to match potential renters with potential home providers.

2020: Climate Battery:
Shy Acre Farm

Through a partnership with a local permaculture farm, we designed an innovative climate battery greenhouse. This off-grid solar and battery powered space runs fans to pull excess heat into the soil to be released slowly throughout the day.

With this innovation, the farm can not only plant subtropical crops like citrus (in the PNW!), but most importantly plant earlier in the year and harvest into the winter.

2019: Project ZeNETH:
Western Washington University

As a student at Western Washington University, I formed a team to launch Project ZeNETH (Zero Net Energy Tiny House) to be the first off-grid net zero structure on a university campus in Washington State.

With tremendous support from across campus, the city of Bellingham, and even Governor Inslee’s office, we designed and built an advanced learning space on wheels that can be used to demonstrate how we can utilize current technology to take our spatial and energy needs seriously.

"New Story Studio was a key collaborator of ours as we developed the Beneficial Electrification Toolkit. Just about every element of the Toolkit was improved thanks to Kellen, who helped us standardize the content so it looks and feels like a comprehensive, cohesive resource."
- Dan Bresette, President, Environmental and Energy Study Institute