YES! Communities Wins Green Challenge

DENVER, Dec. 1 -- YES! Communities, a Denver based operator of manufactured home communities nationwide, recently won the 2009 Net Impact Challenge. YES! received this award by implementing several environmentally conscious programs at their corporate office. Net Impact is an international nonprofit organization with a mission to inspire, educate, and equip individuals to use the power of business to create a more socially and environmentally sustainable world. Spanning six continents, its membership makes up one of the most influential networks of professionals and students in existence today.

"We intend for our YES! Green program to be an integral part of our corporate culture and approach to property management. In our first year we created several strong green programs that both our corporate staff and employees across the country found engaging and easy to apply. As these programs expand, we hope to realize significant reductions in our company's and customers' energy costs and environmental impacts," explains COO Andrew Luter.

YES! Communities, which consists of 18,571 manufactured homes in 67 communities across the US, began a venture to reduce utility costs and environmental impacts in its office and manufactured home communities. Under the leadership of Jon Braun and Kim Kurz, YES! Green first developed projects at the corporate offices focused on waste reduction, energy conservation and The Green Commute to Work Challenge. The Commuter Challenge drew 63% office participation and accumulated over 21,000 miles by alternative methods of transportation. Through a new paperless accounts payable system, the company has saved 240,000 pieces of paper. The team then brought these practices to their communities through education, which includes several resident flyers that include tips to increase the energy efficiency of their homes and conserve water. Through these successful efforts, the team drastically increased awareness of sustainability actions in manufactured home communities and generated over $340,000 in savings on utility expenses.

Moving on from the success of its first year, the YES! Green program looks to expand to include more programs for residents of YES! Communities. Educational community wide events, as well as ventures into retrofitting its rental homes to increase energy efficiency, are just two of the many new projects YES! Green plans to complete over the next year. It is the hope that considerable utility cost reductions will greatly benefit their current and future residents.

CONTACT: Jon Braun of YES! Communities, +1-303-483-7179, jbraun@yescommunities.com