Cherri Harrington Harper

Dr. Cheryl (Cherri) Harrington Harper, PhD, LSCSW, BCB, is the Vice President and cofounder of the Flint Hills Renewable Energy and Efficiency Cooperative, Inc. (FHREEC). Cherri grew up in southeast Kansas and is the great-granddaughter of a homesteading farming family near Devon, Kansas in Bourbon County. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, a Board Certified Biofeedback Therapist and a small business owner who is in her 33^rd year of private practice. Cherri is a former KSU Social Work Professor and researcher. She is an Integral Transformative Practice group leader, a gardener, a grandmother, and a very grateful person who loves to learn. She is very concerned about the earth, building community, and having clean air, abundant clean water, and nutrient-dense food for all beings. For the last four years she has been very involved in many aspects of building a community and promoting renewable energy and energy efficiency. She is the head of the FHREEC Governmental Affairs Committee and has testified at the Kansas legislature to protect the net metering laws. She has helped others be informed, organized, and encouraged to speak up regarding the recent Westar rate case before the Kansas Corporation Commission and now the upcoming Clean Power Plan, and “solar docket” before the KCC. Her efforts on behalf of renewable energy are focused on protecting the Kansas environment, the Kansas economy, and individual Kansan’s rights, choices, and health. Along the way, she has learned about photovoltaic systems, and she likes to educate and empower others to install their own “rooftop solar” system. Her most important work may be on the ground dealing with policy issues and educating property owners, but she loves to get her tool belt on and get on the roof. She likes to say, “I am scared of electricity and never learned how to program a VCR, but I can install a solar system, and you can, too.”