Hi, I'm Jeff Rea your host for Economic Outlook.

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As people are looking for cleaner sources of energy, solar power systems are gaining in popularity, and one South Bend company is looking to capitalize on that demand, while at the same time looking to make a difference in the life of its employees.

Today, we'll introduce you to Crossroads Solar coming up on Economic Outlook.

Before we get started, here at WNIT we were respecting social distancing and as such have both our hosts and our guests joining us today virtually instead of in-person.

They're making solar panels for residential and commercial application.

Solar means a new and cleaner energy source and could lead to some cost savings.

But they aren't just making solar panels; making a difference in the lives of their employees, too.

We're going to learn more today about Crossroads Solar and their focus on people, planet and profit.

Joining me today for that discussion is Patrick Regan, the president of Crossroads Solar.

Please join me in welcoming Patrick to our show.

Patrick, thank you for joining me today, really appreciate the chance to sit down and talk to you.

I've been inspired by what I've seen with your story so far and we wanted a chance to share that with our--with our viewers.

So, really appreciate you joining me today for that purpose.

So--so Patrick, let's you know, before we really get into the Crossroads story, let's back up a little bit and help people understand you.

So you've been in our community for many years on the academic front.

Tell us a little bit about what you've been up to the last few years.

Mm-Hmm.

So I was professor of political science and peace studies at Notre Dame after moving here from upstate New York.

And in the process of that exalted position in life, I also taught in the Westville Prison under the auspices of the Moreau College Initiative, Holy Cross Notre Dame program, that brings, really, Notre Dame Holy Cross courses right into the prison.

In my agreement, I did it for, I think seven years, and my agreements they came at a Christmas party and maybe my first year living in the community, somebody came up and said I was told that you might like to teach in the prison.

I kind of went, Whoa, I'd love to teach in the prison.

And the deal was, I teach the exact same course in the prison--in the prison that I was teaching at Notre Dame.

So we would call it No New Prefaces.

And I went out to the prison.

Day one, I was stunned.

And I actually called my son, who was in college at the time and said, Whatever you do, stay on the right side of the line because you wouldn't make it one minute in this environment.

The next week, I went into the real prison and I called him again when I got out and said whatever I said last week, like, up it at by a factor of three.

And what I found was a bunch of very inquisitive intelligence.

You know, sometimes crass but thoughtful men who embrace the topic.

The topic the first year was called protest and rebellion.

So in a prison, to teach them the root causes and the methods of protest and rebellion seemed to be way outside the bounds of what would fit.

But these guys embraced it, and in some ways it was more vibrant than the more sedate version of Notre Dame teachings.

And I've frankly learned a lot about mistakes and how we punish people who made mistakes.

Some of the mistakes were egregious.

Some of them were the things that you and--you and I probably did, and we just didn't get caught or it wasn't quite bad enough.

So, you know, one day I think it was first year of doing it, might've been second year, we were having a discussion in class about--about the value of a college education.

And the person who was involved immediately in this discussion probably had been in prison for half his life.

And he said the problem, professor, is your people won't hire me when we get out.

And I was very comfortable in my academic role.

I've had a great career.

And I thought to myself, Well, that's kind of weird.

So I started asking friends whether--who are in the business world, whether they would actually hire ex-felons and it was a universal no, no way.

No, I'm not taking that risk on my business, and I thought well I bet I could do something about this.

So I went to the dean of my college and said, You know, Scott, I think I need to get out.

I need to go do something else.

And he said, think about it for three months.

Three months?

You know, so I did, I think three months to the day, I went back and said, You just need to help me get out of here.

I've got--I got something else to do in life.

So I started in this whole process.

I started developing the idea of Crossroads Solar; the business plan, the conceptual part of it.

And I built a solar panel in my basements, the one that's behind me here.

I've got the solar cells online, the ribbons, the soldering ribbons, the laminate material that goes in the middle.

And I bought a soldering iron and a heat gun, and I soldered it on pool table and then I took a shop vac and I reduced the hose down to a fish tank hose and I sucked the air out of the laminate material.

And I, you know, melted it with a heat gun.

So I laminated it together.

And when I was done, I had no sense that this thing would produce any power.

I took it outside, put a multimeter on.

Boop!

It produced power.

And immediately I knew that I understood the theory.

And once I understood the theory of producing solar power producing energy from--from silicon cells, then I knew I could do it.

And it was like, Oh, OK, now it's a money question.

It's a guts question.

It's a how do you do it question.

And from there it was--It wasn't a straight line, but it was a line forward.

Yes, Sir Patrick, you sort of combine two things that you - -that you're passionate about, right?

Sort of helping--helping these the folks in prison think about, you know, life afterwards and getting back in the workforce, but also in your experience as an academic, as an author, this clean energy thing has been part of your passion as well, too.

So--so as an entrepreneur, you got a chance to bring those--those two things together.

So let me just ask you--just being honest.

So--so you go home, you tell your family, you know, guess what?

I've decided to not teach anymore, and I want to--I want to do this entrepreneurial thing.

How does that go over at the dinner table?

That went over poorly.

And they won.

It went over, as we said, like a ton of bricks.

You know, I think my wife said no.

And, you know, scary.

I quit a good job for an uncertain job.

And then after a while, you know, it incubated for really a couple of years, so I could fill it out.

But after a while, she said, if you do this, there'll be no company--just Christmas parties at our house.

And I took that to be a tacit, well, OK. You know, just don't bring them home.

I mean, you know, we all hold the same bias about men and women who committed crimes.

And it was clear that my wife felt the same biases that everybody else does.

So her saying that was really--they might do something bad at our house, just like they might do something bad in your business.

But, you know, in my mind and from my academic work, we have to get off carbon.

We just have to get off carbon.

And my children, your children and even us as adults, we're seeing today some of the consequences, some of the biophysical consequences.

So Patrick, we're going to leave the studio here, I sent George Lepeniotis, my co-host, out into the factory.

Thanks for being a good host from there.

We want to show our viewers a little bit of what's going on over there, George.

Let me toss it to you.

Thanks, Jeff.

I'm downtown South Bend on Sample Street at Crossroads Solar's newest plant.

I'm joined by the plant manager Noel Townsend.

Noel, thanks for being with me.

Sure, sure.

Hey, Noel.

We're gathered here for the ribbon cutting for this exciting project.

Let's start with the obvious you are the plant manager here, where the plant produces solar panels like the one behind me, right?

Correct.

Correct.

And you are producing these solar panels to collect the energy and power of the sun and turn it into electricity?

Exactly.

Now this is a business first and foremost, but there's a lot of local politicians and dignitaries here because this particular business has more than just a financial mission, doesn't it?

Definitely.

Let's start with the environmental mission.

Tell us a little bit about solar and how that energy helps protect or foster a better environment.

OK, well, of course, it's going to help save--it's going to reduce our carbon footprint, right?

So we're collecting power from the Sun.

We're bringing it in through these panels in a way that they transfer the sun's energy into electricity that we can use in our home, our businesses, our factories, or even put it onto the grid.

And so it's sustainable energy.

Exactly.

In producing the panel, here you are serving that industry, but you're also--your social mission, that's part of this economic development is a little bit broader than that.

And let's start with you, you're the plant manager, and I know you're an engineer by trade.

But your life hasn't always been so privileged, and we can see some people that are part of the--part of the party here today.

But you've had your struggles in life.

Yeah, yeah.

What is there--tell us a little bit about the felon initiative here at Crossroads.

Well, here at Crossroads, we actually only employ felons, so you have to have a felony to work here, except for Pat Regan, the president, or Marty Whalen the vice president.

Every employee here will have a felony.

So that's unique in the world, isn't it?

Very unique.

I mean, most of the time, felonies can be preclusive to an appointment.

Here, A felony is required for employment.

Exactly.

Tell me what you think about this place and this opportunity that will help a convicted felon.

Well, I mean, having a job is important, right?

I think that's probably the key to--the key to recidivism is having meaningful employment, gainful employment, but also at a living wage.

So that's what Crossroads is here to do provide a living wage.

We also provide benefits, health benefits, 401k, other benefits that you might not otherwise find that there's just no employer.

Noel, thanks for the time.

Thanks for showing us the plant.

It sounds like an exciting thing.

You know, you call it Crossroads because it is a crossroads of many different drivers and many different challenges in society.

So thanks for what you're doing, and thanks for having me here today.

This is something that we know is going to be a big part of our future, both in terms of providing clean, reliable electricity to power our future without creating further damage to our environment and being a solution to climate change.

But we also know solar is going to be a big part of our future jobs.

As you heard, Mayor Mueller say, the Crossroads Solar development is a wealth of good, heartwarming stories, and part of that success of this center came from the state of Indiana.

I'm joined by David Watkins.

David is the director of the Indiana Small Business Center.

And my saying that right?

Small Business Development Center, yes.

I forgot the development part.

That's all right.

But that is important because that is in fact what you're helping Indiana small businesses do.

That's right.

So the Indiana Small Business Development Center, as we abbreviate Indiana SBDC, is a program of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, which is the state's economic development agency.

So we focus primarily, as our name says, on small business development, helping small businesses like Crossroads Solar start, grow, pivot and even all the way to mature lifecycle with exporting and ultimately secession exiting.

So let's talk a little bit about crossroads.

These--these folks wanted to start--a couple of Notre Dame faculty wanted to start a solar plant.

A little different.

It is.

But there were a host of positives that came out of this.

What made it very attractive for your agency to support in the way that you have?

Well, the fact that it's a couple of, you know, Notre Dame associated guys who are wanting to give back.

Right?

That's--that's a great story to start fact it--it's a small manufacturer which we have a bunch of here in Indiana, but that they've chosen to focus on an industry of the future 21st century solar technology.

But I think, perhaps most importantly, it's one of the hallmarks of small businesses, which is community impact, right?

And they received today the award for Community Impact Small Business of the Year in the state of Indiana.

And--and you can see that and how they're approaching workforce, which is a challenge for many of our businesses and how they've they've taken an entrepreneurial look at how they can be a part of the solution.

And you know, we say the solution.

We know we've got the--the--the climate impact, the new industry impact, the advancing technology impact.

But really, there's that--there's that third component to this, that social cause.

The what I call the felon is a pre-requirement of employment, which is strange, right?

Those places exclude that as opposed to require it.

And in today's market, not only in Indiana, but in other states, workforce development is the bigger problem.

So you mentioned in your remarks that they've come up with a unique way of approaching.

Is that--does every business needs to be this altruistic for your center to say that we want to support you?

No.

We work with businesses and entrepreneurs of all--all types up and down the state who have interesting ideas.

Some have traditional ideas.

Some have, you know, future forward ideas.

I think the thing that's so fascinating here is that this is a problem that businesses are are encountering with workforce, but they have approached it in the creation of a business.

This is the classic entrepreneurial story.

Here's a problem.

That's an opportunity.

And they've gone and ultimately started this--this business and we see this facility.

We're excited to see where it goes.

Yeah, yeah.

I think everyone is.

It's exciting to be here today.

A lot of people.

Thank you for joining us.

Thanks for your time.

I know you've got a lot to do.

So I won't keep you too long.

Jeff, it's been a great afternoon here at Crossroads Solar.

An interesting story, a great business and a keen look on what entrepreneurs of tomorrow are looking like today.

Great, George.

Thanks.

Thanks for the inside look out there at the factory.

Patrick, great--a great look for our viewers to sort of see what your--what's going on out there.

So let's talk a little bit about, you know, so you've been--you've been at this for some time.

You've now started making your first products that are coming off the line.

Tell us a little bit about just sort of the--the business coming together and the--and the process of--of putting a start up together and trying to fill a need in the industry.

Part of the last part of your question broke up, but we have, you know, we bought an assembly line.

We bought products in the maelstrom of COVID and--and in spite of all that, we've managed to pull together a process which took a lot of training, material, which took a lot of patience.

And today we're producing solar panels at probably fifty percent of our target rate.

So--maybe slightly above that.

So we're--we're--we're running complicated to ever stringers and less complicated cleaning panels type of thing.

COVID was just a complete disaster in this environment.

The supply chain management that came out, which I knew nothing about the supply chain going into this, was horrific.

The task now, which I've never done before, is to go out and sell solar panels to convince people who--who have a supply of solar panels that's using our panels are just as good as using the next company's panels.

But that ours comes with the social impact that's slightly better, or maybe a hell of a lot better than any other panel out there.

Great.

Thanks, Patrick.

We're actually going to leave the studio a second time to go back out onto the shop floor.

We've caught up with Mayor Mueller.

And so, George, let me toss it to you for a quick visit with the mayor.

Thanks, Jeff.

I'm back at the Crossroads Solar ribbon cutting today, and I'm joined by none other than South Bend Mayor Mueller.

How are you today?

Good, good.

Good afternoon.

Thank you for being with us, Mr. Mayor.

I know you're busy, so I wanted to grab you before you ran off.

You helped cut the ribbon on this project, but that's kind of the culmination of a lot of work by the city of South Bend to help Crossroads become a reality.

Tell us, what is it about projects like Crossroads that makes sense for the city of South Bend?

Well, this is a great story to tell because there are a lot of pieces by themselves that are great stories to tell.

So first, we're in a building that used to be a former cleaners building, Ziker cleaners, and the city's worked with them and others.

And the vested interest partners to bring this building back to life, to have businesses like Crossroads Solar build their product here in this building.

So that's the beginning of that piece.

And then Crossroads Solar itself is--is a faculty member from the University of Notre Dame deciding to get involved and start a business so really bringing his entrepreneurship to light in our city.

And just like we have this idea that this would be a successful business.

So we help them try to figure out financing and business plans because that's not something, you know, every faculty member in the university is familiar with.

So, you know, from--from start to finish, there have been a lot of support and we want to continue that support as we move forward here.

You mentioned during your remarks that because the city of South Bend does not support or does not currently have any employees working in the fossil fuel industry that, really, every new energy or alternative energy job that comes to this city is a net positive from a carbon footprint and an advancement for our environment.

But what is it about the city that could be attractive for that type of development?

Well, I mean, we know that there's a global opportunity for clean energy.

There's just no question that we're going to have to transition off fossil fuels in the coming decades.

And solar energy is going to be at the core of that transition.

And so that market opportunity on a global level will be there for businesses like Crossroads Solar to--to grow into.

And then here at home, as you said, we don't have there's not a controversy of this job for that job.

There are no fossil fuel jobs.

And so every job created in clean energy or in solar is a net new job for our community.

So that just brings a tremendous benefit to our community going forward.

Finally, I did want to touch on Crossroads broader mission of hiring felons.

In an interview prior to yours, one of the--the plant manager here said that it is a requirement to be an employee that you are a felon.

Tell us how what--what positive impact that can have on a community that would otherwise struggle with that population.

Right.

Well, that's just, you know, there are so many good stories to tell about Crossroads Solar from the building to the company to the workforce.

And so here we're finding ways to create value and Crossroads Solar is finding ways to create value where--where these folks may not have access to opportunity otherwise.

And so when they have additional chances and opportunities, that's good for the entire community.

Well, thank you for being with us.

I know you've got someplace else to be.

But thanks for the ribbon cutting.

You did a great job.

Thank you.

Jeff, back to you in the studio and we'll talk more about Crossroads in our next segment.

Great.

Thanks, George, and thanks, mayor for catching up with this boy.

A lot.

A lot of terrific folks out enjoying the opening of your operation.

Patrick, let's spent our last few minutes talking a little bit about your employees.

So you--so you mentioned early on, you know, sort of your passion for--for finding a place for folks who have made some, maybe some poor choices along the way to get get them back into the workforce, so.

So, you know, for employers who are uncertain about that, talk to us a little bit about what your experience has been so far.

My experience has been great.

It's not that universally everybody is a good employee just because they're an ex-felon and we hire them, so we have some of the same problems that other people have.

My version of that is if you treat them with respect, they'll respect you in return.

So we pay them, we start them in a probationary period.

It's sixteen dollars an hour.

We'll contribute to a health account for them, a retirement account for them.

And after probation, we start at seventeen fifty an hour as a baseline with profit sharing, if we make profits.

They have an expectation that they will be the owners of the company.

When I time out of this and I think that that just demonstrates that we respect them as employees.

And from my vantage point, it's a whole segment of the workforce that many have college degrees out on my plant right now.

They're good workers that get neglected in that pool just because they're felons.

And if I listen to them, they'll--they'll say, Well, the interview goes well, with some other company.

The interview goes well, and then they think they're going to get the job and the interviewer asks them about this little blank space or this felony record, and then suddenly they become no good.

It's the felony that takes away the first two thirds of the interview process, and we start our interviews, frankly, if we don't know at the get go are you a felon?

Oh yeah.

You know, I got six of them.

OK, now let's start talking about how you contribute.

And you know, they understand, excuse me, the difficulties they have for getting the job.

So when we say, OK, you can work here because you're a felon.

Now, we expect all of the same stuff out of you as the non felon.

We're going to hold you to the same standards.

You're going to show up on time.

If you don't do it, we're going to let you go.

And if you do do it, here's what you get.

And you know, frankly, we have some, you know, we have 10 of them out there now, I think.

But you know, some of them are, they're pushing us to the limits.

We have markers on building a solar panel and they run in their time clocks to see whether they can beat our marks and their challenging me and the plant manager Noel to go out and build a panel so they can see whether we can do it.

So there is a lot of enthusiasm.

There's a lot of excitement mixed in with the same old--It was a tough night last night and all that, so we face all of them.

But I've had people come to me, you know, friends, first of all, say, Well, I could never do that.

I need employees.

I said, Well, I could send you some good ones from mine, if you want.

Well, I could never go down that road.

The other day, somebody walked in the plant to talk to us about how they hire the felons, you know, because he's struggling with employees and we're not.

And I think he realized that maybe he's looking at it wrong.

I think the general attitude among our employees--employers out there really should change and embrace the fact that people make mistakes and they can still be good workers.

Great, Patrick, in our last minute or so.

Let's shift back to solar for a second because you mentioned your job right now is to go out and sell some solar panels.

So--So if--if consumers who are at home thinking about this or businesses who are thinking about this help them better understand why they should be thinking about solar as an option for their home or business.

I mean, it's--it's a short-term pay off on a fixed cost.

You know, just look at a business.

Think the size of the plant that I'm in.

You're going to have a big fixed monthly cost tied to electricity production that you can pretty much eliminate with investment.

It's a lot of upfront that you can get support on the investment.

It's a lot upfront, but it's got a really short window of payoff time.

And you know, it comes right off the bottom line from a business point of view, but also from the whole point of view, your monthly expenditures go down by five thousand dollars or something, you know, whatever your bill is.

And that's bottom line expenditures.

And yes, you're going to pay a loan on that or something like that.

But it's probably not at the level of the savings that you get and it's going to have to happen.

Great.

Patrick, thank you so much for spending some time with us.

What a terrific story.

We wish you great success and we appreciate you sharing more about it and letting us into the plant to see the good work that you're doing.

My pleasure.

That's it for our show today.

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