Soul Project creates pathways for youth in the solar industry

By Keyshawn Davis | Solving Sacramento Dariyn Choates, CEO and founder of Soular Cleaning, speaks to the inaugural cohort of the Soul Project during orientation on March 20. (Photo by Keyshawn Davis) Dariyn Choates came to Sacramento from Monterey County’s Seaside on a full-ride scholarship to play football for Sacramento State from 2016 to 2019. After graduating with a degree in sociology, he went into the solar industry, eventually starting his own company. Choates described getting into the solar industry by fluke. After graduating college, he felt the only option he had when it came to his future was to make it to the NFL. When prospective employers looked at his resume, they told him all he had on it was college football.& Choates, who had an interest in working with SMUD and PG&E, said he was blessed to be contacted by a nonprofit outreach program called Clean Energy Career Pathways from GRID Alternatives in 2021, which partnered with SMUD and taught him how to install solar panels. He said the program attracted young people who didn’t know anything about solar power and they paid them to learn about it.  With what Choates learned through GRID Alternatives, Soular Cleaning, a...