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What Works Plus Bulletin:February Edition
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A digest of news and funding opportunities. The What Works Plus (WW+) funder collaborative is a partnership coordination hub across philanthropy, government, and nonprofits to advance equity and climate resilience through thoughtful implementation of historic federal infrastructure, climate, and economic development funding. WW+ is a project of Freedman Consulting, LLC, which provides strategic consulting services to foundations and nonprofit organizations.
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What Works Plus and Invest in Our Future are pleased to announce the launch of Philanthropy’s 500/150 Challenge, an effort designed to further implementation of federal climate and clean energy investments through philanthropic action. This two-part Challenge will track: 500 places where philanthropy is supporting education and awareness activities about federal climate and clean energy investments. 150 projects, supported by philanthropy, and in coordination with anchor partners, to stand up and implement federal climate and clean energy investments.
Click here To learn more about the Challenge and how to participate, and contact Sasha Beder-Schenker (Program Director, What Works Plus) and Jimmy Pearson (Program Manager, Invest in Our Future) with any questions.
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February Spotlight: News from Members & Friends
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Have a notable investment, partnership, or event coming up? Let Max Shipman know at shipman@tfreedmanconsulting.com and we’ll feature it next month.
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The Heinz Endowments announced a $10 million commitment over the next two years to help western Pennsylvania leverage federal funds from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and other legislation. The investment will primarily go towards the creation of a coordination hub that will help non-profits, municipalities, school districts, and redevelopment authorities in western Pennsylvania access IRA funding. The hub will provide assistance with grant writing, project development, legal guidance, and communications support. In a recent opinion piece, Rip Rapson (Kresge Foundation) and Alan Berube (Brookings Institution) discuss three strategies localities are utilizing to ensure communities do not just access federal investments, but also maximize their long-term impact: 1) activating relationships across public, private and civic-sector actors, 2) braiding together multiple forms of capital from various sources, and 3) measuring and distributing risk strategically. The piece includes examples of these strategies in action in Fresno, CA; Detroit, MI; and Central New York. In a Chronicle of Philanthropy interview, Waverly Street Foundation CEO Jared Blumenfeld outlines his foundation’s plans to spend $3 billion by 2035 to fight climate change, focusing primarily on support to community-based climate groups that have historically been overlooked by climate philanthropy. According to Blumenfeld, most of the foundation’s support to small groups in the US last year focused on helping them access IRA funds. The Omidyar Network announced the launch of their Just Economic Transition portfolio, an initiative to catalyze the equitable implementation of federal funding. The portfolio draws on the Network’s learnings and existing partnerships to 1) build strong relationships with other funders that can sustain new coalitions working toward a just economic transition over the long term and 2) identify and mobilize new philanthropic resources for just transition efforts. With support from BuildUS, the Ford Foundation, and the Siemens Foundation, the Milken Institute’s 10,000 Communities Initiative held the Resilient Michigan Investment Strategy Summit on February 22 in Detroit, MI - the latest in the initiative’s series of regional convenings bringing together investors, technical assistance experts, federal officials and community leaders committed to helping underserved communities access needed funding, capacity, and talent to support critical community infrastructure projects.
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URBAN MANUFACTURING ALLIANCE The Urban Manufacturing Alliance is a national organization working to transform and reshape manufacturing ecosystems into drivers of just and equitable development that puts communities first. UMA is seeking partnership and funding for three initiatives within its Inclusive Workforce portfolio: Input on target geographies and potential partners for a new Community of Practice (launched in partnership with The Century Foundation) focused on creating pathways to economic mobility for the manufacturing workforce, particularly workers of color and women, in the Southern U.S. Funding to create additional regional coalitions across the country that will host in-person stakeholder meetings, create regional policy toolkits, and author storytelling pieces around diversity in manufacturing. Lumina Foundation has already seeded a regional cohort in Detroit, MI; Cook County, IL; and Ohio. Funding for a National Community of Practice where members can convene, find resources, share best practices, and have a space for peer-learning on topics surrounding manufacturing.
For more information about these partnership and funding opportunities, please contact Katy Stanton.
WORKMONEY WorkMoney, a non-profit focused on improving financial security and literacy across America, is seeking funding for two initiatives aimed at helping working Americans access cost-saving government programs, including BIL’s Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP), IRA’s HOMES Rebate Program, and IRA’s High-Efficiency Electric Home Rebate Act (HEEHRA): A communications campaign that will launch in targeted geographies to educate workers about new, underutilized, and/or little-known government programs. The campaign will emphasize the voices of WorkMoney’s member base through op-eds, videos, radio hits, and more. A virtual resource center that will provide human support to workers trying to access over 75 federal programs. The center will combine WorkMoney’s website (featuring web screener and web chat functionality), along with peer-to-peer text and phone line, and email.
Please contact Evan Kost, Chief Partnerships Officer, to learn more.
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A snapshot of this month’s key news.
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The Department of Energy (DOE) announced new tools and updates related to the IRA’s Home Energy Rebate Program, an $8.8 billion program that lowers the cost of select energy efficient home improvements like heat pumps, including: A state tracking tool that allows individuals to monitor the status and funding allocations of the Home Energy Rebate Program for each state. An incentives finder that lists qualifying appliances and the value of associated tax credits by zip-code. A fact sheet highlighting new and expanded efforts by nonprofits to help consumers access home energy rebates, including Rewiring America’s Personal Electrification Planner, Civic Nation’s forthcoming national help center, Climate Power’s and League of Conservation Voters’ communications campaigns, and SaverLife and Inclusiv’s Community Finance for Climate Action collaborative.
DOE Secretary Jennifer M. Granholm gave remarks about The White House’s industrial strategy for our nation’s clean energy transition, which rests upon four pillars: 1) making the U.S. “irresistible” for clean energy investments, 2) ensuring new investments support disadvantaged and overburdened communities, 3) creating pathways to ensure workers have the skills they need to compete in the global clean energy market, and 4) supporting innovative clean energy technology research and development.
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The White House announced new funding from the CHIPS and Science Act (CHIPS) for semiconductor-related workforce development and research, including through a $5 billion investment in the National Semiconductor Technology Center (NSTC), a public-private consortium bringing together government, industry, customers, suppliers, educational institutions, entrepreneurs, workforce representatives, and investors to advance semiconductor technology. The White House also shared plans to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in the NSTC’s workforce efforts, including through the creation of a Workforce Center of Excellence. In a recent fact sheet, The White House highlights ways federal investments like BIL, IRA and CHIPS are helping advance racial justice and equity across the country - from building needed transportation infrastructure to reconnect communities that have been historically cut off from economic opportunities to connecting over 5 million Black households to affordable high-speed internet through BIL’s Affordable Connectivity Program. The Brookings Institution released a piece analyzing the geographic distribution of federal investments in strategic sectors such as clean energy and semiconductor manufacturing. The authors found that economically distressed communities are receiving larger-than-proportional shares of investments across these sectors.
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As part of their Advanced Manufacturing Workforce Sprint, The White House, in partnership with the U.S. Departments of Labor, Department of Commerce, Department of Education, and the National Science Foundation, hosted a webinar to promote resources, guidance, and funding to expand advanced manufacturing workforce development at community colleges. The DOE announced a new $24 million funding opportunity for workforce training programs with a focus on training in clean energy jobs that do not require a four-degree. This BIL funding will further expand the existing Industrial Assessment Centers (IAC) network to include more union training programs, community colleges, and trade schools.
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The U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released new analysis estimating that IRA funding for IRS modernization efforts, if sustained, will generate $851 billion in additional revenue through 2034 - substantially exceeding earlier predictions.
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The Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announced the availability of $1.5 billion in grant funding through BIL’s Grants for Buses and Bus Facilities Program and FTA’s Low- or No- Emission Program. The funding will help states and direct applicants buy buses, build bus facilities, and promote workforce development, boosting American transit vehicle manufacturing. Applications for funding are due on April 25, 2024. The DOT opened applications for the FY 2024 Safe Streets and Roads for All Grant Program (SS4A), an initiative to prevent injury and death on streets and roads funded by BIL. These grants may be used to develop, refine, and implement comprehensive safety action plans. Planning and demonstration grants have three deadlines: April 4, 2024, May 16, 2024, and August 29, 2024. Implementation grants are due May 16, 2024.
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The White House released a fact sheet describing the impact of the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which has helped provide high-speed internet to 23 million households and is currently set to expire in April 2024. The National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) released an ACP Transition webpage to help organizations navigate the potential wind-down of the ACP. Informed by the FCC’s ACP Wind-Down Guidance, this resource maintains up-to-date guidance and recommendations for the ACP transition process.
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The NewDEAL Forum released a guide to leveraging federal funding for state and local policymakers. The report highlights best practices and provides a guide to key funding streams and strategic sector investments in energy, transportation, and infrastructure. A new report from RMI outlines three major barriers preventing individuals from accessing IRA incentives: incentive availability and requirements, stacking rules, and gaps in available incentives. The report lists IRA incentives and how to access them, identifies gaps in participants served and provides concrete steps state energy offices can take to improve access. RMI also created a collection of State Solutions Graphics that illustrate how the electricity, transportation, and building sectors come together with industry to create the state-wide energy economy. For each state, the graphics highlight the beneficial human impacts promised by a transition to clean energy. NRDC’s new resource guide provides local advocates and government officials with information about 46 federal funding streams across transportation, building, and energy sectors. In addition to explaining relevant regulatory frameworks and infrastructure policies, the guide highlights key opportunities to use this funding in new ways to achieve local policy goals. The Treasury and the IRS published a user guide on how to navigate the agency’s registration portal to access elective payment provisions in the IRA. The Center for Public Enterprise released a piece to help users walk through this guide.
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WW+ Bulletin: February Edition
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