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What Works Plus Bulletin:September 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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OPPORTUNITIES TO ENGAGE WITH WW+
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A snapshot of learning events and high-impact federal funding implementation-related opportunities in need of philanthropic support. For more information about these opportunities, please contact Max Shipman at shipman@tfreedmanconsulting.com.
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Funding Opportunity: Federation of American Scientists -“Center for Inclusive Cluster Development”
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The Gap: A core challenge of the CHIPS & Science Act (CHIPS) has become strengthening local economic development and planning systems to be more inclusive and stakeholder-driven while also meeting the need of stated national strategies and outcomes. Communities everywhere are scrambling to field competitive applications for CHIPS programs for place-based innovation. At the same time, only the most sophisticated and well-resourced cities have long-standing plans to build their innovation ecosystems around key technology areas – and even then, those plans are rarely developed with community and worker input. As a result, only a handful of cities with sophisticated planning capabilities are well-positioned for inclusive implementation of CHIPS funding, causing under-resourced regions to fall farther behind. The Opportunity: The Federation of American Scientists’ new Center for Inclusive Cluster Development (CICD) will meet the needs of 1) cities working to build inclusive innovation ecosystems across the country and 2) federal funders that want to invest in their plans. The Center will equip workers and communities with the information, tools, insights, and support necessary to drive key decisions about industry cluster development within their local communities, with a focus on balance between growth and inclusion. Engaging the right stakeholders in all aspects of planning, application development, and implementation will allow the U.S. to maximize its investments in economic competitiveness and build a more inclusive economy. This project pilot is supported by the Ford Foundation and is seeking additional support to expand and extend the Center’s work. To learn more, please contact Melissa Roberts Chapman.
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September 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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A new White House fact sheet highlighted the Catalyze Registry, a philanthropic platform and matchmaking service led by What Works Plus, in partnership with America Achieves, to scale needed support for initiatives that build a diverse talent pool for quality infrastructure careers. The fact sheet also highlighted several other initiatives by What Works Plus partners to assist communities accessing and deploying federal infrastructure funding. A group of major philanthropies launched BuildUS, a pooled fund that aims to accelerate America’s transition towards a worker-centered economy. The fund will specifically support the implementation of the American Rescue Plan (ARPA), the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), the CHIPS Act and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Launching with an initial commitment of more than $50 million over the next three years, the fund will deploy grants to partners who are accelerating state and local efforts to utilize federal investments; empowering workers to engage in the clean energy transition; addressing bottlenecks and scaling climate focused solutions; or facilitating communications and outreach at the state, local and federal levels. Initial funders include Carnegie Corporation of New York, Marguerite Casey Foundation, Omidyar Network, the Open Society Foundations, the Skoll Foundation, Wellspring Philanthropic Fund, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Four major U.S. philanthropies – the Kresge Foundation, David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and Walton Family Foundation – announced a shared commitment to building more climate resilient communities and outlined a broader call to action for the nation’s large philanthropic sector. Announced at the White House Summit on Building Climate Resilient Communities in conjunction with the release of the first-ever White House National Climate Resilience Framework, this commitment is the first of its kind by philanthropy. The Brookings Institution is holding two notable federal funding-related events in October (registration for both events is currently open): “One year later: The Inflation Reduction Act and climate progress” on October 11th. Participants can join in person or virtually to hear from John Podesta, Senior White House Advisor for Clean Energy Innovation and Implementation, and other experts discuss the impact of the IRA to date. The “Helping Communities Make the Most of Historic Public Investment” Summit on October 17th-18th, in partnership with the Kresge Foundation, which will bring local, regional, and state leaders together to showcase innovative investments and replicable strategies, learn from each other as they navigate implementation challenges, and dialogue with Washington stakeholders to inform future policies and partnerships.
Accelerator for America, in partnership with Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners, announced the inaugural cohort of 10 cities participating in their Innovative Infrastructure Initiative (i3), which will provide cities with technical assistance and peer learning to help them accelerate innovative infrastructure projects. I3’s first cohort includes Albuquerque, NM; Chattanooga, TN; Johnson Country, KS; Kansas City, MS; Lansing, MI; Louisville, KY; Riverside, CA; San Diego, CA; Scranton, PA; and Tulsa, OK. In a joint op-ed, WW+ Senior Advisor Xavier de Souza Briggs, Joseph Kane (Brookings Institution), Rachel Korberg (Families & Workers Fund), and John Porcari (Equity in Infrastructure Project) argue there is a worrying gap between our nation's ambitious infrastructure goals and our investments in workers to date. According to the authors, state and local governments need to take bold actions now to create the inclusive pipelines to well-paying jobs needed to realize our nation’s infrastructure goals. The Funders Network, Health and Environmental Funders Network, Integrated Rural Strategies Group and Communities First Fund are hosting a virtual funder briefing on Tuesday, Oct 10th to discuss how philanthropy can support community voice in federal infrastructure funding. The tenth CityLab, a global cities summit organized by Bloomberg Philanthropies in partnership with The Aspen Institute, will take place in Washington D.C. from October 18th to October 20th. More than 500 mayors, policy makers, urban innovators, business leaders, cultural experts and creatives will attend the event to explore innovative solutions to problems facing cities. The topics being discussed will include advancing economic equality, environmental justice and implementing federal infrastructure funding.
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A snapshot of this month’s key news.
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The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a report on the projected effects of the IRA on carbon dioxide emissions. The report indicates that the IRA is resulting in substantial reductions in CO2 emissions across the U.S. Key findings on the IRA’s impact include: Economy-wide CO2 emissions are expected to decrease by 35-43% below 2005 levels by 2030. The electric power sector is projected to reduce CO2 emissions by 49-83% below 2005 levels by 2030. CO2 emissions are expected to decline across all end-use sectors – sectors that consume primary energy and electricity produced by the electric power sector. The most significant impact will be in residential and commercial buildings, followed by industry and transportation.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced $300 million in available grant funding to expedite and enhance the electric transmission siting and permitting process. The Transmission Siting and Economic Development (TSED) grant program will provide state, tribal, and local permitting entities with funding to carry out environmental studies, engage with the public, and further workforce development in relevant sectors. Concept papers are due by October 31, 2023, and full applications are due April 5, 2024. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has announced the initial designation of 483 census tracts as Community Disaster Resilience Zones. The designations – which cover all 50 states and the District of Columbia – will make communities eligible for increased federal support to enhance their resilience to natural hazards and climate change-related extreme weather events. More designations, including tribal communities and territories, are expected to be released in the fall of 2023. In a new commentary for Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, Ahmed Mehdi and Tom Moerenhout conclude that the IRA has radically altered the U.S. battery cost curve and brought about a new chapter for the battery industry.
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The Economic Development Administration (EDA) received hundreds of applications from 48 states and 3 territories for Phase 1 of its Regional Technology and Innovation Hubs (Tech Hubs) competition. The initiative aims to bring together educational institutions, industry, and local government to enhance innovation across critical technologies. Phase 1 of the program will designate Tech Hubs and award about $15 million in strategy development grants, while Phase 2 will provide implementation funding for selected Tech Hubs. The EDA will announce the designated Tech Hubs and awards in the fall of 2023, with the goal of creating at least 20 Tech Hubs across the country.
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The Department of the Treasury and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) have issued proposed rules and FAQs to clarify requirements for the IRA’s prevailing wage and apprenticeship provisions for clean energy projects, incentivize worker-centric practices, and streamline compliance. The rules encourage the use of qualifying Project Labor Agreements, which are pre-hire collective bargaining agreements made between construction unions and contractors. The White House launched the American Climate Corps to help address climate change by providing job training for young people. This initiative aims to train over 20,000 individuals in clean energy and climate resilience skills. Those trained through this program will focus on projects like conservation, clean energy deployment, and improving community resilience. Anyone interested in joining or supporting the American Climate Corps can sign up here.
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In a new report, “Midwest Transportation Landscape Assessment: A Roadmap for Funders”, The Funders Network explores how advocates and their foundation partners are working to build sustainable and equitable transportation systems across the Midwest by leveraging BIL funding and other federal programs. The report studies seven states – Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin – focusing on the work they are doing to shift to electric vehicles and increase the accessibility of transit options.
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The White House released a new technical assistance guide, which provides information about over 100 federal technical assistance programs to help communities navigate, access, and deploy infrastructure, climate resilience and clean energy funding. Atlas Public Policy and the BlueGreen Alliance Foundation released the EV Jobs Hub. The Hub tracks the creation of new jobs in the electric vehicle sector and records a number of other job-related factors, such as whether the employer has worker protections in place. World Resources Institute has launched the beta version of its IRA Bonus Tracker. This interactive data tool allows users to enter a specific address and check if the area is eligible for geographically bound IRA funding opportunities, including low-income and energy community bonus credits for certain IRA tax credits and Justice40 programs. DOE launched an interactive map that tracks announced clean energy investments, such as batteries, EVs, offshore wind, and solar, across the U.S.
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WW+ Bulletin: September Edition
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