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.

OPPORTUNITIES TO ENGAGE WITH WW+

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.

Funding Opportunity: “Federal Investment Reporting Engine for Local Mayors”

The Gap: Federal investments from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), and CHIPS & Science Act (CHIPS) are once-in-a-generation opportunities to bring lasting changes to communities and, in the process, build trust between residents and government. However, without intentional communication from trusted messengers, both the opportunities for individuals presented by these investments, and the direct impacts these investments will have on individuals' lives and their financial well-being, risk getting lost.

The Opportunity: Virginia Mayer (Executive Director of the Democratic Mayors Association) and Frank DiGiammarino (who led the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) have developed a concept for a reporting engine that would equip mayors – who often act as trusted messengers for their communities – with the data necessary to communicate with residents about the outcomes of past investments in their area, as well as about forthcoming events and projects taking place in their zip code. Pulling from the Center for American Progress’s dataset for BIL, IRA, and CHIPS investments and a dataset for past investments from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, this engine could help mayor’s offices share the impact of implementation in 50 cities over the course of one year. Please contact Frank DiGiammarino to learn more.

August Spotlight: News from Members & Friends

Have a notable investment, partnership, or event coming up? Let Max Shipman know at shipman@tfreedmanconsulting.com and we’ll feature it next month.

• America Achieves launched their Collective Impact Talent Summer Series – a multi-week set of blog posts describing best practices for recruiting, hiring and retaining diverse top talent. The series shares lessons learned from the team’s work providing capacity-building support to regional coalitions applying for federal funding through competitions like the Economic Development Administration’s Build Back Better Regional Challenge, Good Jobs Challenge and Regional Technology and Innovation Hubs. Current posts cover tips for  launching a successful talent search, hiring teams, competency-based hiring, and more.

• Madeline Janis, Executive Director of Jobs to Move America, examined the misconception that “Made in the USA” implies job quality in a recent article for Forbes Magazine. Her piece argues that we have an opportunity to use good industrial policy to leverage IRA and CHIPS funding into building family and community sustaining manufacturing jobs. 

• The Milken Institute’s Community Infrastructure Center released the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) Wayfinder channel this month, which will support communities form coalitions to apply for GGRF funding - starting with Solar for All funding. Milken and the Rural Community Assistance Partnership also released a Predevelopment Guide to help communities find grant matches and provide project readiness assessments, data, templates, and resources for predevelopment activities.

• In an article for Next City, New America’s Hollie Russon Gilman and Harvard’s Grace Levin write about civic engagement experiments led by cities across the world to increase civic trust and equity. As ARPA, BIL and IRA funds flow to U.S. cities, the piece highlights the historic opportunity for localities to use participatory budgeting processes to include residents in the decision-making process for how federal funds should be spent.

• The National League of Cities published the State of the Cities 2023 report, which analyzed 37 recent State of the City speeches given by U.S. mayors. The report finds that, in their speeches, U.S. mayors are discussing infrastructure at a historically high frequency due to the influx of federal funding.

• Hyphen released a draft version of the State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF) Impact Initiative, or SII, a philanthropic strategy to help local governments equitably and effectively allocate SLFRF resources. As of December 2022, 300 local governments have obligated only 0-40% of the total $16 billion SLFRF funding they’ve received. Working with partner organizations, the SII will provide local governments with targeted support through technical assistance, peer learning, and issue-focused accelerators efforts that adopt the best practices detailed in Treasury’s Equity and Outcomes Resource Guide.

• United for Infrastructure hosted Submitting for Competitive NOFOs: Understanding Best Practices and Pitfalls on August 16 featuring speakers from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). DOT speakers presented on all aspects of the grant process, offered tips for making grant applications as competitive as possible, and highlighted resources to support grant applicants such as the DOT Navigator and NOFO Guide. The presenters’ slides are available here.

• Stanford’s Lawyers for Sustainable Economy Initiative is hosting a webinar series on the IRA for tribal communities. The second webinar will take place on September 25 from 3-4:15 PM ET. The September 25th event will focus on the IRA’s Investment Tax Credit and Production Tax Credit. Recordings of past webinars in the series can be accessed here.
  

NEWS UPDATES

A snapshot of this month’s key news.

Climate and Energy:

• On the one-year anniversary of the IRA, the White House released a fact sheet highlighting the legislation’s progress toward meeting climate goals, creating good-paying jobs, and more. The fact sheet estimates that philanthropy, impact investors, and intermediaries have committed at least $1.6 billion to support implementation of the IRA’s clean energy and climate provisions.

• The U.S. Department of the Treasury (DOT), Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and DOE released final rules and guidance for the Low-Income Communities Bonus Credit program, which will allocate bonus tax credits for a total of 1.8 gigawatts of capacity to solar and wind facilities in low-income communities, on tribal lands, or in other underserved areas. The application process will open during fall of 2023 and is expected to be open until early 2024. 

• DOE opened applications for state and territory implementation of the two Home Energy Rebate programs created by the IRA to make energy upgrades more affordable for single-family and multi-family homes. The Home Efficiency Rebates Program provides a total of $4.3 billion in grants to reduce the cost of whole-home energy efficiency upgrades and the Home Electrification and Appliance Rebates Program provides $4.275 billion in grants to reduce the cost of efficient electric technologies. Rebates will be available for consumers and households to receive after their state or territory has applied for rebate allocation.  

• A recent Washington Post-University of Maryland poll assessed Americans’ awareness of and support for the IRA. It found that less than 3 in 10 Americans know a “good or great deal” about the IRA, and 4 in 10 say they support it. However, support rises for some individual energy-related tax credits included in the legislation.

Economic Development:

• This month, several pieces highlighted the shortage of workers with skills needed to support the CHIPS Act’s $52 billion investment into the semiconductor industry, as well as potential solutions:

  • A recent analysis of the CHIPS Act conducted by Revelio Labs found that U.S. chip makers are taking twice as long as other industries to hire skilled personnel, despite a sharp increase in job openings. The CHIPS Act requires companies to provide certain worker benefits, but the combination of a tight labor market and the reality that not many people have the necessary expertise, has made filling roles in the industry difficult. This shortage in workers could jeopardize the effectiveness of the Act’s investment into the industry.

  • The Washington Post Editorial Board discusses strategies to remedy worker shortages facing the semiconductor industry. Ranging from diversifying the workforce to expanding apprenticeship programs, suggested strategies emphasize careful resource allocation and implementation to get the most use out of CHIPS investments.

• A new U.S. Department of the Treasury analysis shared with CNN finds that IRA investments to date are predominantly benefiting communities that have been historically left behind: almost 90% of announced investments in IRA-related sectors (e.g., clean energy, manufacturing) are in counties with below-average weekly wages, more than 80% are in counties with below-average college graduation rates, and 65% are in counties with above-average poverty rates and child poverty rates.

Workforce:

• The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania created the Commonwealth Workforce Transformation Program (CWTP), a first-in-the-nation job training program that provides workforce development grants to companies, contractors, unions, and other organizations working on projects funded by  BIL and IRA. These entities will receive grants up to $40,000 for each new employee hired and trained and up to a maximum of $400,000 per contract or award. Under the CWTP, Pennsylvania will reserve at least 3% of all BIL and IRA funding it receives to fund workforce development and on-the-job training, resulting in as much as $400 million over five years. This represents the largest single workforce investment in the Commonwealth’s history.

Broadband:

• The Benton Institute released a guide that includes 10 principles to help states provide equitable, reliable, affordable high-speed internet services. The 10 Principles span 5 categories emphasizing equity, community empowerment, sustainability, community benefits, and accountability. 

Water:

• The Urban Water Funders network is hosting a webinar from 1-2:30pm ET on September 6th about lessons learned from “Our Water LA”, a coalition that successfully advocated for a new tax to fund billions of dollars in storm water capture projects and green infrastructure across Los Angeles. The webinar will cover topics such as sustaining diverse coalitions, power-building strategies, policy language and ensuring equitable project pipelines.

Transportation:

• The Department of Transportation (DOT) is accepting applications for two planning grant opportunities. The $13.4 million Pilot Program for Transit-Oriented Development Planning will support local planning near transit hubs to help connect communities, reduce residents’ transportation costs and carbon footprint, and improve transit access to jobs and services. The . $50 million SMART Stage 1 Planning and Prototyping Grants will fund data and technology capacity-building support for State, local, and Tribal governments to improve transportation efficiency and safety. Both grant programs will accept applications until October 10, 2023.

New Resources:

• Atlas Public Policy’s Climate Program Portal is now open to all site visitors. The Portal is a resource for organizations and public agencies tracking federal investments in climate initiatives from BIL and IRA.

• The White House updated data on its Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) Maps Dashboard. The dashboard now contains data for announced funding as of July 7, 2023 and data for awarded funding as of May 31, 2023.  

• The USDA Rural Development Innovation Center released pocket guides for IRA programs administered by DOE, the U.S. Department of Treasury, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Economic Development Agency. These pocket guides will serve as reference tools to aid stakeholders in their  search for funding opportunities, either by potential uses for funding or by what type of entity the stakeholder is. 

WW+ Bulletin: August Edition