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.

October 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.

• Next Street announced that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will be supporting their efforts to create more opportunities for small businesses to take advantage of the new procurement economy. With support from the Foundation, Next Street will launch supplier resource hubs in Michigan and Los Angeles, and develop a New Procurement Economy Knowledge Network to share best practices across regional and national efforts. 

• Jobs to Move America launched the Community Benefits Agreement Resource Center (CBARC), a knowledge hub that will provide support and resources to those developing benefits frameworks that aid workers and communities most impacted by the development of advanced and green technologies.

• Advance CTE announced the approval of the modernized “National Career Clusters Framework”, which includes a new, national Energy and Natural Resources Career Cluster. The addition of the energy cluster represents a significant change that will help students access an industry that is expected to hire 32 million people over the next 10 years. The Center for Energy Workforce Development (CEWD), alongside other subject matter experts, are developing a national career framework to help educators use the new curriculum structure created by the Energy and Natural Resources cluster. CEWD will be holding a workshop about opportunities presented by the new cluster at the 2024 CEWD Workforce Development Summit on November 19-21, 2024.

• The Partnership for Public Service (PPS) released their “Framework of Implementation Excellence”, a consolidated knowledge base for the effective implementation of new or existing federal investment programs. The framework lays out seven “building blocks” for successful implementation, such as program design and stakeholder engagement, and outlines roadblocks to implementation, such as inefficient data collection processes. This is the first iteration of the framework and PPS will continue to update it as necessary.

• The US Climate Alliance, a bipartisan coalition of governors, announced the launch of the Governors’ Climate-Ready Workforce Initiative, which aims to grow career pathways in climate and clean energy fields, strengthen workforce diversity, and train one million new registered apprentices by 2035 across the Alliance’s states and territories. In the first year of the initiative, Alliance members will focus on three areas through state-led cohorts: Clean Energy, Fuels, and Technologies; Clean Buildings and Industry; and Resilient Communities and Lands.

• Jobs for the Future released a report challenging the conventional understanding of jobs as “green” or “not green”, arguing that jobs should instead be categorized across three levels of skill integration: additive, blended, or job changing. The authors argue employing this lens will allow workers to better understand what skills they need to advance in the green economy. The report also discusses climate equity, acknowledging that many climate resiliency projects across the US have displaced people of color and offering potential solutions to expand the green economy while prioritizing disadvantaged communities.
  

SPOTLIGHT ON CLIMATE RESILIENCY

• In the wake of Hurricanes Helene and Milton, the International Economic Development Council (IEDC) highlighted resources to help state and local officials begin rebuilding their communities, including:

  • A Leadership in Times of Crisis Toolkit which provides guidance on convening private and public stakeholders, tactics community leaders can leverage to preserve jobs, and tips on how to navigate federal response and recovery resources.

  • A Business Recovery Center Guide which provides action steps for setting up and managing a central hub that offers local, state, and federal resources for businesses recovering from a disaster.

  • A report providing practical advice for leaders and their economic development organizations to consider as they navigate the recovery stage of a disaster.

• Forbes published a piece on the potential for underground power grid infrastructure to prevent electric outages similar to those caused by Hurricanes Milton and Helen. The power grid is typically connected by above-ground wiring and can be vulnerable to strong winds from extreme weather events. Burying power lines, according to the piece, is the most effective way to prevent wind damage. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) provided $10.5 billion to improve grid infrastructure, but this is not enough to meet the scale of the need, and consumers will have to pay for some of the costs. The piece cites a study showing that California consumers are willing to pay the difference to bury power lines when the ask is framed as providing a direct benefit to them.

NEWS UPDATES

A snapshot of this month’s key news.

Climate and Energy:

• The Department of Energy (DOE) announced available grant funding from the Building Upgrades Inspiring Local Transformation (BUILT) Program, which will support non-profit building improvement projects that reduce energy use, lower carbon emissions, and generate short and long-term energy cost saving. The awards will provide up to $100,000 per applicant, and all non-profits that own their buildings are encouraged to apply. Applications are due on November 12, 2024 at 11:59 PM ET.

• The Department of Treasury (Treasury) launched the Clean Energy Storytelling Program, which invites individuals, workers, businesses, and tax-exempt organizations to share their stories about how the Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) clean energy tax incentives are lowering energy costs for families, strengthening manufacturing, and creating good-paying jobs across the country. Stories will be shared across a variety of government communications, including Treasury’s new newsletter, and can be submitted to the Treasury’s website here.

• The White House launched an “Extreme Heat Call to Action” during their first-ever Summit on Extreme Heat. The Call to Action urges state, local, and tribal governments, as well as the private sector and nonprofits, to protect people from extreme heat in 2025. The White House provided a range of resources, including the U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit that partners can leverage to mitigate extreme heat, and invited interested organizations to submit a commitment to take action in advance of the 2025 heat season.

• The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and AmeriCorps launched the Environmental Justice Climate Corp, a sub-program within the American Climate Corps focused on expanding pathways into environmental justice careers. Applications for the Environmental Justice Climate Corps will open in early 2025, and the program’s first cohort will start later that year.

• Realize 2050 released a white paper detailing the top five barriers to implementation for the EPA’s Solar for All Program. The barriers include: 1) siting, permitting and interconnection delays, 2) education and consumer protection risks, 3) Insufficient build capacity, 4) underperformance on savings mandate, and 5) saving verifications and fund distribution complexities. The authors also released a webinar discussing the white paper and its findings.

• Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and additional guidance on the Alternative Fuel Vehicle Refueling Property Credit, which is available to individuals or businesses that install vehicle refueling or electric vehicle recharging stations on their property. The Notice will update Prevailing Wage and Apprenticeship requirements and clarify key terms such as “energy storage” and “credit-eligible property.” The agencies will accept public comments until November 17, 2024 and will hold a public hearing if requested.

• The EPA is issuing a final rule requiring drinking water systems nationwide to replace lead service lines within 10 years, and is investing an additional $2.6 billion in BIL funds for drinking water upgrades and lead pipe replacements. The EPA estimates that this rule will prevent 900,000 infants from being born with low birthweight, save 200,000 IQ points in children, and reduce 1,500 premature heart disease deaths annually. 

Workforce:

• The Department of Energy (DOE) announced its first round of selectees through the BIL-funded Energy Auditor Training (EAT) Grant Program, which will distribute up to $27.98 million to 15 State Energy Offices (SEOs) and the American Samoa Territorial Energy Office (TEO) to expand the energy efficiency sector’s workforce, which already employs 2.2 million Americans.

Broadband:

• Sustainable Capital Advisors (SCA) and Community Dynamix (CDX) published a white paper arguing digital access is essential to realizing a sustainable future because numerous clean technology solutions, like EV charging, require access to broadband and states are currently considering how to best leverage non-deployment funds alongside infrastructure deployment funds. The authors provide three recommendations for integrating digital access into climate projects: 1) promoting cross-collaboration between broadband and sustainability offices to braid multiple funding sources for projects with overlapping goals, 2) encouraging partnerships between utilities and internet service providers, and 3) providing technical assistance and capacity-building support to underserved communities.

Transportation:

• The Department of Transportation (DOT) released a fact sheet celebrating progress spurred in the transportation sector by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). Since BIL was passed in 2021, more than $480 billion in funding has been announced for over 60,000 specific projects. These initiatives have helped repair over 175,000 miles of roadway, expand or improve 11,200 public transportation operations, and modernize over 1,100 airports.

• The Department of Treasury (Treasury) announced that consumers have saved over $2 billion in upfront costs – such as down-payments and registration fees – on their purchases of more than 300,000 electric vehicles since January 2024, under the IRA’s clean vehicle and previously used vehicle tax credits.

Good Governance:

• The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities published a piece encouraging states to promote use of direct pay, especially in disadvantaged communities. To maximize direct pay’s benefits, the authors recommend states play a major role in educating communities about clean energy tax credits, provide technical assistance and upfront financing to help projects access credits, issue guidance incentivizing projects in low-income communities, and track direct pay uptake.

• Recent analysis from the Department of Treasury (Treasury) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) found that 30 million taxpayers in 24 participating states will be eligible for Direct File in Filing Season 2025 – meaning 62% of Americans will live in states that offer the IRS’ new service, which enables taxpayers to prepare and file tax returns online, for free, with assistance from customer support representatives. Building on 2024’s Direct File Pilot, Treasury and the IRS are expanding the tool to cover additional types of income, credits, and deductions.

New Resources:

• The Department of Energy (DOE) launched a Community Benefits Map, which identifies where the agency’s demonstration and deployment investments are occurring, and includes high-level snapshots of the community benefits associated with these investments. The projects on the map represent a subset of the publicly announced BIL and IRA selected and awarded projects requiring community benefits plans.

• The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released its “Extreme Heat Playbook”, a guide that supports communities by providing best practices for building community resilience, mitigating the impacts of extreme heat, and lowering cooling costs for public housing residents.

• The Department of Transportation (DOT) published a matrix of federal programs that can fund rural EV infrastructure. The list notes the type of EV activities that are eligible for funding under each program, as well as the eligible entities.

WW+ Bulletin: October Edition