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.

WW+ Updates

Our WW+ team was proud to co-host "Building the Energy Workforce of the Future" with the Center for Energy Workforce Development (CEWD) and Jobs for the Future (JFF) this month. 120 leaders across philanthropy, industry, labor, government, education and nonprofits came together during this moment of historic federal funding to strategize on how to build the big, inclusive talent pipeline needed to realize our nation's clean energy transition. Participants discussed innovative and actionable cross-sector collaboration ideas for 1) building career awareness for the energy sector, 2) eliminating barriers to entering the energy industry​, 3) job training and upskilling, 4) accessing capital 5) job quality, and 6) expanding diversity in the energy workforce.

January 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.

• The Milken Institute’s Community Infrastructure Center (CIC) connects community project sponsors to federal and non-federal funding sources and project readiness tools to help communities develop loan-worthy, grant-worthy and investment-ready infrastructure projects, focusing especially on under-served rural, urban, tribal and environmental justice communities with capacity challenges. Anyone can sign up for a free account on the CIC as either a Project Sponsor or Provider. CIC is hosting two new series of calls in 2024:

  • Monthly Community of Practice Calls for CIC members and stakeholders to share project success stories with each other, learn about tactical project development, and get the latest on resources and models for project deployment. They kicked off their January call with panelists from federal agencies including The White House, DOT, and EPA. The next panel on February 12 will focus on how to highlight project equity outcomes featuring panelists from Groundswell, Replica, Just Transition Fund, and Partnership for Equitable & Resilient Communities (PERC).

  • Bi-monthly Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) Learning and Collaboration Calls to help stakeholders navigate GGRF implementation and prepare for capital deployment in 2024. The meetings will discuss topics such as product development, coalition building, and evaluation strategies.

• The National Fund for Workforce Solutions is accepting session proposals for SHIFT Toward an Equitable Future, their biennial convening bringing together hundreds of workforce practitioners, employers, funders, and community partners to discuss strategies for ensuring workforce equity. The convening will take place in Memphis, Tennessee, from September 24 - 26, 2024. Session proposals are due February 9, 2024.

• The Harvard Kennedy School Government Performance Lab Procurement Excellence Network is hosting a pro-bono Green Request For Proposal (RFP) Boot Camp to help jurisdictions write strong, results-driven RFPs that advance sustainability or climate goals. The boot camp will support jurisdictions in the development of RFPs that address 1) the sustainability of traditional goods or services purchase (such as landscaping or printing) or 2) a purchase related to local government sustainability goals (such as EV charging stations or solar panel installation). The boot camp will take place from March to April 2024 and include four mandatory sessions. Applications are due on February 2, 2024. Reach out to Amanda Jaffe with any questions. 

• The Health and Environmental Funders Network, Neighborhood Funders Group, and The Funders Network announced a series of quarterly calls focused on accessing and leveraging federal funds for climate and environmental justice entitled “Now What: Leveraging Federal Funds & Building Community Capacity for Climate Justice.” The first call will take place on February 12, 2024 from 2:30 to 4:30 PM ET. Registration is open to funders only. Contact Hazel Paguaga with any questions about the event.

• The Local Infrastructure Hub launched new pro-bono technical training and grant-writing boot camps for small and mid-sized municipalities seeking to access Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funding. The boot camps will begin in Winter 2024 and run through Spring 2024, covering topics like the IRA’s clean energy tax credits and the Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) Grant Program. Register for the boot camps here.

  • In an article for StreetsBlog USA, Kea Wilson emphasizes the impact of these boot camps, highlighting that in the most recent round of applications for federal transportation funding, participants in the Hub's bootcamps won 80 percent more funding than the average grantee, despite having less than one-third of the average grantee population.

• In a Brookings piece, Martha Ross outlines the roles workforce leaders can play to prepare workers for BIL and IRA-funded infrastructure and clean energy projects. Ross recommends workforce leaders help infrastructure entities recruit and train employees, convene key stakeholders, link employers to more diverse recruitment pools, and aid employers in developing consistent partners in talent development.

FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

POWER UP HARRIS COUNTY

• Power Up Harris County is working closely with county officials to build a publicly-owned aggregated microgrid, which will provide green, affordable, and reliable energy and hundreds of union jobs to low-income communities in Harris County, Texas. In addition to addressing growing concerns about grid failure and building on resident support for a local renewable electrical alternative, the initiative seeks to create a replicable model for equitable federal funding implementation. 

  Power Up Harris County, an emerging coalition of NEW Houston, Texas Climate Jobs Project, Texas Organizing Project, Texas Gulf Coast AFL-CIO, Unemployed Workers United, and Workers Defense Project, aims to raise an additional $6.25 million in 2024. Learn more about the initiative here or by contacting Caroline Picker, Development Director at Unemployed Workers United.

PERMIT POWER

• The permitting challenges for installing rooftop solar, EV chargers, electric heat pumps, and other clean energy equipment add approximately $1 trillion in costs to the clean energy transition. However, the solution – automating permitting for these installations – is straightforward, will dramatically accelerate deployment of clean energy equipment, and can help make the IRA real for millions of homeowners and renters across the country. In the two years after Tucson, Arizona, automated its permitting for rooftop solar, its solar market grew 4.5 times as fast as the rest of Arizona.

  Permit Power is a newly launched non-profit working to scale automated permitting to all clean energy equipment across the entire country using technological tools such as SolarAPP+. Contact Nick Josefowitz, Chief Executive, to learn more about their work and fundraising needs in 2024.

NEWS UPDATES

A snapshot of this month’s key news.

Climate and Energy:

• The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) launched the IRA/CHIPS Pre-filing Registration Tool for tax-exempt entities that intend to access IRA and CHIPS and Science Act (CHIPS) tax credits through Direct Pay. Entities must use this tool to register their intention to make a direct payment or transfer a credit. The IRS has published a user guide and a video tutorial for the portal.

• The U.S. Department of the Treasury and the IRS released proposed regulations for the IRA’s Clean Hydrogen Production Credit. The proposed rules describe how taxpayers should use energy attribute certificates, lay out the eligibility requirements for hydrogen production from landfill gas, and define key terms used in the IRA such as “qualified clean hydrogen” and “lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions.” The rules are open for public comment until February 26, 2024.

• The White House will hold the last of a series of American Climate Corps Program listening sessions on February 1, 2024 at 10:00 AM ET to solicit feedback on the program from applicants and implementing partners. The session will feature a climate champion; previous sessions featured Senator Markey and Senator Casey. Register for the call here.

Economic Development:

• In recent remarks about the The White House’s place-based economic approach, National Economic Council Director Lael Brainard emphasized the ways in which BIL, IRA and CHIPS are unlocking private capital and the economic potential of previously left-behind communities. Among several examples, Brainard pointed to 1) special programs designed to connect left-behind communities to nearby areas of economic opportunity, like the Department of Transportation (DOT)’s BIL-funded Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program, 2) special incentives to encourage private investments in hard hit communities, like the IRA’s bonus tax credits to small-scale solar and wind projects in low-income communities, and 3) models for multiplying innovation clusters, like the CHIPS-funded Regional Tech Hubs and NSF Regional Innovation Program, which support science and innovation clusters beyond a handful of major metro areas.

Workforce:

• The White House announced new commitments made as part of the Advanced Manufacturing Workforce Sprint, a drive to build a diverse, skilled workforce for advanced manufacturing jobs. Since the initiative kicked off in October 2023, over 160 organizations have made new commitments to workforce development, over 150 registered apprenticeship programs have been created, and over 4,700 apprentices have been hired in the manufacturing sector. To expand on these successes, The White House is announcing new investments –  $50 million in January alone – to grow and diversify America’s advanced manufacturing workforce. The AFL-CIO Working for America Institute is also developing a universal pathway curriculum for advanced manufacturing to provide students and workers with an onramp to good manufacturing careers. 

Good Governance

• In a Center for American Progress report, Chris Bast, Hannah Argento-McCurdy, and Elisia Hoffman suggest ways the federal government can enhance technical assistance to states and cities, including by funding responsive and real-time technical assistance, creating regional federal climate and infrastructure implementation task forces, easing the capacity burden on state and local governments, and coordinating governmental and non-governmental technical assistance programs.

• As part of ongoing IRS modernization efforts made possible by the IRA, the IRS announced the launch of the Simple Notice Initiative, an initiative focused on simplifying and redesigning common tax documents. The changes will apply to around 170 million letters that are sent out to individual taxpayers every year to help them claim the credits and deductions they are eligible for and meet their tax obligations. The redesigned notices will be shorter, and with clearer language about the steps taxpayers need to take.

Transportation:

• The U.S. Department of the Treasury, IRS and the Department of Energy (DOE) announced new actions to lower the costs of electric vehicles (EVs) and expand EV charging networks, including:

  • New guidance on the IRA’s Alternative Fuel Vehicle Refueling Property Credit (30C), which provides up to 30% off the cost of EV chargers to individuals and businesses in low-income communities and non-urban areas. The guidance expanded on eligibility and credit guidelines, with the DOE launching the 30C Tax Credit Eligibility Locator for taxpayers to confirm eligibility.

  • $325 million in grants to increase the reliability of publicly accessible chargers, advance EV technologies, and support workforce development for EV charging deployment and maintenance.

  • $623 million in grants from the BIL-funded Charging and Fueling Infrastructure (CFI) Discretionary Grant Program to fund 47 EV charging and alternative-fueling infrastructure projects and create 7,500 EV charging ports across the country.

New Resources:

• The Climate Program Portal recently launched the Wetland Impact Tracker, a new interactive tool that tracks permit applications for development projects – including oil and gas projects, construction, and dredging – on the nation’s navigable waters. This tool can be used to better understand how development projects are impacting specific communities.

• The Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP) and Collaborative Labeling and Appliance Standards Program (CLASP) published a report analyzing the IRA’s impacts on heat pump uptake with accompanying policy recommendations. The report examines state-level policy and regulatory actions and strategies to address uptake gaps, including public access and participation, clean heat standards, hybrid heat, energy efficiency programs, rate design, workforce training and development, and tariffed on-bill financing.

• In a new report, the Climate Jobs Institute addresses the need to ensure clean energy jobs created by BIL and IRA are high-quality and accessible to historically underserved communities. The report argues apprenticeship readiness programs are key to creating a diverse clean energy workforce, and provides case studies and best practices for cities looking to invest in workforce development through these programs.

WW+ Bulletin: January Edition