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.

On behalf of the entire What Works Plus (WW+) team, happy holidays! We are so grateful for all you do to advance equitable and effective implementation of federal funding – and for being a loyal subscriber to this newsletter!

WW+ celebrated its first full year in 2023 and, with 2024 approaching, we are taking a moment to reflect on all of the work made possible by your ongoing support and partnership. Some highlights since our launch in April 2022 are at the end of this newsletter. 

December 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.

• Accelerator for America Action announced that United for Infrastructure’s 12th Annual Infrastructure Week will take place May 13 - 17, 2024. Infrastructure Week is an annual, nationwide opportunity to highlight the importance of infrastructure and advocate for improvements that address some of our country’s toughest challenges in transit, water systems, energy and more. Any organization interested in raising awareness about the state of infrastructure in their community or across the country is invited to participate for free. Participation in this week can take many shapes - ranging from hosting panel discussions and ribbon cutting events to releasing new reports, videos, op-eds and more. Organizations interested in participating can fill out this registration form. 

• The Funder’s Network (TFN) has opened the latest round of its Partners for Places Grant Program. Partners for Places enhances local capacity to build sustainable and equitable communities in the US and Canada through one-to-one matching grant awards. The program provides investments of $45,000-$150,000 for one-year projects or $75,000-$180,000 for two-year projects. Grants are typically awarded to sustainability projects that focus on empowering low-income communities. Proposals are due February 27, 2024. TFN will be holding a webinar to provide more information about the program on January 17 at 3:00 PM ET.

• Don Howard, President and CEO of the James Irvine Foundation, and Elena Chavez Quezada, California Governor’s Senior Advisor on Social Innovation, co-authored an op-ed using specific examples from their work together in California to lay out recommendations for how philanthropy and the public sector can partner to ensure infrastructure funds help strengthen local economies, generate quality jobs, and build climate resilience in every community.

• The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) released Roadmap to Equity: Ensuring Federal Infrastructure Investments Translate into Good Jobs for People of Color and Women. The paper aims to support national, state, and community leaders and advocates navigate the three major infrastructure laws by 1) providing a high-level overview of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), and the CHIPS and Science Act; 2) identifying the workforce and supportive service funding opportunities within these investments; 3) highlighting initiatives that can promote equity in infrastructure jobs; and 4) recommending a preliminary set of action steps for local and state leaders and advocates that can help ensure infrastructure jobs benefit women and people of color.

• Melanie Allen, co-director of the Hive Fund For Climate and Gender Justice, argues in a recent piece that there is an urgent need for more philanthropic support to aid equitable implementation of the IRA. The post highlights philanthropy’s work to date to help prepare communities to access funding through the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, and suggests philanthropies build on this progress by engaging grantee networks, partnering with funding intermediaries, funding technical support networks, investing in equitable finance organizations and supporting collaborations to scale local solutions.  

• In a recent opinion piece, James Anderson (Bloomberg Philanthropies) and Clarence Anthony (National League of Cities) discuss how their organizations help smaller municipalities build the capacity and experience necessary to apply for IRA and BIL grants by providing technical support and offering webinars, strategy-sharing sessions and grant-writing boot camps.

NEWS UPDATES

A snapshot of this month’s key news.

Climate and Energy:

• The Department of the Treasury, in partnership with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Department of Energy (DOE), announced they received a remarkable number of applications for the IRA’s Low-Income Communities Bonus Credit Program, with officials estimating the energy generated by the proposed wind and solar projects in low income communities would surpass this year's targeted allocation by more than four times. With demand outstripping capacity, Treasury is reserving a set amount of the program’s capacity for applications from non-profits, local and tribal governments, worker cooperatives, and key geographies. Applications submitted in categories with remaining capacity will be considered through early 2024 (updates about how much capacity is available in each issue area can be found on a new DOE dashboard). 

• The White House updated its Justice40 Initiative Covered Programs List to include IRA programs. This means that a collection of IRA programs totaling $118 billion must ensure at least 40 percent of the benefits they produce go to disadvantaged communities across the country.

• The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) is seeking public input to inform future versions of the Environmental Justice Scorecard, which assesses the federal government's progress on advancing environmental justice. The first version of the scorecard tracked the progress of 24 federal agencies on advancing the Justice40 initiative, implementing environmental civil rights laws and embedding environmental justice throughout the federal government. Comments on the program are due by January 19, 2024. 

• The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced $600 million in IRA funding for 11 recently selected Grantmakers under EPA’s Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Grantmaking program. This new grant program, which is designed to make it easier for small community-based organizations to access federal environmental justice funding, will allow communities to apply to a Grantmaker for a subgrant (available by Summer of 2024) to fund a range of different environmental project activities.

Economic Development:

• The National Association of Counties’ Building Resilient Economies in Coal Communities (BRECC) and Counties for Career Success (C4CS) are holding a webinar on January 18, 2024, from 3:00 - 4:00 PM ET to discuss workforce solutions and business strategies aimed at furthering the economic revitalization of coal and manufacturing communities.

• President Biden held the inaugural meeting of the White House Council on Supply Chain Resilience this month. At its first meeting, the council discussed the 30 actions Biden is taking to strengthen America’s supply chains. These include a number of initiatives that utilize BIL and IRA funding such as the creation of the Department of Transportation’s Multimodal Freight Office and the forthcoming DOE critical mineral supply chain tracking tool. A full readout of the meeting is available here.

• The Economic Development Administration announced the 22 finalists of the Distressed Area Recompete Pilot Program. The Recompete Program, funded through the CHIPS & Science Act, targets areas where employment significantly trails the national average, with the goal of closing this gap through community-driven strategies. The finalists, located across 20 states and territories, will now be invited to apply for implementation grants averaging $20 to $50 million through the Phase 2 Notice of Funding Opportunity.

Workforce:

• The White House is hosting listening sessions to solicit ideas on how to shape the American Climate Corps, an initiative to train young people in high-demand skills for jobs in the clean energy economy. Each listening session will feature a special guest and climate champion like Senator Ed Markey, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, White House National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi, AmeriCorps CEO Michael Smith, and more. The sessions will take place on January 11, January 16, January 25, and February 1.

Transportation:

• The Treasury Department and the IRS released proposed guidance on the IRA’s Clean Vehicle Tax Credit, which saves consumers up to $7,500 on a new clean vehicle. Starting in 2024, the new rules will limit electric vehicle (EV) buyers from claiming the full tax credit if they purchase EVs containing battery materials made by a “foreign entity of concern.” The proposed set of rules are set to become final in January following a 30-day public comment period.

New Resources:

• The Environmental Protection Network released a Climate Pollution Reduction Grants application guide and a Community Change Grants application guide. These guides provide suggested steps – including timelines – for each application process. The Climate Pollution Reduction Grant is a $5 billion program with applications due on April 1, 2024 and the Community Change Grant is a $2 billion program with applications due on November 21, 2024.

• The Renewables Accelerator launched America’s Federal Funding Opportunities and Resources for Decarbonization (AFFORD) –  a funding tool designed to help governments and organizations identify, compare, and prioritize different tax credits and other federal incentives. The tool allows users to filter available funding and resources by applicant type, project type, project phase, and funding type

• Brookings’ Anthony F. Pipa and Elise Pietro released the “What’s in it for rural? Analyzing the opportunities for rural America in IIJA, CHIPS, and IRA” report, which examines the estimated combined $464 billion opportunity for rural America and offers recommendations to federal policymakers to maximize benefits from these laws to rural places.

• The Congressional Progressive Caucus Center released “A State Legislators Guide to Direct Pay: Building Jobs & Sustainable Public Energy”, a guide designed to aid state legislators in helping their communities access federal funds through Direct Pay. The guide focuses on expanding racial and economic justice through direct pay, the role state elected champions play in accessing federal funding, and direct pay technical assistance programs.

WW+ Year In Review

Coordinating Investments:

• Helped coordinate philanthropic partners to announce $50M in new funding commitments aligned with the White House's 2022 Talent Pipeline Challenge, in partnership with the Families and Workers Fund and America Achieves

• Partnered with the Hewlett Foundation’s U.S. Democracy Program to develop an IRS Modernization strategy for philanthropy, maintain a proposal bank, and facilitate regular discussions for funders and implementing organizations

Developing New Tools:

• Created, in partnership with America Achieves, the Catalyze philanthropic registry and matchmaking service to enable philanthropy to scale needed support for initiatives that build a diverse talent pool for quality infrastructure careers

• Built a database of 200+ intermediary organizations critical to effective and equitable implementation of IRA funding 

Building & Sharing Knowledge:

• Produced 20+ monthly bulletins featuring resources, news, and announcements

• Developed a Landscape Analysis of Landmark Federal Funding and Opportunities for Impact

• Created a primer for state and local elected officials in Pennsylvania on how to maximize impact from the IRA in partnership with the Heinz Endowments and the Pittsburgh Foundation

• Mapped nationally oriented, philanthropically supported initiatives focused on federal funding implementation 

• Led strategy sprints on infrastructure and climate work and workers, inclusive procurement and climate resilience

Organizing Learning & Coordination Events:

• Organized 15+ WW+ member meetings and briefings

• Led 15+ large-scale learning events for a range of audiences across philanthropy, government, nonprofits and more.

• Helped coordinate the participation of nearly 200 representatives from philanthropy and key intermediary groups in a White House workshop on IRA implementation

Thank you again for everything you do. We look forward to continuing our work together in 2024!

WW+ Bulletin: December Edition