10 U.S. Communities using $354,500 in Grants for Community-led Climate Action Projects
Ten communities are using $354,500 in Community Climate Implementation Fund grants now: Alameda, California; Austin, Texas; Baltimore, Maryland; Charleston, South Carolina; Duluth, Minnesota; Healdsburg, California; Los Angeles, California; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Salem, Massachusetts; San Francisco, California.
These ten communities bring $727,000 to the table in additional funds to help promote climate action through partnerships between local governments and non-profit organizations. This represents just over $1 million USD in new climate investment.
How are these Community Climate Implementation grants help local climate action efforts?
In Alameda the outcome of CCIF support will be the establishment of a Partners Group led by non-profit Build it Green, with the goals of increased access to alternative sources of funding that may be needed; access to other resources – such as policy and programmatic support – that Partners Group members may be able to provide; insight on how to effectively assemble and leverage funding to support disadvantaged communities pursuing climate justice; and the creation of relationships that can help advance the APR project and spread learning and inspiration from the project to other communities.
Austin is using its Community Climate Implementation grant to create energy-efficient and climate-resilient multifamily affordable housing. The non-profit partner, Foundation Communities (FC) will conduct Energy & Decarbonization Audits at two existing properties. This will jumpstart local capacity to learn what exact steps are required from FC, the owner and operator of 30 affordable housing communities in Austin, to take advantage of the EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. Their overall goal is to build and maintain deeply affordable housing for Austin’s most vulnerable populations that can withstand the challenges brought on by climate change and severe-weather related events.
Baltimore is leveraging the Community Climate Implementation fund to inform the creation of a regional Resilience Authority and explore the mechanisms to manage traditional debt financing tools such as revenue bonds, as well as more innovative mechanisms such as public-private partnerships (P3s) performance-based procurement, purchasing, and financing. Under this model, a Baltimore Energy and Climate Resilience Authority would be able to finance and catalyze clean energy, energy efficiency, flooding/green infrastructure, and climate change mitigation projects in both the government and private sectors.
Charleston is using its grant to support the Charleston Climate Coalition (CCC), a nonprofit organization and grassroots collective of Lowcountry citizens working on local climate solutions, to partner with the City on a “Green the East Side” initiative to set the stage for community leadership and engagement on green infrastructure buildout on the East Side.
Duluth is presenting the Minnesota Point Coastal Resilience Action Plan to the public through educational materials, site visits, and invited speakers. The two-day event will celebrate completion of the Action Plan and recognize Minnesota Point as a part of the Great Lakes Hope Spot through Mission Blue and the Shedd Aquarium. Non-profit partner, Minnesota Point 50, will collaborate in a facilitated meeting to develop a framework for implementing, monitoring, and establishing criteria for evaluating success of actions over the upcoming year. A report of the design framework for the Minnesota Point Action Plan for 2025 - 2026 will be presented for peer review with partners and coastal management professionals. The resulting action plan is envisioned to be a living document that will be updated annually and implemented through collaborative efforts of MP50 and Minnesota Point partners.
In Healdsburg, the grant is supporting the partnership with non-profit, Corazon Healdsburg, to catalyze implementation of Healdsburg’s appliance replacement program targeted specifically for large low-income apartment complexes. Corazon Healdsburg will provide apartment managers with support, as well as supporting the families living in these communities by providing swap out support. Corazon will also provide the housing managers with a financial stipend as the properties complete their appliance replacements to encourage them to prioritize this project in their long list of day-to-day tasks and property operations. Corazon staff will also be trained by City staff on all the relevant City, State, and Federal incentive and support programs, so they can provide bilingual support to low-income residents needing additional support services and further leverage additional local, state, and federal programs.
In Los Angeles, the grant is supporting non-profit partner, City Plants, in the creation of a nursery network framework to share resources, knowledge, experience and training opportunities focused on seed collection, propagation, and nursery infrastructure. The network will prioritize tree and plant distribution efforts through plant and tree propagation to increase canopy in underserved and underinvested City & County of Los Angeles communities.
Philadelphia is using its grant to partner with the Building Electrification Institute to support a participatory research-based Funding and Financing Gap Analysis for Philadelphia’s residential decarbonization. This analysis will assess the costs, funding availability, gaps, and opportunities associated with scaling weatherization, electrification, and solarization programs tailored to Philadelphia’s local context and focused on the needs of low- to moderate-income single-family and multi-family housing.
In Salem, the grant is supporting the construction of a resilience hub at St. Peter's-San Pedro Episcopal Church that will provide critical services during power outages; plan for the development of a networked community solar project that would deliver energy savings, renewable energy, and resilience to low-income residents in The Point/El Punto neighborhood; and complete the planning necessary to improve energy efficiency in and electrify several representative low-income multifamily apartments. These will be linked in a “Heaven and Earth Energy Project,” the combination of a geothermal district energy system with a cloud-based controller that dispatches a virtual power plant to optimize future revenues from grid support.
In San Francisco, the grant is supporting non-profit partner, San Francisco Physicians for Social Responsibility, to do community-based outreach and education activities, designed and implemented by partners of the San Francisco Climate Equity Hub, to promote a heat pump water heater direct-install program, as a pathway to accelerate equitable residential electrification in San Francisco.
Climate Mayors, in partnership with the Urban Sustainability Directors Network (USDN) and C40 is providing $354,500 in funding to these ten communities through the grant program. With contributions from local funders and in-kind donations, a total of $1,081,500 will be committed to fund climate action projects in these selected communities.
The Community Climate Implementation grant recipients, project title, and non-profit partners are:
Alameda, CA. ($26,000): Advancing Marginalized Resident Leadership: The Alameda Point Regeneration Project. Non-Profit Organization: Build it Green.
Austin, TX. ($40,000): Equitable Climate Resiliency in Affordable Multifamily Housing with Energy Audits. Non-Profit Organization: Foundation Communities Additional funding ($4,000).
Baltimore, MD. ($40,000): Achieving Climate Financing and Adaptation Strategies through the creation of a regional Energy and Climate Resilience Authority. Fiscal Sponsor: Baltimore Civic Fund. Additional funding ($50,000).
Charleston, SC. ($40,000): Green the East Side: Equitable Climate Solutions for Resilient Communities. Non-Profit Organization: Charleston Climate Coalition.
Duluth, MN. ($30,000): Minnesota Point Coastal Resilience Annual Site Visit and Action Planning. Non-Profit Organization: Minnesota Point 50. Additional funding ($12,500).
Healdsburg, CA. ($40,000): Catalyzing Energy Efficient Appliance Replacement for Low Income Families. Non-Profit Organization: Corazon Healdsburg. Additional funding ($601,000).
Los Angeles, CA. ($40,000): LA Nursery Network: Collaborating Nurseries to Address Climate & Community Needs. Non-Profit Organization: City Plants.
Philadelphia, PA. ($18,500): Stakeholder-Informed Funding Solutions for Equitable Building Decarbonization in Philadelphia. Fiscal Sponsor: Innovation Network for Communities. They are providing up to $21,500 in in-kind support.
Salem, MA. ($40,000): Delivering Resilience, Renewables, and Energy Savings to The Point/El Punto Neighborhood. Non-Profit Organization: St. Peter's-San Pedro Episcopal Church. Additional funding ($59,500).
San Francisco, CA. ($40,000): Ensuring Equity in Electrification through Outreach. Non-Profit Organization: San Francisco Physicians for Social Responsibility (SF Bay PSR).
These grants are supported in part by funding from Invest in Our Future.
About Climate Mayors: Founded in 2014, Climate Mayors is a bipartisan network of nearly 350 mayors who demonstrate climate leadership through meaningful actions in their communities. Representing 46 states and nearly 60 million Americans, Climate Mayors reflects U.S. cities’ commitment to climate progress. In addition to local climate leadership, Climate Mayors build political will for federal and global climate action. Hundreds of members have signed the Climate Mayors letters committing to the Paris Agreement and calling on Congress to invest in a green and equitable economic recovery.
About The Urban Sustainability Directors Network: The Urban Sustainability Directors Network (USDN) a network of local government professionals across the United States and Canada dedicated to create equitable, resilient, and sustainable communities by advancing the field of local government sustainability and equipping practitioners to be catalysts of transformative change.
About C40: A global network of nearly 100 mayors of the world’s leading cities that are united in action to confront the climate crisis. Mayors of C40 cities are committed to using an inclusive, science-based and collaborative approach to cut their fair share of emissions in half by 2030, help the world limit global heating to 1.5°C, and build healthy, equitable and resilient communities.
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