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PVPC AARC Memo_2021Affordable Access Regional Coordination Memo – PVPC March 2021 Contents Affordable Access Regional Coordination Memo – PVPC March 2021 .................................................... 1 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................... 2 Summary ................................................................................................................................................... 2 Capacity Building ....................................................................................................................................... 3 Agency Impact ....................................................................................................................................... 3 Staff Updates......................................................................................................................................... 3 Organizational Capacity Building .......................................................................................................... 4 Preliminary Learnings/Recommendations ............................................................................................ 6 Training & Outreach .................................................................................................................................. 8 Context  Pivot System Analysis and Intersectionality ....................................................................... 8 Program Partners .................................................................................................................................. 8 Concierge Services .................................................................................................................................. 10 Research and cited works and webinars and conferences (work in progress) ....................................... 13 1 Affordable Access Regional Coordination Memo – PVPC March 2021 | Pioneer Valley Planning Commission Acknowledgements This work is funded by MA DOER AARC, thanks especially to Alyssa Whiteman and Alexis Walls for their guidance and support. For PVPC, Catherine Ratté and Jacinta Williams Summary Our work has evolved to a focus on the city of Springfield and connecting with established community based organizations to advance community led and locally owned Energy Efficiency (EE) and Clean Energy (CE) business(es). Intersectionality defined by Kimberly Crenshaw as “the complex and cumulative way in which the effects of multiple forms of discrimination combine, overlap or intersect, especially in the experiences of marginalized people,” emerged as a key concept in PVPC’s AARC funded work to address the low uses of Mass Save and other EE and CE initiatives available from the Commonwealth. In 2008, Massachusetts adopted three new legislative measures that solidified the Commonwealth’s commitment to a clean, safe, sustainable energy future. This commitment and the subsequent steps taken, earned Massachusetts a number 1 ranking in energy efficiency from the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE); overtaking the state of California, for 8 years in a row. But, evaluations of the terrific and award winning energy efficiency and clean energy initiatives available in the Commonwealth show time and again that access to these benefits, like so many other aspects of life, are affected by the country’s history of white supremacy and institutionalized and systemic racism that make it harder for Black and Latinx communities to take advantage of these benefits and opportunities. As a result, PVPC has re-focused our AARC funded work toward supporting and collaborating with Black and Latinx led and/or staffed community based organizations in Springfield in order to better address the systemic barriers to access to clean energy and energy efficiency incentives being offered by the Commonwealth. Our primary goal and work will aim to rectify a significant concomitant of systemic racism and oppression: the lack of trust and confidence in government. This agnosticism towards government programs, rebates, initiatives and incentives is not unfounded, nor is it unjustified. As Jeffry A. Simpson writes: “Trust involves the juxtaposition of people’s loftiest hopes and aspirations with their deepest worries and fears.”i What that means is simple – as the Commonwealth of Massachusetts truly wants to move towards a cleaner, greener future and economy, it will have to address the lack of common wealth for all of its municipalities and their respective residents; and that includes addressing the lack of green, clean energy and energy efficient wealth for the city of Springfield. Until steps towards healing a fragmented and fractured past are made, Black and Latinx communities will continue to question the intentions of government funded initiatives and will continue to refuse to take advantage of programs that require signatures on waivers, interfere with non-traditional work 2 Affordable Access Regional Coordination Memo – PVPC March 2021 | Pioneer Valley Planning Commission schedules, and appear to require the securing of already stinted financial capital in order to perform energy retrofits. Capacity Building Agency Impact The impact of AARC funding for capacity building related to Energy Efficiency (EE) and Clean Energy (CE) at PVPC has been profound. Enabling the Land Use Environment Section Manager, Catherine Ratté and other PVPC staff Jillian Decoursey, Emily Lange and Jacinta Williams to attend the many workshops, conferences and webinars has expanded the agency’s depth and breadth of knowledge, skills and abilities related to energy efficiency and clean energy and has deepened the individuals’ and the agency’s commitment to maintaining and indeed expanding our clean energy and energy efficiency work, now firmly integrated into our ever deepening understanding that all our work takes place in a context of racial injustice and white supremacy that has drastically limited access for Black and Latinx and other non-white communities, necessitating a transformation in the way we approach this work, design the work and implement the work. Our AARC work has positively influenced our agency’s recent decision to join the Government Alliance on Race and Equity (GARE) and we recommend membership to all RPAs in MA, as well as for the MA DOER. This EE and CE work has been informed by and is informing and improving PVPC’s work on many initiatives including but not limited to: a regional solar best practices guide (funded by the DHCD DLTA program); our work promoting and advancing the Transportation and Climate Initiative in collaboration with T4MA and the Nature Conservancy and the TCI collaborative; our support for a multi community Joint Powers Entity to advance community choice aggregation with a goal of 100% clean energy and resident ownership of efficiency funds (CCE2.0); our partnership and collaboration on the NREL Solar Energy Innovation Network project; our work funded by the Kresge Foundation advancing racial justice, climate action and public health in Springfield via adoption of a Racial and Health Equity Assessment and CCE 2.0; our EOEEA MVP funded work in Springfield focused on Resilient Communications and building trust between vulnerable residents and city staff and elected officials, and our work on the Springfield, Chicopee, Holyoke and Westfield Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice, and our regional Clean Energy and Climate Action committee. We applaud and thank the MA DOER for designing the AARC program with the flexibility necessary to move toward the wicked solutions needed for these complex intersectional problems of why low income and low to middle income people are not taking advantage of the Mass Save and other EE and CE incentives available from the Commonwealth of MA. Staff Updates We have experienced an unusually high amount of staff turnover in this work in the last year. Two staff have left the position focused on this work and it is just this past month that we have filled the staff 3 Affordable Access Regional Coordination Memo – PVPC March 2021 | Pioneer Valley Planning Commission positon for a third time. In addition our community development section, which runs our Housing Rehabilitation and Home Modification Loan Program (HMLP) have also seen significant staff departures and new arrivals. As a result we are behind in some of the planned internal staff development. Staff changes combined with the pandemic and its impact on people who manage, own, live in and develop affordable and low income housing has resulted in delays in our progress. We are requesting an extension through June 30 2022. Organizational Capacity Building Staff have participated in a number of Energy Efficiency and Clean Energy sessions as well as workshops and conferences and newsletters that explicate the complexity of local and state government advancing energy efficiency and clean energy goals focused on affordable and low income housing in the context of systemic and institutional racial and economic injustice that leads to disparate access to and use of Mass Save and other MA CEC and other EE and CE incentives and rebates. There are so many layers of complexity and Massachusetts dysfunctional system of financing affordable housing development is also a key target for improvement. As noted throughout this memo—it is too easy for affordable housing developers to cut out enhanced energy efficiency and clean energy at the last minute when they are trying to ‘get their numbers to balance out’. Massachusetts needs funding set aside for energy efficient clean energy affordable housing. Newsletters and useful websites: We subscribe to a number of newsletters and regularly check in on and review a number of websites and read various reports. These ongoing staff training opportunities are very much appreciated and have had a positive impact on PVPC staff. MA CEC MA DOER CESA Clean Energy States Alliance Built Environment Plus ACEEE blog/newsletter Massachusetts Clean Energy Digest MA Clean Energy Group EUCI newsletter and webinars Utility Drive Resilient Power at Clean Energy Group NESEA Solar+Storage News The Energy Conservatory US EPA State and Local Energy and Environment Program EPA Energy Star NREL Energy Analysis Inside Clean Energy Building Performance Association Environmental League of MA EERE Digest of Clean Energy News 4 Affordable Access Regional Coordination Memo – PVPC March 2021 | Pioneer Valley Planning Commission Ener-G-Save USDOE CET Center for Eco Technology UMASS Clean Energy Center Reports/Studies We have made a point of reading major reports from the Commonwealth and others that seem relevant. A selection we have reviewed includes: Net-Zero America report release by Princeton University MA Decarbonization Roadmap | Mass.gov Massachusetts Clean Energy and Climate Plan for 2030 | Mass.gov Organizations and Conferences: ACEEE conferences and webinars and the BECC (Behavior Energy and Climate Change) Summer Study were very useful. The BECC Summer study exposed the team to research and projects from around the world and it included a great combination of inspiring big thinkers and visionaries and nitty gritty detailed working papers and technical reports. NESEA Building Energy Conference – absolutely essential, especially now with a strong focus on equity. Coop Power – bi- annual sustainability conference in our region that lifts up racial justice and social equity in cooperatively owner clean energy and advanced energy efficiency. Facing Race Facing Race is the largest intergenerational, and multicultural conference on racial justice in the U.S. Sessions attended: • Climate Justice Now! Winning a Just and Equitable Green New Deal, Adrian Salazar, Demos and Rhianna Gunn-Wright, The Roosevelt Institute • Racial Justice Approaches to Community Organizing, LeeAnn Hall & Libero Della Piana, Alliance for a Just Society, • Building a regional narrative infrastructure for transformative change, • Energy Justice is Racial Justice, Chandra Farley-Partnership for Southern Equity, • A perfect storm for change-a case study of climate equity Each conference included amazing keynotes and panel discussions as well as breakout sessions. A thread of commonality among all, presenters and organizations alike, was the call for transformational change in the EE and CE system. This affirms the need for new and/or transformed community based organization(s) focusing on EE and CE and green jobs in Springfield and the region. 5 Affordable Access Regional Coordination Memo – PVPC March 2021 | Pioneer Valley Planning Commission Preliminary Learnings/Recommendations Across the country and in Massachusetts it is not uncommon for people to experience extremely long waiting lists to receive “no cost” home energy assessments, such that people never hear back and give up trying to schedule an appointment. Utility procurement processes can be biased against clean energy, so we suggest a move to an 'all source approach' which allows technologies to compete fairly and can reduce costs. Rumors abound that staff stop conducting home energy assessments even if there are still eligible people on the waiting list, when their ‘target number’ is met, and no one knows or understands who sets these ‘targets’. Rumors that families who know to call their State Rep or some other person with ‘agency’ and ‘power’ or access to power makes a phone call or send an email and within a few days the family is being served. Such a dramatic complaint based system that relies on access to privilege to get the system to work for you is dysfunctional and needs to be transformed. Battery storage in disadvantaged communities is a topic being discussed and proposed more and more. Upfront costs - rebate and incentive based systems are racially discriminatory when it is documented that a Black family in Boston is worth $8 compared to a white family’s value of $247,000.ii Micro-grids and Distributed energy need to be advanced in low income communities. Workforce development must be integrated into energy efficiency, clean energy and work toward mandated climate action goals with a focus on racial justice; there are many excellent models across the country and here in MA and our region -- so much money is being made but not by Black and Latinx communities, who are still paying for the EE work. There is very little transparency in how, when and how many families are served by the Springfield Partners for Community Action. Systemic and institutionalized racism that has led to lower confidence in government, distrust, lack of accumulated wealth, lower rates of home ownership, less free time, less disposable income, lower property values, higher rates of suspension and expulsion from school, lower rates of graduation and advanced education conspire to make it hard to take advantage of programs that require significant investments of time, such as 4 hours. “Gesturing toward a de-colonial post capitalist frame“ Affordability and the nature of EE and RE funding coming as rebates means individuals and organizations navigating the obtuse maze that is affordable housing financing in Massachusetts cannot factor them into their delicate financial calculations, so it is easy to lop them off at the slightest hint of cost over- runs. 6 Affordable Access Regional Coordination Memo – PVPC March 2021 | Pioneer Valley Planning Commission Portland OR ACEEE session—example of completely Black and Brown space-‘bake the cake together’… ‘what if we don’t want cake?” Repairing broken trust; Policy Solutions lab and new ordinance-Building performance standards for rentals. BECC session-Dane Co WI, build and implement a theory of change; it is far less transactional than a logic model. Don’t ask for free advice from non-white, Black and Brown communities; frame this work as an opportunity to ‘fix the broken system’. Numerous groups across the city of Springfield (and in comparable cities across the country) are increasingly acknowledging the challenge of distributing ‘goods’ at no cost to low income and other economically disadvantaged people. From healthy trees to ValleyBike memberships, from home health assessments to lead abatement, and school meals, Black and Latinix in Springfield are not taking advantage of literally thousands of dollars of amenities and improvements available to them, their homes and their families at what is advertised as “no up front” financial cost. Indeed, in some cases the families have already paid for the ‘free’ service, as is the case with home energy assessments and $2,000 of the recommended home improvements in insulation and air sealing. Government and the not for profit sector seeking to improve the lives of low income people need to re-consider the approach of ‘giving’ services and access to resources away when the “cost” of the so-called “free” services is really quite high. We understand we need to include information on and place the work in the context of public health and climate action and racial justice and racial equity and housing discrimination and disparate energy cost burden. Grassroots driven and Green jobs—we need to capture the huge investments available as owners of the means of production, not just workers and we need to create meaningful paid internships and facilitate and cultivate mentoring and networking. Continuous engagement--Increasingly urban and regional planners and community development facilitators are moving away from project based too often ‘after the fact’ community ‘engagement’ to on-going, continuous sometimes drop in and sometimes project based engagement and dialogue to make real steps up the age-old ‘ladder of citizen participation from a minimum of informing to a goal of citizen control. We will pilot continuous engagement over the course of the remaining 15 months of this project as we provide ‘concierge services’ to families and neighborhoods to help them make their homes more energy efficient and to take advantage of the many opportunities for integration of clean energy. 7 Affordable Access Regional Coordination Memo – PVPC March 2021 | Pioneer Valley Planning Commission Training & Outreach Context  Pivot System Analysis and Intersectionality White Supremacy, Racism, Disparate Access to Opportunity, Distrust in Government, Lack of Opportunity, Housing Burden and Energy cost burden, need to prioritize racial equity Physical context-asbestos, lead paint Time/Resources Context-difficulty of scheduling, learn from COVID, Mutual Aid versus rely on/count on/trust government Our initial approach that included a focus on housing developers and managers, building relationships and transitioning to concierge services, ended up not being what is needed at this time in our region of western MA. Our initial stakeholder group included the Housing Directors and Sustainability staff from our four core cities: Chicopee, Holyoke, Springfield and Westfield as well as the city of Northampton-as they have consistently demonstrated an extra effort and commitment to advancing EE and CE—and the five cities’ Housing Authority staff and affordable housing developers – Home City Housing, Domus, The Community Builders, Habitat for Humanity, as well as regional Community Development Corporations, Way Finders and the Valley CDC, and staff and faculty from the UMASS Clean Energy Center. Based on the comments in meetings and stakeholder interviews, as well as from focus groups held as part of the Springfield, Holyoke, Chicopee, Westfield Fair Housing Analysis, we concluded that the relatively small housing development/management market combined with the relatively large market of highly trained energy efficiency and clean energy focused builders and architects means that housing developers/managers can and do rely on their architects to maximize EE and CE as affordable in their project design, scoping, and budgeting processes. As a result of this information we were shifting our focus to our five cities’ Housing Authorities and then the pandemic happened. Concurrent with our recognition that city Housing staff and Housing Authority staff were no longer available, our internal capacity building was leading us to the conclusion that we needed to transform the way we had interpreted AARC. Concurrent with these revelations was the challenge of working with three separate municipal owned utilities and two different investor owned utilities in the five initial target cities. All this, combined with staffing challenges have resulted in our new focus. Program Partners Ener-G-Save – focus on Community Action Agency, Springfield Partners for Community Action Way Finders Community Outreach and Engagement Springfield Food Policy Council & Gardening the Community—growing green jobs and youth empowerment Arise for Social Justice Neighbor to Neighbor City Councilors Trayce Whitfield and Jesse Lederman Public Health Institute of W MA & Live Well Springfield Coalition 8 Affordable Access Regional Coordination Memo – PVPC March 2021 | Pioneer Valley Planning Commission ReGreen Springfield Energia All In Energy City staff-Sustainability Director, Neighborhood Council staff, new Racial and Health Equity staff person Springfield Housing Authority How have we been keeping partners engaged We have been engaging our partners through a variety of means including stakeholder meetings, a project newsletter, our project website and one on one meetings. Stakeholder group-we held stakeholder meetings at the beginning of the project but into the pandemic participation waned and we changed focus. We have not yet tried to convene a new large group of all our new stakeholders. Newsletter—we issued three newsletters, summarizing status of the work, training sessions we were planning to attend or that we had attended and highlighting important conferences such as the NESEA Building Energy conference. We are excited about the next newsletter to explain our new approach. One on one conversation-this has evolved to be our most common form of partner engagement. We have stayed engaged with Ener-G-Save via one on one meetings and finding opportunities to collaborate. We attended the Equity group meeting of the Massachusetts Energy Efficiency Advisory Committee (EEAC) and also worked with Susan Olshuff on her testimony to the EEAC. We met with Mary Wambui, Senator Stan Rosenberg and Roanna from All In Energy to strategize an action plan to lift up the issues identified with SPCA’s energy efficiency program and to build our capacity to advance this important work. We have had one on one meetings with the community engagement and outreach specialist at Way Finders, the largest CDC in W MA focused on affordable housing and ensuring everyone has a home and with the Springfield Food Policy Council (SFPC). Way Finders has a very successful Resident Health Advocate (RHA) program and the SFPC has a robust cadre of engaged familes with whom we plan to collaborate. Materials/resources created for AARC program Website - Affordable Access to Regional Coordination (AARC) | PVPC Internal manual Newsletter Trainings/Outreach conducted with External Stakeholders We have conducted outreach with both our former and our present stakeholders but we have not yet conducted training sessions for them. 9 Affordable Access Regional Coordination Memo – PVPC March 2021 | Pioneer Valley Planning Commission Concierge Services Shift for 2021 As explained, with our focus on Springfield we will concentrate on expanding access to energy efficiency and clean energy for people who live in low income and affordable housing in Springfield to make sure it is possible for everyone to receive the services they have helped fund including home energy assessments and 100% no cost air sealing and insulation as well as MA CEC clean energy opportunities. To do so sustainably we will collaborate with and transform the energy efficiency and clean energy system in Springfield, Massachusetts. We will produce recommendations for system and regulatory change as well as lay a foundation, and possibly a few bricks in the walls, for a new or transformed existing community based organization that both promotes and performs home energy assessments and weatherization work. We anticipate working with a consultant on the provision of concierge services to support this new business/organization. In the Pioneer Valley we already have a successful energy efficiency company in Holyoke, Energia, a socially responsible employee-owned energy services company that provides energy efficiency upgrades for residential and commercial properties. Energia grew out of the same idea to cultivate green jobs locally and advance energy efficiency and access to clean energy technology. We are planning to learn from Energia and we also plan to connect more with All In Energy as we continue our AARC funded work in 2021-22. Our staff will research the viability of creating a new 501(c)(3) or transforming an existing organization to establish a focal point in community for ease of access for residents, CBO’s, and community leaders to assemble for the purpose of learning and then returning to their place of origin to help inform and direct residents. Our goal is to help grow an organization that is trusted by the Black and Latinx communities. Based on our connections with Energia, Ener-G-Save and All In Energy, we will work with our local collaborators to identify an existing organization (or create a new one) interested in transforming to learn EE and CE work, to be trained as energy auditors, to work phone shifts, to canvass communities, speak publicly, etc., and ultimately take over the EE work in Springfield. We understand that this is a long-term process and we do not anticipate being finished in 15 months. We are grateful to have DOER’s support and we are especially excited that Massachusetts’ new climate law includes $12,000,000/year for new businesses exactly like the one we are catalyzing with our collaborators. We will work with designated representatives from the existing organizations listed below: • City Sustainability Coordinator, Gerard Kiernan • Way Finders Community Outreach and Engagement Coordinator Beatrice Dewberry and her staff and Resident Health Advisors, • Arise for Social Justice Executive Director, Tanisha Arena and her resident leaders, • Springfield Food Policy Council Director Liz O’Gilvie, • Martin Luther King Family Services Executive Director Ron Johnson, 10 Affordable Access Regional Coordination Memo – PVPC March 2021 | Pioneer Valley Planning Commission • Public Health Institute of WMA LiveWell Springfield coordinator Samantha Hamilton • Ener-G-Save outreach staff Susan Olshuff • Energia Director Tom Rossmassler Our shared vision for a transformed and/or new community based business/organization in Springfield include the following proposed work tasks which we will be refining with our partners over the coming months: • reach out directly to residents and our partner organizations Resident Health Advocates to investigate the viability and lay the foundation for an organization that is dedicated solely to CE and EE in Springfield • walk residents and small business owners through the home and small business energy assessment process • establish and secure partnerships and building contracts with local architects, contractors, and utilities to train the local workforce (Springfield residents) in home energy assessment protocols and weatherization work • have dedicated staff who will work to ensure the needs of all constituents are met regardless of their connection to high profile officials • establish a working knowledge and relationship with utilities to make sure all residents obtain home energy assessments, not just those that fulfill the quota • work with local, regional and state legislature to create and amend by-laws that eliminates or updates the quota system to 100% of a municipality’s residents • work with local trade schools and school systems to create a STEM to Clean Energy and Energy Efficiency (CEEE) pipeline for students and career pivoting adults who are interested in learning and pursuing a trade or technical skill within the Energy Efficiency and Clean Energy industry o this pipeline will include / require courses in law, government (including Neighborhood Councils, Select boards, etc.), entrepreneurship, money management and business, and of course science and energy o this pipeline will train school-aged youth, young adult, and career pivoting Springfield residents to provide Mass Save funded HEAs in Springfield • build trust and establish a working relationship within the communities we serve through an outreach program that promotes and encourages community engagement, involvement, assessment, and empowerment including working with religious, cultural and social, and business institutions to ensure all members of the community’s needs are met • work with and support building owners, landlords, and developers throughout the energy efficiency process to facilitate access to and awareness of existing Mass Save offerings ***Need to highlight importance of addressing upfront costs for those homeowners that do not qualify for income-based energy assessments. 11 Affordable Access Regional Coordination Memo – PVPC March 2021 | Pioneer Valley Planning Commission ***Need to research how other non-Black, non-white communities established economic infrastructure to keep dollars within the community longer. Recap of Primary Goals for new or transformed CBO or EE/CE Business • Focus on Community Based Organizations and leaders in the Black and Latinx communities in Springfield to increase awareness of current CE and EE programs • Work to rebuild some semblance of trust between the Black and Latinx communities, PVPC, and partner organizations • Establish a cradle to grave CE/EE model that empowers and provides residents with the opportunity to envision and create a prosperous and meaningful life within the city of Springfield and the Pioneer Valley Region 12 Affordable Access Regional Coordination Memo – PVPC March 2021 | Pioneer Valley Planning Commission Research and cited works and webinars and conferences (work in progress) ACEEE How High are Household Energy Burdens report 9/20 u2006.pdf (aceee.org) Article from Ann Arbor : “As examined by Dominic Bednar and Tony Reames in a Review in our May issue, the US has federally-funded energy programmes that ostensibly address energy poverty5 . However, funding for the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP), which provides eligible low-income families with cost-effective energy efficiency upgrades, pales in comparison to that for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which provides energy bill assistance to subsidize high energy expenditures. This indicates a preference for short-term solutions based on a narrow definition of energy poverty focused on affordability (LIHEAP) over programmes such as WAP, which aim to provide a more sustainable, long-term solution with a broader range of benefits, including for public health5 . Notably, it is programmes like WAP that would go toward addressing the consequences of structural racism — in the form of residential segregation policies — that have led to higher rates of energy poverty among African Americans4 . In fact, it has been argued that weatherization and energy efficiency initiatives could be a form of restorative justice for this community4” Energy justice towards racial justice (nature.com) … justice considerations for energy transitions are not just about disproportionate burdens, but also disparity in the distribution of benefits, such as access to employment opportunities in the clean energy economy. Here, too, there is evidence of systematic disadvantage on the basis of race; only 8% of the US energy efficiency workforce is Black or African American, compared to the national average for the overall labour force of 12%6 . Blacks in Boston Have a Median Net Worth of $8, Whites Have $247K (blackenterprise.com) i https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/tech-support/201403/the-trouble-trust ii Blacks in Boston Have a Median Net Worth of $8, Whites Have $247K (blackenterprise.com) 13 Affordable Access Regional Coordination Memo – PVPC March 2021 | Pioneer Valley Planning Commission