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Emerald Cities Bay Area was founded to bring labor and community together to ensure inclusive economic opportunities in greening our cities. EC Bay Area develops sustainable projects such as clean energy, green infrastructure, and food procurement, which aim to contribute to the resilience of our metropolitan region while providing low-income communities of color with an equity stake in the green economy. To achieve this, EC Bay Area is leveraging the purchasing power of local anchor institutions, building the capacity of minority-and-women-owned contractors, and advocating for equitable approaches to residential building and electrification. Over the years, the organization has collaborated with local community partners, city and regional agencies to achieve a just transition to residential building decarbonization. This has involved facilitating energy and water efficiency retrofits projects in affordable housing. Emerald Cities Bay Area is committed to advocate for deep community engagement, establishing equity-first hubs, promoting high road labor standards, and building the capacity of environmental justice communities to engage in this important work.
ECC’s RENEW Multi-Family Housing initiative takes a comprehensive approach to achieving energy and water efficiency savings in multi-family rental housing, particularly in developments that serve low- and moderate-income residents.
Multi-family building owners understand the multiple economic and operating benefits that can be achieved through energy and water retrofits. But too often their operations staff have neither the time nor expertise needed to effectively implement complex efficiency measures. And nonprofit building owners that serve low- and moderate-income communities rarely have access to necessary working capital or project financing for retrofits.
RENEW meets these needs as a one-stop resource providing end-to-end technical support, including tracking energy and water usage, planning and implementing cost-saving measures, integrating utility incentives and facilitating appropriate financing for retrofit projects.
Interested in learning more about RENEW Multi-Family Housing or retrofitting your affordable housing property? Contact Avni Jamdar at ajamdar@emeraldcities.org
E-Contractor Academy is a seven-week training program where small, WMDBE contractors learn to perform energy efficiency and renewable energy retrofit projects. The program typically involves a collaboration between a local or regional government entity and a local financial institution. Participating contractors learn about the regulatory and technical demands of green infrastructure projects. They also learn to bid and manage large-scale projects that include labor and community workforce standards typical of government, schools, hospitals and other institutions. Training is tailored to specific projects and is also applicable to large-scale green infrastructure projects. The E-Contractor Academy includes a strategic, comprehensive business support program to ensure that small and minority firms are in the forefront of the emerging green building/construction industry. Specific support services include:
Interested in participating in an upcoming E-Contractor Academy? Contact Avni Jamdar at ajamdar@emeraldcities.org
Our communities are ready to imagine a brighter future. A future where anchor institutions – health care, educational, and public institutions with long-term investments in a local economy – source solutions from their communities. Solutions that build communities resilient to global crisis and climate change. Solutions that restore shared prosperity and well-being to all.
Anchors in Resilient Communities (ARC) are community-based partnerships that leverage the purchasing and investment power of anchor institutions to bolster the communities they serve.
Interested in learning more more about ARC? Contact Carli Yoro at cyoro@emeraldcities.org
East Palo Alto First Source Hiring Policy
E-Contractor Academy is a free workshop series designed to build the capacity of small, minority construction contractors to successfully do business in climate critical fields such as renewable energy, energy efficiency and building decarbonization.
Training is tailored to growth sectors in the green construction industry and includes instruction on the regulatory and technical aspects of green projects, how to market themselves in green construction sectors, and how to leverage certifications to win public projects. Contractors also receive instruction on financial well-being and are connected to insurance brokers, sureties and lenders, enabling them to bid on more and larger projects.
E-Contractor Academy includes comprehensive one-on-one business support to ensure that small, minority firms are at the forefront of the emerging green construction industry. Specific support services include:
Ready to get started? Complete this interest form: https://e-contractor-bayareafall23.my.canva.site/
ECC’s RENEW Multi-Family Housing initiative takes a comprehensive approach to achieving energy and water efficiency savings in multi-family rental housing, particularly in developments that serve low- and moderate-income residents.
Multi-family building owners understand the multiple economic and operating benefits that can be achieved through energy and water retrofits. But too often their operations staff have neither the time nor expertise needed to effectively implement complex efficiency measures. And nonprofit building owners that serve low- and moderate-income communities rarely have access to necessary working capital or project financing for retrofits.
RENEW Multi-Family assists building owners with all aspects of retrofit project implementation and end-to-end technical support including planning and implementing cost-saving measures, tracking energy and water usage. Furthermore, recommendations for upgrades are aligned with federal Weatherization Assistance Program (“WAP”), San Francisco’s Energy Watch and BayREN Programs, utility programs, and building codes.
Interested in learning more about RENEW Multi-Family Housing or retrofitting your affordable housing property? Contact Avni Jamdar at ajamdar@emeraldcities.org
Anchors in Resilient Communities (ARC) addresses the social, economic, and environmental determinants of health by leveraging the assets and capacities of community-based partners and anchor institutions such as hospitals, universities, and local governments. ARC aims to expand community wealth and ownership opportunities, improve health outcomes, and strengthen the capacity of communities of color and low- and moderate- income residents to be resilient in the face of climate and economic disruption.
ARC operates through an internal team and a steering committee that meets frequently to debrief local issues and find procurement and investment solutions through projects that use the ARC model to strengthen community health, wealth, and climate resilience. ARC holds space for collaborative learning through public learning sessions to discuss topics such as funding opportunities, community-led project support, and policy and advocacy topics. ARC’s first project in the Bay Area has been coordinating the procurement and investment of Bay Area institutions to bolster the regional food system.
For more information about Anchors in Resilient Communities (ARC), visit our website! Or contact Carli Yoro at cyoro@emeraldcities.org
This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the research and findings conducted for The Building Electrification Equity (The BEE) Project. The BEE Project was established with the aim of gaining a better understanding of the costs and benefits of building electrification for low-income communities of color, and to ensure that these communities are included as active participants in the major policy arena of the electrification movement.
In collaboration with PODER and ECC Bay Area, this toolkit shares perspectives and best practices for community engagement around equity and climate resiliency through anchor-community strategies, with a focus on addressing the social and economic vulnerabilities of low-income communities and communities of color. The toolkit aims to promote institutionalized community engagement in building decarbonization and electrification initiatives to move towards equity, climate resilience, and economic inclusion.
This toolkit is intended to help communities across the United States take meaningful steps toward equitably electrifying their existing housing stock through a planning process designed to maximize engagement and co-ownership between local governments and frontline community groups. The content was developed jointly by RMI and Emerald Cities Collaborative for the 2021–2022 Equitable Home Electrification Program, a community of practice between 10 teams representing local governments and community organizations
For more information about work being done in the region, feel free to reach out to the
Northern California team.
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