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

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:

• • Procurement assistance
  • Training/technical assistance and mentoring in the energy efficiency/renewable sector
  • Monitoring and compliance
  • Affiliation with the building and construction trade unions

Interested in participating in an upcoming E-Contractor Academy? Contact Avni Jamdar at ajamdar@emeraldcities.org

• California Equitable Home Electrification Program
  • In partnership with RMI, ECBA is convening a nine-month workshop series for local governments and community based organizations to partner in the co-creation of equitable electrification solutions for existing homes. Participating communities will gain the knowledge, tools, and connections that they’ll need to create an electrification policy plan.
• Building Decarbonization High-Road Training Partnership
  • In partnership with the local pre-apprenticeship training program, construction unions, contractors, researchers and policy advocates, ECBA is working to figure out how to make residential electrification jobs high-quality and accessible.
• San Francisco Building Decarbonization Advocacy

East Palo Alto First Source Hiring Policy

• • First Source Hiring policies help to ensure that local development creates economic opportunity for local residents. Through research and community engagement, ECBA is developing recommendations to update East Palo Alto’s First Source Hiring policy and improve its implementation.