Envisioning a Climate-Safe California webinar #13: How to Fund Community Energy Resilience Projects – 22 February 2024
The Clean Coalition was a partner organization for this webinar, which took place 22 February 2024 at 10am.
The Climate Center believes in thriving, healthy communities. They envision a future where everyone in California enjoys clean air and water, renewable and reliable energy, healthy food, and abundant nature. California has the tools and the know-how to make this vision a reality if our elected leaders summon the political will. It is time we put people back at the heart of policy. In doing so, we can keep our friends and loved ones safe from worsening climate disasters, create millions of family-sustaining jobs, and give everyone the chance to thrive in the clean energy economy.
The climate center’s Envisioning a Climate-Safe California: Stories and Solutions webinar series will combine personal stories, frontline perspectives, scientific expertise, and policy analysis to shed light on how California can lead the world toward a climate-safe future. We’ll hear from the people and communities feeling the impacts of the climate crisis today as well as those advocating for solutions.
See below for more information on the thirteenth webinar of the series.
Webinar #13: How to Fund Community Energy Resilience Projects
Thursday, 22 February, 2024 at 10am to 11:30am PST
A record-setting amount of state and federal funding is available right now to support community energy resilience projects in low-income and disadvantaged communities. Such projects include rooftop solar that can provide clean, reliable, and affordable energy for all. In this webinar, a panel of experts discussed opportunities and challenges of securing funding through the Inflation Reduction Act, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and California state-funded opportunities. Specifically, we explored technical assistance resources and how community-based organizations can leverage state and federal funding in low-income and disadvantaged communities.
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Presenters
Alex Turek leads GRID GLA’s grant development and commercial solar program. Under Alex’s guidance, GLA has been awarded several large multi-million dollar government grants, including the Strategic Growth Council’s Transformative Climate Communities implementation grants (four total) and planning grants (two total); the California Energy Commission’s Advanced Energy Communities grant, The Next EPIC Challenge: Reimagining Affordable Mixed-Use Development in a Carbon-Constrained Future and the Reliable, Equitable and Accessible Charging for Multifamily Housing (REACH) grant; among others. All of these efforts are dedicated to installing solar, battery storage, electric vehicle supply equipment, and other emerging clean energy technologies for the benefit of vulnerable populations and underserved communities. For GRID GLA’s growing commercial solar program, Alex leads project development through partnerships with affordable housing operators and other nonprofits. This includes several projects over 100 kW, as well as resilience center projects that utilize solar and battery storage to provide power backup when the grid goes down.
Loren Halili is a Program Manager for the The Center for Community Energy and Environmental Justice at SDSU Research Foundation, which is a new EPA-funded center that aims to empower communities and provide technical assistance to community organizations who want to address environmental challenges in their communities. Loren leads project management initiatives, oversees operations, represents the project at outreach and other events, and manages day-to-day operations of the network.
Lori Pesante is an interdisciplinary advocate, educator, and organizer working strategically to empower historically marginalized communities. Prior to her current consulting work, Lori was the Director of Civic Engagement at the Dolores Huerta Foundation (DHF). DHF’s redistricting campaign was the most comprehensive grassroots community mapping effort ever in the history of the Central Valley and led to two bills in the state legislature to establish Independent Redistricting Commissions for Fresno and Kern Counties. Lori earned her Juris Doctorate from UC Hastings College of the Law and has worked in a variety of public interest contexts including the San Francisco District Attorney’s office under Kamala Harris, the Kern County Public Defenders Office, public employee unions, legal aid organizations, and higher education.