Time Sensitive Announcements

• Public Power New Mexico led an inspiring effort to push for the Local Solar Access Fund! The Local Solar Access Fund is a proposed grant fund which will issue grants to Tribes, Counties, Municipalities, and School Districts to plan and build solar and storage projects to power public buildings and infrastructure. Grants could fund grant writers and technical expertise to plan and fund projects, as well as construction, purchase, installation, and equipment of solar energy and storage systems. While it stalled during the legislative session, they are committed to engaging thoroughly throughout the interim process the rest of this year to get this appropriation in next year's budget and position ourselves for success in the next 60-day legislative session. They will need your help to organize and advocate all along the way. Please fill out this form to share with us ways in which you would like to stay involved and engaged throughout this process and with our ongoing work

• Boston Community Solar Cooperative officially launched on March 2nd! The BCSC was established to provide local community ownership of solar renewable energy systems in underserved communities in Boston. Their Community Solar 2.0 ownership model offers members a share of the profit it generates from the sale of electricity along with an equal say in how the co-op runs and operates. Their first solar array will be on top of another cooperative, the Dorchester Food Co-op. Become a subscriber!

• March 21, 6-8 PM CT: Cleveland Owns has a Solidarity Economy 101 workshop. How do we work together as a movement to create a ‘world in which many worlds fit’ and an ‘economy that works for all’? How do co-ops work with one another and other kinds of organizations that are striving for a more just world including mutual aid groups, community land trusts, political activists, unions, and more. This is open to anyone with an interest – no previous experience is necessary! Please RSVP here!

• March 28, 7 PM EST: Solar United Neighbors is hosting Community Organizing 101: Tools for Change and the Power of Listening. In this webinar, you will learn skills like the basics of organizing and see examples of how community organizing has created lasting change across the nation.
   
• April 11, 7 PM CT: Cleveland Owns is hosting a ‘Everything You Wanted to Know About Solar but We’re Afraid to Ask' event. They want as many people as possible to know how solar technology works so they can champion good ideas and push back against false solutions! Submit your questions by email [email protected] or instagram at @clesolarcoop.You can RSVP for the event here! 

Something Worth Celebrating

• In New Mexico... The story of Kit Carson Electric Coop which is the first electric coop to buy out its contract with TriState and achieve 100% daytime solar, working toward 100% renewable power around the clock.

• In Pennsylvania... POWER Interfaith has organized a client group to be "Energy Justice Advocates" as legal intervenors in a major energy procurement case. POWER has been building their People's Energy Plan for three years and is ready to contest with strength for a new energy procurement strategy that will strengthen a pathway toward affordable, renewable energy. The Public Utility Commission will be hearing the case in a few weeks. They would like to have letters of support to support their strategy!

• In California... East Bay Clean Power Alliance (founded by Local Clean Energy Alliance) successfully advocated to pass a Workforce and Environmental Justice resolution through their local Community Choice agency: Ava Community Energy

• In North Carolina... the People's Solar Energy Fund kicked off the second cohort of the Movement for Solar Capacity and Leadership training with predominantly BIPOC community leaders at a 2-day gathering in Durham, NC. Establishing the economic justice and environmental justice context and values were the particular focus of this fellowship kickoff. Weekly online seminars will be held over the next 3.5 months exploring issues in solar development, policy, project finance, outreach and community engagement, and facilitating community ownership. (Note that applications for the September third round will open in May, so be on the lookout.)
   

Recent Resources

• Energy democracy is about more than just clean energy: it’s a movement to transform our relationships to one another and with ecologies across the globe. We have brought together powerful leaders across the country affirming their right to freedom from colonialism, war, and genocide. Join us to critically examine how the conflicts of our time—from Palestine, to Congo, to Sudan—are inextricably linked. Watch the recording to learn about the real lines of solidarity that extend from Palestine to our backyards here in the U.S.

• The Guardian covered Climate and Community Project’s latest report, detailing the following finding:

  • Rebuilding Gaza will cost the global carbon budget roughly 30 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (equivalent to the annual emissions of New Zealand)– where Israel has waged modern history's most destructive bombing campaign, destroying 70% of housing, dozens of hospitals, irreplaceable archaeological sites, and more. 

  • As Israel's continued attacks on Gaza enter their third month with horrifying human costs, an immediate, permanent ceasefire is more urgent than ever. 

  • This genocidal tragedy has far reaching impacts, playing out within the larger context of disastrous, planet melting militarism and you can read more about their research here. 

• On January 25, 2024, Side With Love offered a webinar on Reimagining with Energy Democracy, featuring Side With Love staff and special guests from the Energy Democracy Project, Cleveland Owns, People Power Solar, and POWER Interfaith. Explore the power of Energy Democracy and the ways our congregations can reimagine energy for our communities. You can review the slides here and the recording here. 

• “Power to the People: The Story of Rural Electric Cooperatives” is a 4-minute-long animated short that tells the story of electric cooperatives from their founding during the New Deal in the 1930s up until the present day when electric cooperatives have an opportunity to live into their democratic promise and lead the transition to clean energy. This is produced in partnership between Story of Stuff Project and the Rural Power Coalition to educate the public about the history of rural electrification and the opportunity for transformation offered by the promise of $11 billion for new rural clean energy programs included in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.
• Wisconsin Green Muslims’s founder and director, Huda Alkaff, spoke in a new online interview series which highlights the diverse faces and perspectives shaping the environmental justice movement throughout the Great Lakes region called the Waves of Change. You can listen to the full interview here. 

Job Opportunities in Energy Democracy!

• Federal Navigator (remote) – RE-AMP is looking for someone who will work with RE-AMP members and Midwestern communities to identify and access appropriate public grant funding opportunities to strengthen the capacity of underserved communities, especially in rural geographies, to address the environmental, energy, infrastructure, and public health challenges they face. The RE-AMP Federal Navigator will help Midwestern communities identify and apply for federal funding opportunities made available through the Inflation Reduction Act and other federal legislation.
   
• Fund Development Consultant (remote) - People’s Solar Energy Fund seeks a creative, detail-oriented and highly-motivated consultant to support our fundraising work. The Consultant will work closely and collaboratively with PSEF’s small team and particularly with the Co-Director overseeing development.