Begin with a landscape analysis.

  • This analysis should cover relevant existing policies, programs, and stakeholders; the existing building stock in your locality; the relationship between communities and local governing entities; the current energy efficiency workforce; and the capacity limits of potential partners.1A supplementary approach to landscape analysis may include ”ecosystem mapping.” An ecosystem map is a visual representation of a process, flow, or system that highlights relationships in a particular context. Ecosystem mapping can help identify the scope of the project and ensure feasibility of the chosen strategy. See link in Additional Tools for more information. National Democratic Institute. “Module: Ecosystem Mapping.” ndi.org/sites/default/files/3.%20Ecosystem%20Mapping.pdf

  • Greenlink Analytics, a nonprofit focused on energy data analytics, developed a data visualization tool (GEM) to explore the potential relationship between historical redlining and current energy-related issues facing residents of Atlanta.2 NB: There is a cost for Greenlink Analytics’ services.  

  • Ecosystem mapping identifies potential anchor partner organizations with the expertise, track record, and capacity to provide support with assessing equity impacts, setting equity goals, and designing a process to codevelop comprehensive decarbonization policies. This content was developed for the Equitable Home Electrification Toolkit provided by the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) and Emerald Cities Collaborative and is intended for use by local governments and community groups tasked with developing a roadmap for electrifying their community’s housing stock. 
  • For analyzing the building stock in your community, the National Renewable Energy Lab’s (NREL) ResStock and ComStock tools combine large public and private data sources, statistical sampling, detailed sub-hourly building simulations, and high-performance computing to model the impacts of building technologies in different communities. 
  • The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and DOE have established 16 Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Technical Assistance Centers (TCTAC). These can help program administrators build capacity for navigating federal grant application systems, developing strong grant proposals, and managing grant funding effectively, among other critical tasks. 
  • For additional information on getting started with residential energy upgrade program planning, see DOE’s Residential Program Guide (a repository for lessons learned, resources, and knowledge from program administrators and industry experts across the country). 
  • This resource from the Journal of Participatory Research Methods discusses how landscape analysis can help reveal trends, opportunities, and resource gaps in communities.3NB: This resource focuses more on landscape analysis as a participatory research method and is thus geared towards an academic audience.  
  • Maps that demonstrate the history of redlining are available through the University of Richmond’s Mapping Inequality project. 

Design equitable engagement activities. 

  • Design engagement activities in partnership with community-based organizations (CBOs), affordable housing agencies, and other local experts and practitioners. Understand the difference between community and stakeholder engagement and undertake intentional and inclusive engagement that builds shared vision and capacity with the community. 

  • Philadelphia organized Energy Burden Focus Groups of residents and CBOs to understand energy burdens in the city and to confirm whether the quantitative data it had gathered accurately reflected energy impacts on communities. Using both types of data allowed the city to directly inform programs focused on energy burdens and energy poverty reduction. For more information on Philadelphia’s community “co-creation” approach, please see this case study, part of guidelines for creating community-driven building retrofit programs, assembled by the Building Electrification Institute (BEI), Elevate, and C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group. 
  • Orlando, FL, developed a partnership with the Institute for Market Transformation (IMT), Poder Latinx, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to co-develop community engagement efforts focused on building performance standards (BPS) and addressing the energy burdens of residents.  

  • The Community-Driven Climate Resilience Planning Framework is another helpful engagement planning tool. Co-launched by NACRP members and grassroots partners in the summer of 2017, this framework was created through convening community-driven planners across a wide array of organizations. It includes principles, practices, and key capacities for community-driven planning. 
  • The Climate Equity & Community Engagement in Building Electrification Toolkit developed by Emerald Cities Collaborative and PODER derived from the City of San Francisco’s engagement with Urban Sustainability Directors Network’s Zero Cities Project. The purpose of this initiative was to experiment with different forms of community engagement to highlight best practices, lessons learned and models for creating effective community engagement around equity and climate resiliency through anchor-community strategies. 
  • This resource from Emerald Cities Collaborative provides a list of resources on energy democracy, including webinars, flipbooks, facilitation guides, community reflection surveys, and an energy democracy scorecard.  
  • Center marginalized and underrepresented groups in all engagement and ensure that their perspectives are reflected in the leadership and decision-making structure of the planning process. 

  • Minneapolis designated two Green Zones, or areas where residents have experienced disproportionate pollution impacts and systemic marginalization. Each Green Zone has a task force consisting of individuals who live or work in the affected neighborhoods. The task forces are responsible for implementing work plans that address issues like public health, climate resilience, and environmental justice.  
  • Providence, RI, founded a Racial and Environmental Justice Committee (REJC) to integrate the concerns and needs of marginalized communities into the city’s sustainability work and decision-making processes. The REJC surveyed frontline communities and co-developed the city’s Climate Justice Plan. 
  • The City of Seattle Equitable Development Initiative (EDI), co-created with community advocates and rooted in community-centered engagement practices drawn from the Department of Neighborhood’s Community Liaison Program, the Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs Language Access Program, and the Office of Civil Rights Racial Equity Toolkit (RET), is an ongoing equity grant-making program investing in community-envisioned and -led solutions that address physical and cultural displacement pressures faced by communities of color and marginalized populations most at risk. EDI funds organizational capacity building, property acquisition, and capital project development for community-owned spaces and places where public benefit services and programming that increase access to determinants of equity will be provided as repayment-in-kind.
  • San Jose, CA, initiated a process of “community co-creation” to produce the Electrify San Jose Framework. This framework, prepared in collaboration with the Building Electrification Institute, Upright Consulting Services, and the American Cities Climate Challenge, documents major priorities and concerns of key stakeholders, historically marginalized communities, and the broader community concerning the electrification of San Jose’s existing buildings. 
  • Compensate community-based organizations and community members involved in the planning process. Identify and address barriers to participation by providing childcare, meals, and transportation to and from meetings. Choose accessible meeting times and locations. 

  • Vallejo, CA, implemented a participatory budgeting initiative to directly engage the community in deciding how a portion of the city’s budget should be spent. The community engagement process involved compensating both CBOs and individual community members for their time and providing childcare and transportation services. 
  • 1
    A supplementary approach to landscape analysis may include ”ecosystem mapping.” An ecosystem map is a visual representation of a process, flow, or system that highlights relationships in a particular context. Ecosystem mapping can help identify the scope of the project and ensure feasibility of the chosen strategy. See link in Additional Tools for more information. National Democratic Institute. “Module: Ecosystem Mapping.” ndi.org/sites/default/files/3.%20Ecosystem%20Mapping.pdf
  • 2
    NB: There is a cost for Greenlink Analytics’ services. 
  • 3
    NB: This resource focuses more on landscape analysis as a participatory research method and is thus geared towards an academic audience.