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3.2 Community Education
Funding from the U.S.
Department of Energy for the 2022 Illinois Home Weatherization Assistance
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Program. Eligible households are able to receive up to $15,000 for energy efficient retrofits, administered by a local community partner.45
DCEO Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) - The CDBG is awarded to communities to pursue pressing development issues in their jurisdictions, of which, dilapidated and vacant housing from structural integrity qualify.
Rotation of grants from the
Department of Energy’s Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy Office and the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA), such as the Healthy Communities Grant Program for Region 5. However, funding is not available universally across regions at the same time, so frequent updating is required.
Alternative funding may be pursued by special municipal efforts such as appropriations.
Blue Island will develop, fund, and maintain a community education series to communicate policy changes, weatherization opportunities, and retrofit application assistance to interested residents.
Community education programming will consist of ad hoc educational sessions (including Spanish-language sessions) organized by the Community Development Manager at the Blue Island Public Library on the retrofit opportunity as well as application writing and submitting for residents with eligible homes and incomes. These events will occur once every quarter and replace two of the library’s traditional programming events for that month. For residents unable to attend, library staff will undergo training on the program’s eligibility requirements to assist the public.
Funding
The community outreach effort will likely last for the duration of the program until 100% weatherization is achieved. It is possible that some grant monies can be allocated for this community outreach.
However, if needed, Blue Island can explore sustained appropriations for community education by diverting necessary funds from the Blue Island Golf Course budget or the Police Department. Additionally, the city can encourage tax deductible contributions by corporations and Blue Island residents for this purpose.
The National Association for State Community Services Programs, a non-profit that represents state directors of weatherization assistance on the federal level, notes that community education of weatherization is a critical component for improving the lifespan of home structures, and by extension, the health of a community through energy efficiency. Of the best models for weatherization education, the Opportunity Council in Bellingham, Washington, and the nationally operating Healthy House Institute are noted for having developed workbooks, toolkits, and policy briefs for use in communities.46
