COMMUNITY BENEFITS
A Guide to Southwestern Pennsylvania in
An Honest Reflection and Practical Resource about the Possibility of Maximizing Community Benefits in 2024 and Beyond
ABOUTTHISDOCUMENT
The document that follows is the culmination of more than a year of collaborative community work undertaken by Fair Shake Environmental Legal Services and RiverWise, two nonprofit organizations located in southwestern Pennsylvania. While working over the last year to establish a coalition of partners interested in community benefits , we have carefully documented our work.
Parts One through Five, Seven, and Eight were written primarily by Daniel Rossi-Keen, Executive Director of RiverWise This portion of the text is an admittedly incomplete set of reflections about community benefits from the standpoint of an interested but cautious group of community stakeholders The interest derives from a recognition that community members must be “at the table” to participate in decision making The caution comes from the fact that many processes related to community benefits often fail to represent and empower community interests in authentic ways
Part Six, which directs readers to an online companion to this document, is a compilation of resources developed during the last year of community facing work. Meagan Niebler, Community Democracy Program Manager at Fair Shake Environmental Legal Services, created, compiled, and assembled the extensive resources found in Part Six. We envision this online set of resources as a kind of guide or handbook for other communities seeking honestly and strategically to engage community members around the issue of community benefits We are also hopeful that it holds some value for corporations who are genuinely interested in understanding and engaging with community interests
The bulk of the activity represented in the following pages emerged while working with community stakeholders in Beaver County, Pennsylvania Considerable insight also emerged while developing and deploying the Justice 40 Opportunity Navigator, described briefly on the following page
Throughout this process, Scott Wolovich, Executive Director of New Sun Rising, has been a steady thought partner about how to engage community interests, undertake data-informed decision making and seize current opportunities while continuing to represent community values and priorities.
Daniel Rossi-Keen, PhD
Executive Director RiverWise daniel@getriverwise com
in collaboration with Scott Wolovich
Executive Director
New Sun Rising scott@newsunrising.org
Meagan Niebler
Community Democracy Program Manager Fair Shake Environmental Legal Services mniebler@fairshake-els org
design & photography by Dani Brown, RiverWise
Christopher Padgett, Human City Creative
Erin Ninehouser, Rustbelt Mayberry
Many of the insights expressed in this document have been developed in real time, on the ground, and in ongoing relationships with frontline environmental justice communities Much of this activity emerged as part of an ongoing initiative entitled the Justice 40 Opportunity Navigator.
A collaboration between RiverWise and New Sun Rising, this program works alongside federally designated environmental justice communities in southwest Pennsylvania to fund and implement projects that improve their health, climate resilience, and economic opportunity.
The Justice 40 Opportunity Navigator was strategically designed to take seriously the promise and possibility introduced through the Justice 40 Initiative As such, this program works diligently to grow community power and voice so that residents of environmental justice communities can be active participants in the many federal investments currently being made in communities all over the nation.
To date, the Justice 40 Opportunity Navigator has helped to secure $8,184,453 of investment for community energy, resilience hub, green space, food, and engagement projects.
Follow the QR code to learn more about the Justice 40 Opportunity Navigator
ExecutiveSummary
This document, "A Guide to Community Benefits in Southwestern Pennsylvania: An Honest Reflection and Practical Resource about the Possibility of Maximizing Community Benefits in 2024 and Beyond," reflects over a year of dedicated community work by Fair Shake Environmental Legal Services and RiverWise, with support from New Sun Rising. It explores the implications of Executive Order 14008 and the Justice 40 Initiative, highlighting their transformative potential for disadvantaged communities
The guide emphasizes the need for genuine community engagement and cautions against oversimplified solutions, recognizing the inherent complexity of effective community benefits planning Key principles include balancing urgency with care, understanding the limits of community benefits plans, and acknowledging potential unintended consequences. The document aims to provide actionable insights for stakeholders, inviting corporate and governmental entities to understand and respond to community perspectives.
It offers an honest reflection on the initial optimism and subsequent challenges experienced by disadvantaged communities, stressing the importance of genuine, inclusive engagement. Practical activities undertaken in Beaver County, PA, serve as a case study, illustrating the slow, steady, and iterative process required for meaningful community benefits planning
“It is the policy of my Administration to organize and deploy the full capacity of its agencies to combat the climate crisis to implement a Government-wide approach that reduces climate pollution in every sector of the economy; increases resilience to the impacts of climate change; protects public health; conserves our lands, waters, and biodiversity; delivers environmental justice; and spurs well-paying union jobs and economic growth, especially through innovation, commercialization, and deployment of clean energy technologies and infrastructure. Successfully meeting these challenges will require the Federal Government to pursue such a coordinated approach from planning to implementation, coupled with substantive engagement by stakeholders, including State, local, and Tribal governments.”
President Joseph Biden, “Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad”
Executive Order 14008
January 27, 2021
Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore, Wikimedia Commons
Part One:
Understanding ThisPresent Moment
“TheywantedaWorldWarII–styleeconomicmobilization thatwouldcutemissionsin10years,createmillionsofjobs, and…reducetheracialwealthgap.”
Within days of taking office, President Joe Biden signed Executive Order 14008 Entitled “Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad,” this directive created the Justice 40 Initiative which established a governmentwide goal that “40 percent of the overall benefits of certain Federal climate, clean energy, affordable and sustainable housing, and other investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution ”
Well before the Justice 40 Initiative was created, communities all over the country had come to be identified under the environmental justice designation. Also known as DACs (disadvantaged communities), such census tracts are those areas that have consistently exceeded burden thresholds established in one or more of the following areas: climate change, energy, health, housing, legacy pollution, transportation, waste & wastewater, workforce development, and an associated socioeconomic burden.
While the designation of environmental justice communities was not new in and of itself, President Biden’s sweeping commitment to direct the benefits of federal climate related investment specifically to these census tracts was without precedent
Not since the New Deal had such a
concerted effort to direct public investment been so intentionally focused on communities and populations in longstanding crisis And, of course, never before had such substantial resources been marshaled by the federal government to tackle climate change.
As one close observer explained, “They wanted a World War II–style economic mobilization that would cut emissions in 10 years, create millions of jobs, and reduce the racial wealth gap ”
When the Justice 40 Initiative was initially announced in early 2021, Executive Order 14008 represented a watershed moment in the march toward environmental justice. But, it was also a mandate without a clear path toward its realization.
Taken together, the Justice 40 Initiative, the BIL and the IRA represented the kind of sweeping mandate and expansive budget required to elevate the needs of environmental justice communities all over the nation. But, as is often the case with sweeping political mandates and expansive budgets, many questions remained to be answered regarding how priorities would be set, how resources would deployed, how progress would be measured, and perhaps most importantly how the legitimate interests of disadvantaged environmental justice communities would be centered in this complex, changing environment
of federal investment
In one way or another, the process of centering the interests of disadvantaged communities hinges in significant measure on a deceptively simple constellation of ideas at the very heart of this document. We are referring, of course, to the idea of “community benefits,” a label which, since the early days of 2021, has been asked to shoulder an increasingly substantial amount of weight for those interested in demonstrating that Biden’s initial vision for the Justice 40 Initiative is indeed being realized among environmental justice communities.
The remainder of this document will focus, in one way or another, on explaining what is, could, or should be meant when referring to “community benefits” within the benefits or, perhaps more precisely, whatever is still coming to be understood about community benefits this is much is clear: community benefits represent one of the primary mechanisms intended to ensure that the expansive vision of environmental justice initially enumerated in Executive Order 14008 comes to fruition.
And yet, despite the inordinate amount of work expected be accomplished by the idea of “community benefits,” far too many stakeholders remain largely unaware, uninterested, conflicted, confused, or overwhelmed by our current understanding and ability to access the vast array of community benefits that have been widely promised in recent years.
Defining what is meant by a “community” or by “benefits,” and, maybe more important, settling on who gets to decide how those terms get defined remains, some three years later, considerably uncertain matters Though the language of community benefits is
now commonplace, many questions remain And so, those who are committed to authentic community-led justice, must be careful to understand whether and how community benefits whatever we variously mean by that phrase can shoulder the weight of the burden this construct is being asked to bear.
It is perhaps now clearer than ever that building a national mandate requires complexity and brings along with it periods of understandable uncertainty Some three years into this collective journey toward environmental justice, there are reasons to remain both hopeful and cautiously circumspect. But, as the famous saying goes, “Not all that gleams turns to gold.” In this season, when disadvantaged communities have been repeatedly promised a gleaming future, community advocates desperately want to see that vision realized
Whether or not such a gleaming future will materialize hinges, in part, on quickly and aggressively arriving at a collective understanding of “community benefits” that moves beyond
merely hopeful rhetoric and toward a substantively operationalized collective vision
Who gets to decide what counts as a genuine benefit to a disadvantaged community?
In what ways are community stakeholders being assisted and resourced genuinely to represent their own interests?
How are corporations and government agencies being held to account as the result of securing federal resources?
How can we together ensure that such accountability persists in ways that do not place undue burdens on the very communities we are arguably seeking to move toward a more just future?
Answering each of these questions in ways that deeply entrench the cause of and capacity for bringing about environmental justice within disadvantaged communities will require resolutely elevating the concerns of those who have for so many years been treated unjustly.
Together, we must move beyond merely aspiring to engage community interests on the way to environmental justice
Instead, and as the remainder of this document demonstrates, we must do the hard and steady work of embedding genuine community interests in the very processes, plans, and documents intended to insure an environmentally just future
That will require that we move with greater clarity, honesty, and collective concern for those who have for far too long been left behind by federal decision making and resource allocation.
Recognizing that ongoing need, this document seeks to do precisely that.
Together, we must move beyond merely aspiring to engage community interests on the way to environmental justice. We must instead do the hard and steady work of embedding genuine community interests in the very processes, plans, and documents ostensibly intended to insure an environmentally just future.
Cautions, Observations, Part Two:
andGuiding Principles
In this moment in our collective history, there are undoubtedly reasons to celebrate new opportunities and agency for community interests However, such celebration should not be offered without an appropriate level of caution and honest reflection about what remains to be accomplished should we wish to move toward a truly environmentally just future In what follows, we seek to ground our efforts in a framework of cautions, observations, and guiding principles
Much like a speedbump on an otherwise flat stretch of road, this section aims to slow down the rush toward unchecked hopefulness, providing a perspective that cautiously balances optimism with
realism, efficiency with authenticity, and transactional with transformational approaches
By outlining these key considerations, we seek to foster a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities inherent in community benefits planning, ensuring that our actions are both impactful and principled
The insights presented here are intended to guide those who are genuinely interested in community benefits towards thoughtful and ethical engagement with disadvantaged communities, ultimately contributing to a more environmentally just future rooted in community health, vitality, and prosperity
CAUTION ONE: BALANCING URGENCY AND CARE FOR COMMUNITY INTERESTS
As we have written this document over the past year or so, we have regularly returned to the question of how best to balance urgency and genuine care for community interests.
On one hand, we are all too aware of just how much public need exists for straightforward, actionable tools that can rapidly accelerate conversations about community benefits At the same time, we recognize all too clearly that there are no simple shortcuts for generating genuine and inclusive community engagement
This work is inherently slow, proceeds only at the speed of trust, and requires time and iterative care So, we have, as much as possible, sought to ensure that this document does not unduly commodify a process that rightly defies commodification Effective community engagement is not a transaction; it is a relationship built over time, rooted in trust and mutual respect Readers of this resource must continually remember this truth if they wish to act in ways that genuinely benefit community stakeholders
CAUTION TWO: RECOGNIZING THE LIMITS OF COMMUNITY BENEFITS PLANS
Although this document focuses in many and varied ways on Community Benefits Plans (CBPs), we must be cautious not to place upon CBPs more weight than they can realistically bear. While CBPs may indeed provide significant benefits to disadvantaged communities when thoughtfully and humbly conceived, they are not some sort of magic bullet that can serve as a substitute for deep and wide engagement in a community. In a world that often seeks overly simplistic solutions to systemic problems, we remain concerned that what we have created here might be deployed in opportunistic ways to elevate CBPs to a status that is not merited.
Whatever good CBPs can bring to our communities, they remain only one small piece in a much larger puzzle. So, though we enter this conversation with a genuine openness to the benefit that this moment can genuinely hold for disadvantaged communities, we also maintain significant and historically merited caution about the breadth and depth of possibility afforded by Community Benefits Plans as currently conceived and deployed.
CAUTION THREE: UNINTENDED USES OF NEW TOOLS
To paraphrase a famous quote, “Any tool can be used for good or bad. It's really the ethics of the person using it.” As we create this resource, we feel deeply the truth of this statement. Although we hope our work will be used in authentic and careful ways, we understand that not everyone who employs this resource may adhere to such elevated standards.
We therefore remain cautious and concerned that the insights offered in the following pages could be used in unintended ways, thereby making us tangentially complicit in future outcomes or processes that diverge from what constitutes a healthy community. Though we recognize that we ultimately cannot control such outcomes, we nevertheless remain cautious about both the desirable and undesirable consequences that might emerge from the insight offered in the following pages.
OBSERVATION ONE: TEMPERING OPTIMISM WITH REALISM
Despite the optimistic public rhetoric surrounding environmental justice, we believe it remains important to temper unchecked optimism about the current moment. While it is indeed true that many are having more thoughtful conversations about environmental justice, we nevertheless remain far from achieving a robust vision for environmental justice in disadvantaged communities
Numerous temptations exist to overestimate our national movement toward environmental justice, driven by political, social, and economic narratives that gain value insofar as they produce the perception of overcoming of historic injustices True environmental justice for historically disadvantaged communities will require more than what has been made possible by the foundational efforts of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act While these are noble beginnings, they remain just that: starting points towards a fuller and more just future
OBSERVATION TWO: THE TENSION BETWEEN AUTHENTICITY AND EFFICIENCY
At the heart of this document lies an inherent tension between authenticity and efficiency. Many corporate, governmental, and institutional stakeholders may find our proposals too inefficient. To such interests, we assert that genuine community benefit transcends mere transactional relationships. Environmental justice and robust community benefits must be embedded in transformational processes that are fundamental to community thriving.
This document may be uncomfortable or even unusable for those unwilling to slow down and truly engage genuine community interests. We accept that this document will distinguish between those seeking expedient transactions and those committed to patient, transformative change
OBSERVATION THREE: A PREAMBLE TO GENUINE ENGAGEMENT
If we are forthright, we must admit that this document is little more than a preamble to genuine, healthy community engagement. Authentic engagement with a disadvantaged community's vision cannot be reduced to checking off boxes. The vision for this document is to create a roadmap for a series of transformational activities, with community benefits planning as one catalyst among many.
We are not suggesting that every process must aspire to this document's level of complexity and care. However, any claim to environmental justice must trend in this direction. Environmental justice will never emerge from opportunistic transactions; it requires transformation rooted in genuine community interests that are aimed at liberation from systemic harms and disenfranchisement.
PRINCIPLE ONE: ACCEPTING THE POSSIBILITY OF FAILURE
Failure must remain an acceptable outcome. We recognize that this document might only highlight the difficulty of aligning corporate actions with genuine community interests. Industry experts may reject it as impractical. As community advocates, we recognize that what we are calling for may be viewed as being too complicated, leading to a retreat to familiar practices. We accept this risk, remaining committed to the underlying principles of our community work.
PRINCIPLE TWO: ELEVATING COMMUNITY INTERESTS
Community interests must remain primary, ensuring that community interests are elevated early and given equal priority Power imbalances introduced into this process make it increasingly unlikely to generate true community benefit Any opportunity “on the table” does not justify abandoning this fundamental starting point Relationships built upon radical inequity trend toward exploitation We must resist the temptation to contribute to a rhetoric of hope and progress that obscures these undeniable truths
PRINCIPLE THREE: RECOGNIZING COMMUNITY VALUE
We must remember our value. The social capital, vision, and moral authority of communities have become new currencies in this moment, thanks to the Justice 40 Initiative. Corporations need genuine community engagement to unlock new resources. Communities must celebrate and proclaim their value, recognizing they can and must play a critical role in a national movement toward greater environmental justice.
This engagement and value will likely increase over time, signaling a moral arc bending toward justice. Shrewd corporations will recognize this and develop genuine ties with community interests. Communities must continue to assert and celebrate their value in this unique moment in our shared story.
TheGoalsof this Document Part Three:
Generating a document of this sort risks becoming either redundant or obsolete even before it has been completed. Recognizing this, we have made a series of strategic and principled decisions about what we hope this document will accomplish. Generally those goals fall into one of five broad categories. Accordingly, we have dedicated one section of the remaining document to each of these five priorities
In Parts Four and Five, and prior to digging into what might be considered the most central portion of the document, we spend a bit of time reflecting publicly on what these last several years have
been like for community leaders, organizations, and coalitions who represent environmental justice communities.
While much ink has been spent generating policies, guidance, and frameworks for de-risking investments of time and money for corporate actors, far less has been produced on behalf of community groups who have found themselves called upon to respond to the consequences of rapid and opaque federal policy change
In Part Four, which we have entitled “Getting Real and Being Honest,” we spend time reflecting carefully and very frankly on
what the last three years have felt like for disadvantaged communities, what questions and challenges they have been facing, how their expectations have been variously inflamed and tamped down, and how the seemingly sudden possibility of hope’s resurgence has been managed by communities who have repeatedly learned the hard way that not everything that gleams turns to gold
Admittedly incomplete, and at times perhaps more honest than some who read this document might prefer, this section seeks to remind all of us that the kind of rapid, visionary, and substantial policy changes surrounding the Justice 40 Initiative implicate real people in real places with real hopes and fears Should we wish for disadvantaged communities to benefit from this or any administration’s tackling of the climate crisis, the lessons of Part Four of this document must be given pride of place, deepened, responded to, and revered as the kind of community wisdom that such reflections represent
Perhaps the most important goal of Part Four of this this document is to invite corporate and government interests to pause and reflect on how this moment in our nation’s history is being experienced by disadvantaged community stakeholders who are at once both central to and yet simultaneously on the periphery of numerous decisions that are being made on behalf of their communities If any of the lofty rhetoric about the Justice 40 Initiative is to be deemed trustworthy by such understandably hesitant disadvantaged community voices, their experiences must be heard, understood, and responded to.
Part Five of this document is geographically bound and, perhaps for that reason, of unique value to anyone who genuinely cares about maximizing community benefits in southwest Pennsylvania. Entitled “Briefly Outlining What We’ve Done So Far,” this section recounts the authors’ experiences in leading a series of progressively more public and substantive community engagements in Beaver County, PA over the last two years related to community benefits
Such interventions are modest when compared to the scale of need and investment at play in this moment. But, the reality is that nearly any community who merits the designation of an
“environmental justice community” will only be able to muster modest responses to this present situation As both a sector and as a nation we must contend honestly with just how much weight such disadvantaged communities can be asked to bear in this push toward environmental justice.
Should we wish truly to elevate the capacity of such communities to advocate fairly for community benefits, we must stare soberly at the modest history recounted briefly in Part Five of this document
By explaining how a group of Beaver County residents have been slowly but persistently organizing
a growing community benefits coalition, we also intend publicly to lay claim to a measure of moral authority over inevitable future conversations about community benefits that will implicate forthcoming projects in our region.
As of the time this document was made public, we are aware of relatively few community benefit coalitions who have engaged in proactive organizing activity in our region If and until a wider and more organized coalition emerges, we would hope to hear from any corporation who is genuinely interested in understanding the needs of disadvantaged community stakeholders in Beaver County.
To be sure, we do not have the market cornered on community sentiment. Neither has our work been as expansive as one could imagine it becoming.
Nevertheless, such efforts remain the most developed and public coalition formed in Beaver County to date. Ours is a coalition who has met regularly and invited ongoing and progressively wider participation.
Perhaps important, our coalition has served as a kind of research and development lab for the document you are now reading.
In many respects, the coalition and activities this group has undertaken are demonstrating what it looks like to take seriously the call to organize disadvantaged community stakeholders to respond to this moment in history
We therefore expect that Part Five of this document can and should serve as a guide to any corporate entity seeking to secure federal funding on the back of a community benefits plan in southwestern Pennsylvania.
In many respects, Part Six, “A Deep Dive into the Basics of Community Benefits” represents the heart of this project Painstakingly created by Meagan Niebler at Fair Shake Environmental Legal Services, the resources offered throughout this section emerged from many months of research, testing, iteration, and refinement Created “on the ground” and “in the community,” the various resources provided were developed alongside a coalition of stakeholders who have devoted precious time and emotional energy to yet another community organizing project that may or may not be able to maximize their interests
While Part Six can be utilized in isolation and we hope that it will be it is important for the reader to recall that what has been produced is intentionally responsive to the history and lessons enumerated in other portions of this document. Whatever strengths, weaknesses, limitations, or utility emerge from the resources we provide are in direct proportion to their embeddedness in a particular community with a particular historical context.
The resources provided in Part Six have been crafted in a way that allow for adaptation within a specific community. If we have learned anything in recent months, it is that there is no “one size fits all” approach to community benefits. Adaptation, contextualization, and localization must be central to any attempt to articulate community benefits that genuinely speak to the needs of local communities.
We are hopeful that what we have produced in Part Six is appropriately malleable to a wide range of needs
within numerous disadvantaged communities in diverse contexts.
In Part Seven of this document we have taken an intentional step back from the particulars of our experience working in southwestern Pennsylvania. While those experiences certainly inform and have deepened the insights offered in this, the shortest section of the document, here we seek to consider the issue of community benefits from a more universal or general perspective.
Elevating brevity, this section provides what we have called “A Short Code of Ethics for Community Benefits Processes.” Conceived of as a guide to ethical action, this section seeks in short order to elevate key considerations, dispositions, and actions that must be given pride of place in any community benefits process that genuinely aspires to elevate justice and community concerns.
Finally, in Part Eight, which we have simply entitled “Targeted Resources,” we identify a handful of the growing list of publicly available resources that have guided our thinking when navigating community benefits processes and when creating this document.
Undoubtedly incomplete, this section represents a starting point for anyone seeking to think more deeply about the issues contained within this document It is assuredly and thankfully not the final word as more and more resources are becoming publicly available with every passing week
Four:
GettingReal andBeing Honest Part
Perhaps more than any other section of this document, what follows is directed primarily at corporate stakeholders and regional economic development authorities who have been tasked with engaging community interests around the topic of community benefits. To a lesser degree, this section may also hold value for government or government-adjacent folks who, in various and evolving ways, are responsible for helping both corporations and communities navigate the shifting complexities surrounding community benefits in all their forms.
Though one might hope it goes without saying, any corporate entity who wishes to engage with community stakeholders in good faith around the topic of community benefits would be wise to understand as best as possible what these past several years have been like for disadvantaged communities
Understandably, corporate stakeholders are not always wellpositioned to engage complex community dynamics. For all kinds of understandable reasons, this is not something that corporations are generally equipped or incentivized to do well By their nature, communities are almost always messy, slow, and complicated ecosystems. Understanding community concerns opens one up to complexity, disagreement, competing agendas, and much more. And so it is not hard to see why engaging such complexity might feel like an undesirable speed bump impeding complex projects rushing to compete for expansive federal investment in a profit motivated environment
While corporations may justifiably find it unfamiliar or even undesirable to engage meaningfully with community concerns, our current historical moment is increasingly calling for corporate entities to do just that With that in mind, in what follows, we survey a series of shifting community perspectives on our recent, present, and future shared history related to Executive Order 14008, the Justice 40 Initiative, community benefits, and the broader environmental justice landscape
We hope that such a brief survey might provide a measure of insight into what at least some disadvantaged community stakeholders are thinking about and feeling in this present moment.
Starting Out: Hope Springs Eternal, Again
Not long after the Justice 40 Initiative was announced, community advocates of all kinds slowly started talking in progressively more excited ways about the possibilities this newly launched mandate foretold for
disadvantaged environmental justice communities Community leaders, government officials, and business advocates were, for good reason, quickly waking up to the possible new sources of capital being made available for all kinds of community projects
As is often the case when it comes to newfound hope, clarity and precision were often outpaced by excitement and dreaming In part because of this and in part because of the relatively limited details provided early on about how the aspirations of Executive Order 14008 would be activated many in these early moments of hope’s resurgence unclearly communicated what was possible through Justice 40 and the community benefits process.
Those who listened to community advocates speak in the early days after the signing of Executive Order 14008 were likely to come away with the impression that the administration had opened the floodgates for disadvantaged communities.
If such communities would rally to the cause, get themselves organized and articulate a vision, it was believed, then an unprecedented opportunity was on the horizon thanks to this new “all of government” mandate on behalf of environmental justice
It was not and, still, is not uncommon to hear community leaders of all kinds suggest that 40% of designated federal funds are to be spent in disadvantaged communities This is, of course, importantly incorrect Neither is it uncommon to hear community and government advocates speaking as if community benefits plans place disadvantaged communities in the so called “driver’s seat” for bringing about their community priorities through newly announced federal funding. Of course, neither is this entirely correct.
All of this collective rhetoric around the newfound hope surrounding Executive Order 14008 represented a growing chorus of community excitement and expectation that was considerably out of step with the reality of how federal funds can and would flow. It was also out of step with the mechanisms that would ultimately be put in place for articulating community benefits in a given community
But for disadvantaged communities, who had long been left behind in such exciting and proactive investments of federal capital, such hopeful rhetoric was welcome and exciting news Perhaps not surprisingly, it was also the kind of news that many public leaders had all kinds of incentives to convey
Consequently, and perhaps problematically, the overly hopeful rhetoric got way more traction than the more complicated and technical realities that would eventually prove themselves to be at the heart of all of these new federal resources
Assessing how and why such hope emerged among disadvantaged communities is worth reflecting upon. Though we cannot exhaustively engage that complex matter here, a couple of reflections are in order.
First, it is important and wise to note that at least some of the blame for the kind of misplaced hopes that emerged in the shadow of Executive Order 14008 should be placed at the feet of community advocates who spoke from an under-informed perspective. Excitement trumped knowledge; hope outpaced policy. We must reflect soberly on such dynamics in order to avoid repeating such missteps
Beyond this, it is also worth considering how federal and industry stakeholders may have inflamed such sentiment within the broader disadvantaged public to generate a political narrative and momentum that, though instrumentally useful, nevertheless set disadvantaged communities up for the kind of uncertainty and frustration described below
Most importantly, as it relates to the broader goal of this document, it is critical for government or industry officials who seek now to work with disadvantaged communities to recognize how the early days after Executive Order 14008 set an important emotional and cultural context in which all subsequent community benefits conversations must take place.
Beyond Hope: Unclarity, Diminished Agency, Opacity
As any seasoned observer of bureaucratic processes understands, there is often a universe of difference between a political promise and its implementation.
Such has been the case related to Executive Order 14008, community benefits, the Justice 40 Initiative, and the like.
Whereas the rhetoric surrounding our current federal funding climate paints a picture of a transformative approach to environmental justice, time has shown that the reality involves navigating bureaucratic and technical challenges that may not fully align with the political optimism that was stoked in various ways among disadvantaged community stakeholders Here, we briefly recount a handful of continually emerging realities that, over time, have steadily tempered the hopes of many stakeholders working in and on behalf of environmental justice communities of all stripes
At the heart of shifting disadvantaged community sentiment over the past year or so has been a growing awareness of a considerable difference between what communities think community benefits can and should entail and what current legislation and policy expects from the tools and processes that have been created to formalize such benefits. While community members, government officials, and industry advocates may indeed all be using the phrase “community benefits,” it has become increasingly clear that varied stakeholders are defining such terms (and the processes that generate them) in importantly different ways.
On the ground, in many disadvantaged communities, it seems fair to say that community advocates have generally come to understand “community benefits” to be a broad umbrella term that can ostensibly mean whatever a community decides it should mean. That such a colloquial interpretation has been attached to the Justice 40 Initiative, Department of Energy processes, and the like may, perhaps, be unmerited. But it nevertheless remains a common and sticky understanding of what has been promised to disadvantaged communities in recent federal legislation and policy
Operating from the kind of maximally broad interpretation of “community benefits” very briefly recounted above, many disadvantaged community advocates have been surprised to learn that the tools and processes set in place to secure such community benefits are far less inviting and inclusive than they once believed
This is perhaps most acutely experienced as disadvantaged community stakeholders have come better to understand the Community Benefits Plan (CBP) at the heart of such matters Whereas disadvantaged community communities envisioned arriving at community benefits through a process that was transparent, democratic, and clearly enforceable, it has become increasingly obvious that the CBP process as currently conceived is not that
Instead, it is a process driven principally by institutional actors It is private and shrouded in mystery The allowable and fundable benefits at the heart of such plans are narrowly constrained Such benefits are often attributed to geographies far outside of the communities where investment will occur. The means of measuring the reality and impact of such benefits is shockingly unclear. And, perhaps most vexing, the CBP process generates promises on behalf of the community that are confusingly unenforceable in some or all instances. Given all of this, as one disadvantaged community advocate recently said in a public meeting, “It feels like the same old mess just described in prettier terms.”
As disadvantaged communities have increasingly deepened their understanding of what is and is likely to emerge from CBPs, they have simultaneously experienced a growing sense of frustration regarding long standing inequities related to capacity, access, funding, standing, and more. Whereas the rhetoric of Executive Order 14008 led such communities to believe that we were entering a new era during which disadvantaged community stakeholders would be provided with new tools and resources to advocate for community benefits, such “reinforcements'' have generally felt underwhelming or beyond reach to many communities most in need of such assistance To be fair, there are untold new place based investments coming from all kinds of federal agencies New capacity building mechanisms have been and are being implemented around the county Research, training, and advocacy is emerging more and more with each day Those may all eventually become wonderful things for disadvantaged communities
But, at least to date, the vast majority of these kinds of investments have either been too slow to materialize or have for all kinds of reasons beyond the purview of this document been out of reach for disadvantaged communities implicated in CBPs And so what once felt hopeful and empowering has slowly started to feel way too familiar for disadvantaged communities who have long been left behind when it comes to setting priorities for their communities.
Beyond what has already been said, it is worth focusing for a moment on some very practical matters at the heart of the conversation surrounding CBPs and how they are emerging.
At present, a significant amount of the guidance provided by the federal government is aimed principally at helping applicants generate effective CBPs
In one sense this is understandable given how federal agencies have conceived of CBPs But, by framing and implementing CBPs as a process driven principally by applicants, an inequitable dynamic has been created wherein the only actors who have resources to contribute to the process are large corporate or institutional entities.
When a large institution wishes to go after newly available funds, they have legal teams, funding, project managers, public relations teams, grant writers, and so forth.
These are generally well-funded and solvent corporations who can easily absorb the cost associated with standing up a CBP and the application of which it is a part. Disadvantaged community advocates, on the other hand, lack information, guidance, access, capacity, funding, relationships, and much more
such es lack to the anding tice 40 acity of unities xury of ocating ort in the created s, such es are limited far too watch munity behalf h they have no access by people they do not know
Sober Reflections on Community Caution and Optimism: A Roadmap for Responsible Corporations
While the kind of story told above may be at odds with the prevailing public and institutional narrative surrounding Justice 40 and community benefits, it is not out of step with how disadvantaged community stakeholders are experiencing this moment in history.
Hope was indeed inflamed and has now been tempered. Along with that, well merited skepticism has once again emerged and communities are cautiously making decisions intent on ensuring that they do not unwittingly contribute to a story or process that fails to have their community’s best interests at heart
Though speaking of such circumstances may feel unfortunate or inconvenient, this is the reality in which most community benefits conversations must take place for the foreseeable future. And so, any corporation or institutional actor seeking to act on behalf of disadvantaged communities in this moment will be wise both to understand and respond to such inconvenient matters
Recognizing such realities, corporate and institutional actors must recognize that any conversation or process
surrounding community benefits is very likely to start from a point of increasing caution and skepticism about what such processes hold for long standing environmental justice communities.
Increasingly, disadvantaged community advocates are expressing hesitation about contributing to a kind of hopeful and inclusive rhetoric around Justice 40 and community benefits that does not ultimately bring such benefits to community stakeholders More and more, community advocates are questioning whether the
mechanisms built to deliver such benefits are up to the task of authentically and equitably addressing the needs of disadvantaged community members, organizations, and institutions.
Despite such growing caution, it is important to understand that disadvantaged community stakeholders of all kinds nevertheless continue to understand that this moment remains uniquely and strategically valuable for representing their interests and the needs of their communities
Despite the kind of frustrations and shortcomings outlined here, it remains indisputable that something vital has shifted in our national discourse about the importance and value of community input in this particular moment.
Though the mechanisms intended to maximize community participation and benefit may not yet have risen to meet our collective hopes, critical incentives remain for corporate and institutional actors to engage meaningfully and authentically with community stakeholders
The various challenges outlined above notwithstanding, Community Benefits Plans can nevertheless give communities an entry point into conversations and processes that they have often been left out of. If and when such plans become legally enforceable by way of a community benefit agreement, then previously illusive benefits and protections may indeed emerge. Perhaps most importantly, and consistent with our own experience in Beaver County, engaging such matters can be used as a powerful tool for community coalition building which is a valuable outcome in its own right
Briefly Outlining WhatWe’ve DoneSoFar Part Five:
Having spent considerable time thinking in more theoretical terms about many issues related to community benefits, it is nearly time to turn attention toward more practical and actionable matters Part Six of this document will provide precisely this kind of insight into how to move from the varied reflections found in the first part of this document toward community action. In order to provide a bit of context for such extensive insights, here in Part Five, we briefly outline how activity in Beaver County, PA has informed the preceding reflections and subsequent resources offered in Part Six
The following account serves two purposes First, by demonstrating the various activities that have taken place in the life of the community over the past year or so, we seek to provide some helpful insight into what kinds of engagement are required to generate virtuous and genuine community engagement What does it look like for a community to begin organizing to advocate for itself? How quickly, where, and by what means does such organizing occur? What sort of planning, leadership, and resources are required to enact such organizing? And, how long should one reasonably expect such activities to take?
The second reason for this section is, perhaps, more selfinterested and principled The reflections that have led to the creation of this document have emerged in significant measure on the back of activity in Beaver County, Pennsylvania. Certainly,
learning from our Allegheny County neighbors as well as communities in Ohio and West Virginia have added insight as well. And, we have been connected to broader national conversations related to the subject matter at hand. Nevertheless, the vast majority of practical and actionable learning reflected in this document has emerged on the ground, in community gatherings, and among residents in Beaver County. Community advocates in Beaver County have proven a steady and faithful learning partner on this journey. So, should this document hold any value, much of the credit falls to those in Beaver County who have been willing to contribute their time and effort to the various meetings and processes provided below What follows is, therefore, a kind of homage to the hard fought insights gleaned from working alongside our many partners in Beaver County.
What does it look like for a community to begin organizing to advocate for itself?
How quickly, where, and by what means does such organizing occur?
What sort of planning, leadership, and resources are required to enact such organizing?
DEVELOPINGCOMMUNITYBENEFITS
-BEAVERCOUNTY,PA-
STRATEGIC PLANNING COMMUNITY OUTREACHMEETINGS
In early 2023, RiverWise and Fair Shake Environmental Legal Services began strategizing about how best to establish a community benefits coalition This involved a series of planning and strategy sessions aimed at laying the groundwork for community engagement.
Following initial planning, a series of ten community outreach meetings were held that were attended by nearly 100 community stakeholders. These meetings introduced community members to the concept of community benefits, gauged their interest in participating in a coalition, and began to articulate a common vision for desired community benefits
ENGAGEMENT EVENTS
STORYTELLINGAND VISIBILITY
Various events such as community benefits happy hours, coffee and conversations, field trips, educational sessions, and one-on-one conversations were organized to foster engagement. These gatherings were attended by nonprofit leaders, citizens at large, clergy, business leaders, elected officials, youth, and artists representing a range of organizations, geographies, and issues
After months of introductory meetings, a day-long retreat was organized. During this retreat, a menu of nearly 100 desired community benefits was developed, community interest in further organizing was gauged, and priorities for moving forward with the coalition were set.
Throughout all community gatherings, extensive storytelling about our activities has been conducted, thereby increasing visibility and participation in the work.
JUSTICE40 OPPORTUNITY
NAVIGATOR:
While community engagement was underway, RiverWise and New Sun Rising were also planning the launch of the Justice 40 Opportunity Navigator. This program collaborates with federally designated environmental justice communities to fund and implement projects that improve health, climate resilience, and economic opportunity. At the this document was published, over $8 million has been raised for nine different environmental justice-focused projects, providing further insight into community driven processes. Additionally, a full-time Environmental Justice Community Coordinator was hired to support the Beaver County Community Benefits Coalition.
PUBLICSPEAKING AND ADVOCACY
The authors have spoken widely about the issues at the heart of this document, including engagements at the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Mathematics; the Southwest Pennsylvania Decarbonization Forum; Just and Equitable gy Transition Network; ReImagine alachia; and more.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCEAND COMMUNITYINSIGHT
To extend capacity and insight, collaboration with a PhD candidate at Carnegie Mellon University has begun to train an Artificial Intelligence-informed learning environment. This environment will analyze extensive historical community plans and documents, providing better access to long-standing community advocacy efforts that can accelerate stakeholder capacity to demonstrate what sort of benefits are desired in a given community.
RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
At each stage along this journey, educational resources were developed. Lectures were devised, tools were created, games were invented, and more. Such tools have served various purposes at specific times over the last 18 months, and have functioned as the engine of community movement that has steadily grown over this time. All such resources are available in Part Six of this document.
REFLECTIONS AND IMPLICATIONS
All of the activity describe on the preceding pages, and more besides, should be kept at the forefront of the mind for those reading the next section of this document. At each and every stage, this work has been rooted in slow, steady, and ongoing community engagement. It has not been transactional; and neither has it been terribly efficient. It has required consistent, resourced, and thoughtful engagement with a growing chorus of community voices
ADeepDiveinto theBasicsof Community Benefits Part Six:
As we transition from theoretical reflections to practical implementation, Part Six of this document provides numerous links to online companion resources developed by Meagan Niebler, Community Democracy Coordinator at Fair Shake Environmental Legal Services. Drawing on the extensive groundwork laid in preceding sections, this part offers extensive resources that can help one understand and apply community benefits in real-world scenarios.
Community leaders developing strategies for greater resilience as part of the Justice 40 Opportunity Navigator
This section serves multiple purposes. First, it consolidates the varied insights and lessons learned from community engagement efforts, particularly those conducted in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, into actionable tools and strategies. By examining these practical examples, stakeholders can gain a clearer understanding of how to foster meaningful and sustainable community benefits.
Second, Part Six is designed to be a practical handbook for stakeholders at all levels. Whether you are a community advocate, a corporate entity, or a governmental agency, the resources provided here will help to equip you with the necessary knowledge and skills to navigate the complexities of community benefits processes The goal is to ensure that these processes are not only effective but also equitable and inclusive, truly reflecting the needs and aspirations of the communities they aim to serve Throughout this section, you will find detailed explanations, step-by-step guides, and adaptable templates that can be tailored to fit specific community contexts We emphasize the importance of adaptability and localization, recognizing that
there is no one-size-fits-all approach to community benefits. Each community has unique characteristics and needs, and the tools provided here are designed to be flexible enough to accommodate these differences.
By grounding our practical recommendations in the lived experiences and lessons learned from Beaver County, we aim to offer a realistic and grounded approach to community benefits planning.
This section is a testament to the hard work and dedication of community advocates who have tirelessly worked to ensure that their voices are heard and their needs are met
In the following pages, we invite you to follow the many embedded links and explore the practical aspects of community benefits equipped with the knowledge that effective and equitable implementation is possible with careful planning, genuine engagement, and a commitment to justice and transparency
COMMUNITYBENEFITS GUIDE
COMMUNITY BENEFITS 101
Basic information about community benefits
COMMUNITY BENEFITS PROCESS
An overview of the process we have used in Beaver County, along with checklists and tools for communities to use to plan their community benefits process
COMMUNITY BENEFITS MENU
Concrete examples of community benefits broken into community driven vision and goals
COMMUNITY
BENEFITS AGREEMENT TEMPLATE
Legal Community Benefit Agreement template with all benefits listed from the menu that communities can use as a starting point
COMMUNITY BENEFITS ORDINANCE TEMPLATE
Legal Community Benefit Ordinance template that communities can use as a starting point to plan their local law This is a simple template that was specifically created with and for small municipalities and/or rural communities
COMMUNITY BENEFITS MENU CARDS
Cards with concrete examples of community benefits broken into community-driven vision and goals. (Also used during the community benefits retreat to create and prioritize benefits )
STRONG COMMUNITY BENEFITS WORKSHEET
Overview and worksheet of how to use S M A R T I E S to create strong community benefits
COALITION CONTACT LIST
COMMUNITY BENEFITS ONE PAGER
Printable one-pager with basic information about community benefits
COMMUNITY QUESTIONS BEFORE JOINING A BOARD
Questions that communities can use before joining a Board or Committee to ensure their time and participation is meaningful. This can also be helpful when structuring advisory or enforcement bodies for community benefits.
Excel list to create and track coalition partner information.
EDUCATION& ENGAGEMENT
AGENDA - COMMUNITY VISIONING OUTREACH
Activities to facilitate community visioning during outreach events and tabling
AGENDA - COMMUNITY BENEFITS VISIONING WORKSHOP
AGENDA - COMMUNITY BENEFITS 101 HAPPY HOUR OR COFFEE CHAT
Agenda to facilitate basic education about community benefits during a community workshop or event.
POWERPOINT -
COMMUNITY BENEFITS 101 HAPPY HOUR OR COFFEE CHAT
Powerpoint to use during the Community Benefits 101 workshop or event
AGENDA - COMMUNITY BENEFITS RETREAT
Agenda for a retreat with the primary goal that coalitions create and prioritize wanted benefits.
RETREAT COMMUNITY VISION POSTER
Materials for community benefits retreat.
Agenda to facilitate community visioning during a community workshop or event.
COMMUNITY BENEFITS OUTREACH AND CARD GAME
Activities to facilitate community benefits education through a card game during outreach events and tabling
COMMUNITY BENEFITS CARD GAME PLAYING BOARD
Materials for community benefits card game.
COMMUNITY BENEFITS CARD GAME CARD LABELS
Materials for community benefits card game.
AGENDA - COMMUNITY BENEFITS ORDINANCE WORKSHOP
Agenda to facilitate community benefit ordinance education during a workshop or event.
RETREAT SHARE-OUT REFLECTION SHEETS
Materials for community benefits retreat.
POWERPOINT - COMMUNITY BENEFITS ORDINANCE WORKSHOP
Powerpoint to use during the community benefit ordinance workshop.
Part Seven:
AShortCodeof Ethicsfor Community Benefits Processes
Drawing from the principles and insights outlined in the previous sections, what follows is a brief code of ethics for community members and corporations that are seeking ways to engage authentically in community benefits processes that are more likely to produce greater environmental justice in disadvantaged communities. We hope that this section will be a springboard for more conversation, amendment, and augmentation of what follows.
Part Eight:
resources, examples, andmore
This final section seeks to support stakeholders in their journey toward effective community benefits process implementation. To that end, what follows is a selective list of hyperlinked resources that we have found to be helpful for shaping our own thinking and processes while working over the last year in Beaver County, Pennsylvania and beyond Some of this information overlaps with what we have provided in Part Six Unlike what we have created here, much of what follows is written for a more general national audience Though admittedly incomplete, this section aims to provide a starting point for any community advocate seeking to learn more about the ongoing national conversation underway about community benefits processes and implementation
2023 Equity Action Plan
About Community Benefits Plans | Department of Energy
Community Benefit Agreement (CBA) Toolkit
Community Benefits Agreements and Funds
Community Benefits Agreements Database | Sabin Center for Climate Change Law
Community Benefits Agreements Offer Meaningful Opportunities to Include Voters’ Voices in Development
Guidance for Creating a Community Benefits Plan for the Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs
Community Benefits Plans Webinar Series: CBP 101 Webinar
Companies Succeed, Communities Benefit
Delivering Equitable and Meaningful Community Benefits via Clean Hydrogen Hubs
Department of Energy General Guidance for Justice40 Implementation
Energizing Rural Communities Prize: Community Engagement Toolkit
Guidance for Creating a Community Benefits Plan for the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Energy Improvement in Rural or Remote Areas Fixed Award Grant Program
Implementation of Justice40: Challenges, Opportunities, and a Status Update
Interim Implementation Guidance for the Justice40 Initiative
It takes a community: Hydrogen hubs and Community Benefits Plans explained
Leveraging Renewable Energy Investments for Rural Development
Justice40: A Whole-of-Government Initiative
Justice40 Initiative Covered Programs List
Part I: Community Benefits Plans: How do they work? A deep dive!
Project Labor Agreement Resource Guide
