August 27, 2010
by Dave Goodman, Open Media Boston

BOSTON/Dorchester - Standing before a home on Potosi Street in Dorchester, flanked by State officials and representatives of the electrical and gas utility companies that serve Boston, Mayor Thomas Menino yesterday announced that a city sponsored effort to increase commercial and residential energy efficiency would start accepting applications from homeowners and landlords.

Menino thanked the Obama administration for a $1.8 Million American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant that will be used to turn the “Renew Boston” project into a city-wide program. Officials say they expect the program eventually will help three thousand households make energy upgrades to their buildings through energy assessments and structural improvements including adding insulation, sealing windows and doors, and installation of efficient heating and water systems.

According to city officials, the federal stimulus money will be added to resources provided by ratepayers and collected by gas and electric utilities National Grid and NSTAR for a total of $7.2 Million in energy efficiency work administered through the Renew Boston program.

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All of which is seen as great news to community organizers working to blend economic development and environmental justice. In an interview following the Mayor’s announcement, Khalida Smalls, Organizing Director for the Roxbury-based organization Alternatives for Community and Environment (ACE), said “we’re really happy that Renew Boston is going to be up and running, and putting out these monies, and…talking about how they can help people pay those costs [of home energy improvements] and really doing on the ground outreach…

So what we’re hearing about Renew Boston and what [the program] is going to be doing is really positive.”

OMB Audio: ACE Organizing Director Khalida Smalls

Eventually, federal dollars will stop coming, say activists, and a way to sustain funding for energy efficiency and living wage jobs will need to be found. A report released earlier this year and prepared by several labor, business, and environmental coalitions including the national Apollo Alliance and the Boston-based Green Justice Coalition, found that enough money is being invested statewide potentially to create 6,000 jobs in the energy efficiency industry. The bad news, the study concluded, is that most of the jobs pay very low wages.

Many of these workers themselves qualify for low income weatherization assistance, according to the report.

Darlene Lombos, Co-Director of Community Labor United, a founding member – along with ACE - of the three year old Green Justice Coalition, says a big part of the challenge is to convince contractors to pay higher wages and just as importantly create opportunities for workers to advance within the industry.

“Weatherization work is an entry point for the types of deep partnerships that we’re building with unions and community groups around the construction trades…we want responsible contractors who want to pay livable wages…and offer pathways into the industry…

“These are dead end jobs; nobody’s going to want to be crawling around attics all their lives…we want to be providing training opportunities and ways to for people to go into different trades. And that’s why we’ve partnered with unions and other community coops that offer that pathway.”

OMB Audio: Community Labor United Co-Director Darlene Lombos

According to Lombos and Smalls, The Green Justice Coalition will sponsor a public forum next month to discuss these issues. Governor Deval Patrick will be invited to participate they said.

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