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Community Accountability Plan

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Buildings Upgrade Prize (Buildings UP) awards cash prizes and technical assistance to teams across America with winning ideas to accelerate widespread, equitable energy-efficiency and building electrification upgrades.

In addition to serving as a critical tool for detailing how this building’s upgrade initiative will be accountable to the communities being served, this Community Accountability Plan helps document this team’s compliance with the requirements set by Buildings UP for additional funding. More information is available in the Buildings UP Official Prize Rules for Phase 2: Plan Phase.  

This is a publicly available document that includes the following sections:

  • Community Involvement
  • Shared Decision Making with Community Partners and Members
  • Equitable Distribution of Benefits from Building Upgrades
  • Inclusive Economic Opportunities
  • Prevention of Burdens & Mitigation of Unintended Consequences
  • Accountability Mechanisms & Process
  • Confirmation of Acceptance & Commitment to Community Accountability Plan

Basic Information

Team Name:Energy Efficiency Empowerment (E3 Buildings Up Team)
Leading Organization(s):Energy Efficiency Empowerment (E3)
Additional Partner Organizations:Hazelwood Initiative, East Hills Consensus Group, Sharpsburg Neighborhood Organization, Rising Tide Partners, Rebuilding Together Pittsburgh, City of Bridges Community Land Trust, Hilltop Alliance, Pittsburgh Housing Development Corporation, Mincin Insulation
Location:Pittsburgh, PA
Building Upgrade Zone:*Climate zone 5A
Technology Demonstration Site:*None, technology validation through prior installations and tech demos.
Pilot Initiative Site(s):*Multiple locations in Pittsburgh region for vacant home rehabilitation enhancements  and two locations for community-wide campaigns: East Hills and Sharpsburg
Community-Based Organization(s)* Representing Communities:Hazelwood Initiative, East Hills Consensus Group, Sharpsburg Neighborhood Organization
Date Published:October 28, 2024
Public Website for Community Accountability Plan:https: //eeepgh.org/Community
Public Point of Contact and Contact Information:Energy Efficiency Empowerment, info@eeepgh.org
Brief Summary:The E3 Buildings Up federally awarded initiative aims to enhance the rehabilitation of vacant homes in the Pittsburgh region by making them more energy-efficient and sustainable. This initiative increases resilience, comfort, and operational cost affordability for homeowners in Justice40 neighborhoods. We achieve these goals by providing nonprofit developers of affordable housing with additional funding, technical expertise, new technologies, measurements, and quality assurance. Importantly, we do this without increasing the sale prices of these homes, ensuring maximum benefits for future low-to-middle-income residents. In our community-wide campaign, the E3 Buildings Up team is excited to offer free hot water heat pump installations when existing gas water heaters reach the end of their life. This initiative is available to all participating communities, providing a unique opportunity to upgrade to more energy-efficient and safer technology at no cost.

Community Involvement

Commitment: E3 Buildings Up Team commits to engaging community members at every stage of the initiative, ensuring their input is heard, respected, and integrated into decision-making processes.
Plan: E3 will continue to collaborate closely with community-based organizations on the team, Hazelwood Initiative(HI), East Hills Consensus Group (EHCG), and Sharpsburg Neighborhood Organization (SNO), and rely on their deep engagement and roots in the community in guiding the Pilot Initiative. Nonprofit developers partners in the Buildings Up team engage with communities in which they rehabilitate vacant housing and make joint decisions with community partners, advisory boards, and other stakeholders acting on community behalf. 
Desired Outcomes: 1. Communities benefit from working with nonprofit developers, and the neighborhood revitalization and development occurs with input from the community members and those who represent interest of the community. 2. Individuals participating in E3 Buildings Up programming are satisfied with their ability to provide input and have impact on the community-wide campaign offerings.  Metrics: Participation rates in the campaign and satisfaction levels from the planned surveys.
Transparent Tracking & Reporting on Progress: E3 Buildings Up Team will regularly update the community through community meetings, newsletters, and reports, ensuring that all progress and decisions are communicated clearly.

Shared Decision Making with Community Partners & Members

Commitment: E3 commits to a shared decision-making process that ensures community partners and nonprofit developer members have a meaningful role in all key decisions regarding Buildings Up initiative.
Plan: E3 has formalized partnerships through Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) with community organizations and nonprofit developer members, clearly defining roles and responsibilities in the decision-making process.Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) play a pivotal role in shaping and guiding the community-wide campaigns implemented in their respective areas, and they hold decision-making authority in these initiatives.With nonprofit developer partners, E3 collaboratively selects projects from the partner’s portfolio, jointly determines the energy efficiency enhancements appropriate for each rehabilitated home, co-approves project budgets, and jointly oversees the completion of energy efficiency improvements.
Desired Outcomes: Successful implementation of energy efficiency measures in joint projects with nonprofit developers, retention of partners, and expansion of joint projects, contingent on funding availability. Growth and positive results in the community-wide campaign.Metrics: 1. Number of joint projects successfully completed with each nonprofit developer partner. 2. Assessment of expected vs. actual energy efficiency improvements in each project. 3. Evaluation of quality assurance findings across different contractors and nonprofit partners for each project. 4. Measurement of participants’ satisfaction levels.
Transparent Tracking & Reporting on Progress: Outcomes of joint projects and campaigns documented and shared with the stakeholders and community members regularly. 

Equitable Distribution of Benefits from Building Upgrades

Commitment:
E3 Buildings Up Team commits to equitable distribution of our subsidized energy efficiency upgrades and electrification measures, particularly to underserved communities.
Plan: E3 Buildings Up Team exclusively operates in Justice40 neighborhoods where residents have historically been underserved. All vacant home rehabilitation projects undertaken with nonprofit developers are either sold to households below 80% AMI, or provided as rental units to low income families. Subsidized hot water heater replacements are only offered in Justice40 communities represented by CBOs on our Team.
Desired  Outcomes: Increased energy efficiency and resilience of houses being rehabbed for the affordable housing market. Participants in the community-wide campaign equipped with highly efficient and safer hot water heating equipment.Metrics: 1. Measured and modeled energy use reductions in each completed vacant home rehab. 2. Number of LMI households benefiting from the upgrades.
Transparent Tracking & Reporting on Progress: Progress on the equitable distribution of benefits will be regularly reported and shared with the stakeholders through public channels.

Inclusive Economic Opportunities

Commitment: E3 Buildings Up Team commits to creating inclusive economic opportunities through workforce training and the inclusion of underrepresented contractors in energy efficiency projects.
Plan: E3 will work closely with nonprofit partners, regional stakeholders, and local contractors to create training programs and job opportunities focused on energy efficiency improvements. For example, in Hazelwood, a local contractor was hired for a project and E3 provided on-the-job training in blower-door-guided air sealing. This hands-on experience not only enhanced their understanding of achieving higher home performance but also better prepared them to meet energy efficiency standards in future projects.
Desired Outcomes: Increased abilities among local contractors in the field of energy efficiency.  Better home performance outcomes in joint projects. Inclusion of underrepresented contractors in joint projects. Metrics: Number of skill upscaling opportunities, including on-the-job demonstrations, created for local contractors, including underrepresented groups.  
Transparent Tracking & Reporting: Outcomes and impacts will be tracked and shared with stakeholders to ensure transparency and accountability.

Prevention of Burdens & Mitigation of Unintended Consequences

Commitment: E3 commits to preventing burdens and mitigating unintended consequences that may arise from the E3 Buildings Up initiatives, particularly for low-income households.
Plan: E3 examined many risk factors and planned best ways to prevent burdens when developing this initiative. We make multi-pronged efforts to ensure low or no cost impact from the electrification measures and will not install them unless the chances of a bill increase are small (or possibly justified by the addition of cooling). Additionally, in the community-wide hot water heat pump program, CBOs jointly decided to use Buildings Up funding to cover the entire cost of hot water heat pump installations rather than asking homeowners to cover any portion of the cost, in order to prevent financial burdens. 
DesiredOutcomes: Successful installations that meet performance expectations, with no increase in household energy costs due to upgrades, except for additional cooling costs. Enhanced benefits include improved comfort, better indoor air quality, and increased resilience for future residents of rehabilitated vacant homes.Metrics: 1. Quality of installations by contractors, including tracking and resolving any issues identified. 2. Comparative modeling of utility costs using the Home Energy Score, assessing finished rehabbed properties against baseline costs. 3. Analysis of utility bills in the community-wide hot water heat pump campaign. 4. Feedback collected from participating homeowners via post-installation surveys.
Transparent Tracking & Reporting on Progress: E3 will share impact assessment reports with the stakeholders and community members and provide updates on mitigation strategies, if those are necessary to prevent burdens. 

Accountability Mechanisms & Process

Commitment: E3 commits to establishing clear accountability mechanisms and processes to address member partners or community concerns and ensure continuous improvement.
Plan: E3 has established formal agreements with its member partners that clearly define responsibilities and ensure accountability. These agreements include regular evaluations to assess performance, with provisions for periodic renewal and adjustments as needed. E3 will also provide a high-level summary of the initiative’s commitments and make it publicly accessible online.
Desired Outcomes: Effective resolution of concerns and necessary adjustments to enhance E3 Buildings Up processes and offerings. The results of the Pilot Initiative will be made publicly available on the eeepgh.org website.Metrics: 1.Multiple measures comparing expected and actual results from the Pilot.
2. Evaluation of missed opportunities for improving the energy efficiency of rehabbed homes. 3. Level of satisfaction with the Buildings Up processes and outcomes, assessed through a survey conducted at the end of the Pilot Phase.
Transparent Tracking & Reporting on Progress: E3 will report survey outcomes to the E3 Buildings Up Team, ensuring transparency and fostering trust. Additionally, E3 will document lessons learned and share them with stakeholders to support ongoing improvements to the initiative and its outcomes.

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