City Plots $20M Climate ​“Culture Change”

Composting for up to 20 schools. Energy upgrades for over 200 homes. Bike education for every third grade student. Four hundred new street trees.

Those are among the plans for a potential $20 million federal grant to build out New Haven’s climate resilience infrastructure.

The city’s Office of Climate and Sustainability is partnering with the Greater Dwight Development Corporation (GDDC) to apply for that funding, a Community Change Grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The team of hopeful applicants will need the Board of Alders’s approval in order to apply for and accept the grant funding. They presented before the Board of Alders City Services and Environmental Policy Committee last week, which accelerated the process by ​“discharging” the item from committee so that the full Board of Alders can vote on the matter at their next meeting in August.

Climate and Sustainability Director Steve Winter told alders that the grant is designed for broad, collaborative, ​“community-driven” and ​“multi-faceted” proposals.

Winter and GDDC, the community development organization that first brought the grant to the city’s attention, convened six other local community development-focused non-profits to help steward the grant: Beulah Land Development Corporation, St. Luke’s Development Corporation, Neighborhood Housing Services, the newly-formed Newhallville Community Services Development Corporation, the Community Action Agency of New Haven, and Junta for Progressive Action. 

The team devised a plan for the hypothetical $20 million aiming to connect and enhance the work of existing nonprofits in the city, with a focus on food waste reduction, clean energy, bike access and safety, and infrastructure upgrades. 

They envision funding:

• Cleaner and more efficient energy upgrades, such as solar panels and new temperature control systems, to a target of 200 existing 1 – 4 family homes, according to a proposal summary.

• Similar energy upgrades for non-profit developers building larger-scale affordable housing projects, which may not have the financial leeway to focus on sustainable construction without extra assistance.

• Two fully-enclosed compost machines for CitySeed’s new Fair Haven hub, which could have the capacity to process 850 tons of food waste from up to 20 schools, according to Winter.

• More personnel and new equipment (such as a larger refrigerator) for local food rescue organization Haven’s Harvest, aiming to reduce over 2 million pounds of food waste and lay the groundwork for the organization to ​“upcycle” and resell excess ingredients from restaurants (like in Pittsburgh, where local organization 412 Food Rescue has produced ciders and other products from rescued fruits and bread).

• Expanding bike education programs in New Haven Public Schools for ​“every third grade student,” with bikes provided to schools.

• New bike lanes as well as enhancements to existing bike lanes.

• A bike share program in partnership with the New Haven Parking Authority, as well as 150 bikes supplied directly to community members through the Bradley Street Bike Co-op.

• A full-time ​“recycling educator” in New Haven Public Schools.

• Local initiatives to maximize the life span of household items. (Winter suggested, for example, a MakeHaven workshop on how to repair broken fans.)

• 400 street trees, planted especially along Whalley Avenue and Blatchley Avenue, two major streets with relatively sparse greenery in predominantly Black or Latino neighborhoods. 

• At least 100 new projects (such as bioswales) to mitigate stormwater runoff. 

• Climate-oriented zoning ordinance changes, such as requiring more reflectivity to reduce heat absorption and denser tree coverage.

These projects taken together would create an estimated 150 jobs in New Haven, according to Winter, who noted that the city plans to enlist organizations such as the Workforce Alliance to hire local residents.

Committee alders pressed Winter and his fellow presenters on the broad scope of the plan.

“This is a very aggressive project,” said East Rock Alder and Committee Chair Anna Festa. ​“Is it too much? Could we be denied for having too many goals?”

Kathy Fay, the director of community sustainability at Neighborhood Housing Services, said that the team has been working with a technical assistant at the EPA to ensure that they have a good chance of securing the grant. 

She said that the EPA is specifically looking for a ​“collaborative,” multi-pronged proposal.

“They’re looking for something much bigger than just one project,” said Serena Neal Sanjurjo, president of the Newhallville Community Services Development Corporation.

East Rock Alder Caroline Tanbee Smith asked whether it would be wisest to spread the $20 million throughout such a wide array of projects or to channel those funds toward a smaller number of projects in order to achieve ​“transformative-level impact.”

“You mentioned 200 energy-efficient homes — imagine if it could be 8,000?” she asked.

Winter acknowledged that each individual project envisioned will have a minor impact in the grand scheme of climate change. ​“The amount we’re composting with this grant is relatively small,” he said, for instance. But he said that the group’s goal, in line with the EPA’s grant requirements, is to start building the infrastructure for larger-scale changes. 

He described the overall approach as ​“preceding culture change” by combining education initiatives with structural, capacity upgrades to various climate change-combatting initiatives. For instance, the team’s vision of growing a bike education program for third graders would be paired with efforts to expand bike access (through a bike share program and a set of donated bikes) as well as safety (through a larger and more bolstered network of bike lanes).

Fay stressed that one goal is ​“leveraging” existing community and non-profit efforts to make New Haven more sustainable.

One member of the public, East Rock resident Kevin McCarthy, sat through the four-hour meeting in order to testify on the grant proposal just before 10 p.m.

“This is a real opportunity for the city,” he said, while urging the city to also channel energy toward climate-oriented tax, economic development, and zoning reforms.