ComEd provides $450,000 grant to Community Investment Corporation for Chicago-area solar energy at affordable housing
The Community Investment Corporation (CIC) gained $450,000 last month through ComEd’s Climate-Friendly Nonprofit Grant program, giving it the means to help connect 80 unsubsidized, privately-owned affordable housing units in Chicago to new solar energy options.
Reaching out to the city’s south and west sides, the effort will be a one-time endeavor to potentially save residents money and build up tools that will reduce burden on the environment. CIC will use the money to train staff and identify multi-family buildings in the area that could benefit from retrofit opportunities. Additionally, it will educate building managers on what climate-friendly upgrades could bring, as well as how to undertake those upgrades.
“This grant is integral to CIC’s approach to investing in low- to moderate-income communities,” Stacie Young, president and CEO of CIC, said. “The small, local and minority multi-family building owners and tenants in LMI communities have the most to gain from climate-friendly programs; however, they are often the hardest to reach. These funds are helping building owners invest in the climate and economic resilience of Chicago neighborhoods.”
An Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report from 2021 highlighted the disproportionate effects of climate change on under-resourced and traditionally underserved communities, and noted that they are more often exposed to harmful air pollution.
In this case, CIC was one of three nonprofit organizations to receive a grant through ComEd’s Climate-Friendly Nonprofit Grant program, along with Equiticity and Proviso Leyden Council for Community Action. Each targeted northern Illinois with climate-friendly, complementary programs. They also have the potential to improve energy use and save money.
“As ComEd prepares for a low-carbon future, it’s important that families across the entire economic spectrum have equal access to climate-friendly programs that will help improve their quality of life,” Melissa Washington, senior vice president of customer operations and chief customer officer at ComEd, said. “I’m proud of the way our three grantees have found creative ways to lift up families and businesses in under-resourced communities.”
The grant program launched last year.
