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Ann Arbor Office of Sustainability & Innovations
Transcription
David Fair: This is 89.1 WEMU, and when we think of combating the climate crisis, we most often think about what we're putting in the air. In order to better protect our land, water and air, it takes boots on the ground. And that's where the Ann Arbor Climate Corps comes in. I'm David Fair, and welcome to this week's edition of Issues of the Environment. The Ann Arbor Climate Corps helps bridge the gap between city policy and neighborhood level implementation. We wanted to get an update on how it's been going and what is to come as we rapidly approach the city's goal of reaching carbon neutrality by the year 2030. There are certainly challenges ahead. Our guest today is Maggie Halpern, and she serves as Program Manager for the Ann Arbor Climate Corps and the city's AmeriCorps program. And thank you so much for the time today, Maggie! I appreciate it!
Maggie Halpern: Thanks for having me on! I appreciate it!
David Fair: The Ann Arbor Climate Corps was launched in 2023 and is considered the primary implementation arm of the city's A2ZERO Carbon Neutrality Plan. That makes it sound like this is a massive team of workers. How many are there actually in the Corps right now?
Maggie Halpern: We currently have 10 people serving as AmeriCorps members. I wouldn't say that they're the main implementation arm--really, the Office of Sustainability and Innovations. All staff there are tasked with implementing the goals of A2ZERO. So, the staff members are always designing programs, projects, etc. to help the city, businesses, and residents achieve the goal of carbon neutrality.
David Fair: Thank you so much for the clarification. I appreciate it.
Maggie Halpern: Mm hmm!
David Fair: Now, I did mention that the Climate Corps is "boots on the ground," and the Corps serves three primary sectors in the A2ZERO Carbon Neutrality Plan. The first of which is residential decarbonization. What all does that entail?
Maggie Halpern: Yes. So, buildings are a very large percentage of the emissions that we are working to eliminate in the city. And so, we have a variety of programs helping residents achieve that, as well as helping them connect with other programs from other entities. So, for instance, Washtenaw County has an excellent weatherization program, and that covers Ann Arbor residents, as well as people in the county. And then, the two programs that probably get the most attention out of our office are the Home Energy Advisor and the Home Energy Rebate. So, the Home Energy Advisor is a program that is free for all residents of the city of the Ann Arbor, and they get what we call the "path to zero." So, we do a full assessment of their house and then make recommendations for things like weatherization, air sealing, electrification, so potentially picking out a gas furnace, stove, other appliance, and converting to electric, making sure the house has adequate insulation, and, ultimately, hopefully installing solar panels on the house, or as we move forward with the Sustainable Energy Utility, getting the house connected into the SEU. So, this is different from a lot of other energy assessments, which really focus on return on investment.
David Fair: Right.
Maggie Halpern: Like, what can you do to your house where you will earn that money back? And as we work towards carbon neutrality, it's about more than that for that end goal. So, we're really looking to the AmeriCorps members for helping us figure out how to get information about that program to the public. And then, the other program I mentioned is the Home Energy Rebates. So, this is all funded by the Climate Action Millage, which Ann Arbor residents passed in 2022. And the rebates are available to residents in Ann Arbor for things all the way from solar battery storage to appliance replacement to, even the most popular one, has been for cargo e-bikes. That's been, I think, the one that sort of sells out, if you will, the quickest each year. And so, this is a great opportunity for residents to get that little bit of financial boost to make some of these projects more feasible for them. And we hold half of the rebate fund for income qualified residents. And so, if you are, I believe, it's 120% of area median income, then you get a bit more financial assistance to do those projects.
David Fair: The second two components of what the Climate Corps is doing has to do with ecosystem stewardship and resilience and tackling the circular economy goals in Washtenaw County. So, that all kind of rolls together, doesn't it?
Maggie Halpern: It does! Absolutely! And the Climate Corps, I think, is a great opportunity for people who are either early in their career or we also have members that are a little bit older and are doing a career pivot and working on those energy programs. But then, as you said, circularity, as well as natural stewardship, gives them a really nice wide variety of the types of jobs, careers, specializations, etc. that they might want to move into after their time with the Corps.
David Fair: This is WEMU's Issues of the Environment, and we're talking with the Program Manager of Ann Arbor's Climate Corps, Maggie Halpern. Well, we've talked about the responsibilities of the Climate Corps, and three years into the program's launch, do we have some verifiable or tangible results to tell us progress is being made?
Maggie Halpern: Absolutely! AmeriCorps programs are operating on multiple levels. So, the members who come to us are looking for exposure, experience, networking, etc. as they move forward in their careers while having the AmeriCorp program in our office first assists the employees. As you might imagine, everybody that works in OSI is working as hard as possible all the time to combat, what we truly believe, is a crisis and is an emergency. Climate Corps members vastly increase our capacity to get projects done. And then, they're increasing our ability to get to residents and make sure that residents understand the programs that are available. So, you're getting to have impact and results on many different levels that way. As far as AmeriCorps members go, we have our third cohort currently. We have almost entirely filled all of our spots every single year. We've retained the members throughout the course of their service term for the most part. And then, we're seeing that the majority of people who come through the Climate Corps are then getting positions in their chosen field or going back to graduate school. I think we have six members that are currently in graduate school for sustainability or environmental issues. So, that is a great indicator of success for the program. We also have seen the number of residents that we're able to interact with or the number of events that we are able to stand up increase also for the first year AmeriCorps residents interacted with. I think it was somewhere between five and six thousand residents. You know, AmeriCorps is about helping everyday people in their everyday communities facing issues, whether it is how to make your home or your community resilient in the face of climate change or natural disasters or doing tutoring or helping with food banks. And so, when you look at it on the local level, those programs have a tremendous amount of impact, they're successful. People are proud to have them in their communities.
David Fair: And so, what can we expect from the Climate Corps and the AmeriCorps program in Ann Arbor this coming summer?
Maggie Halpern: Oh. Well, it is engagement season.
David Fair: Right.
Maggie Halpern: As everybody in Michigan knows, everybody is hunkered down. And then, once the sun starts coming out and the temperatures warm up, everybody emerges. So, April was a huge month for us. It sort of turns into Earth Month because of Earth Day. The office helped with the city's Earth Day celebration that was at Leslie Science and Nature Center. We put on the fourth annual Climate Teach-in. AmeriCorps members played big roles at both of those events. We had a presence at Huron River Day. And then, the biggest upcoming thing will be A2ZERO Week, which is the first full week, well, I guess not quite full, starting on May 31st through June 6th. So, that is something that OSI does every year to celebrate the passage of the A2ZERO plan. And so, we have events going on all over town during that week. And again, AmeriCorps members have helped plan those events, develop materials for them, and we'll be at the events talking to residents, which is very fun. And then, one of the other things that I think is the most popular in the community that AmeriCorps members are helping with are the monthly clothing swaps. So, on the third Thursday of every month, we have a swap at City Hall to address that circular economy work that you mentioned earlier.
David Fair: Well, thank you so much for kind of filling us in and re-educating me on all the work that is being done and all the work to come! I do appreciate it! And we'll look forward to seeing everybody out and about through the course of the summer!
Maggie Halpern: Thank you so much! It was a pleasure to talk with you!
David Fair: That is Maggie Halpern. She is Engagement Coordinator in the Ann Arbor Office of Sustainability and Innovations and serves as Program Manager for the Ann Arbor Climate Corps and the AmeriCorps Program. For more information on their work, stop by our website at WEMU.org. We'll get you everywhere you need to go. Issues of the Environment is produced in partnership with the Office of the Washtenaw County Water Resources Commissioner. You hear it every Wednesday. I'm David Fair, and this is your community NPR station, 89.1 WEMU-FM, Ypsilanti.
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