Statement on Biden-Harris administration unveiling of Energy Communities AmeriCorps initiative
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 23, 2024
CONTACT
Dan Radmacher, Media Specialist, (540) 798-6683, dan@appvoices.org
On Tuesday, the White House announced a new AmeriCorps initiative focused on dedicating more AmeriCorps Volunteers in Service to America members to energy communities in Virginia, West Virginia, Eastern Kentucky and Appalachian Ohio, among other locations.
The AmeriCorps program has long supported VISTAs serving in the Appalachian region and energy communities, but this new initiative promises five VISTAs each for the nine “Rapid Response Teams” established and planned by the Interagency Working Group on Coal and Power Plant Communities and Economic Revitalization. These teams are currently in place or planned for Appalachian Ohio, Eastern Kentucky, the Illinois Coal Basin, the Four Corners region of Utah, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Wyoming, West Virginia, Virginia and Southeast Montana. The additional VISTA members will address economic development, environmental remediation and energy transition, and help coal, oil, gas and power plant communities write grants and community benefit plans, map community assets, mobilize volunteers and more.
This effort is part of the administration’s American Climate Corps and is funded by a public-private partnership between the federal government and philanthropic partners. The Energy Communities AmeriCorps project is sponsored by Conservation Legacy. Applications are open now.
Statement by Southwest Virginia Solar & Electrification Projects Manager Austin Counts:
“The two years I served as an AmeriCorps VISTA member in Southwest Virginia enabled me to get hands-on experience educating people about renewable energy, running local solar programs, and working to put solar energy on buildings across the historic coal communities I called home.
“That time also introduced me to the work of the Southwest Virginia Solar Workgroup, a coalition working to bring solar to the coalfields as a social and economic catalyst. I am very optimistic about how this initiative will help bolster the work to ensure that communities that once provided the energy to fuel America participate in and benefit from the national clean-energy transition.”
Statement by Director of Government Affairs and Strategy Chelsea Barnes
“We applaud the Biden-Harris administration and the Interagency Working Group for prioritizing transitioning energy communities. VISTAs like Austin have been greatly beneficial to our work in coal-impacted communities across Appalachia. We are also grateful that these energy community VISTAs will be paid at least $15.51. VISTAs have historically been significantly underpaid, and in order to ensure that people from all backgrounds and life situations can become VISTAs, we encourage the administration and Congress to ensure all VISTAs are paid a living wage going forward.”
