Update: GJC announces "Public Transit-Public Good"

Our public transit system is in crisis. We need to tell the Legislature, the Governor and MassDOT it’s time to fix it, fund it, and make it fair.

GJC Launches "Public Transit, Public Good"! 

The Green Justice Coalition gets moving! Join riders and workers from across the State on Wednesday, May 16th @ 11 a.m. on the Statehouse Steps as we gather to protect transit systems across the state by launching the Green Justice Coalition’s campaign, "Public Transit–Public Good."

Leaders will speak out FOR fair short-term fixes and meaningful long-term solutions and AGAINST regressive proposals across the state to hike fares and cut transit service. Street theater will highlight the impacts of inadequate transit funding and service on our communities.

Click here to see a flyer for the event.


Vying for Energy Efficiency:

​Information is Everything: Good Data Reporting Matters 

Public Information for Better Programs: Why Energy Efficiency Data Reporting Must be Timely, Consistent, Statewide, and Transparent shows the many benefits of regular reporting from the state and utility companies. Basic data, such as locations where efficiency work is being done, and the amount of financial and energy savings to Massachusetts residents, significantly enhances program design and delivery. 

Report Says "Pre-Weatherization" Pays!

Recommendations on Pre-Weatherization and Tiered Incentives shows that a small subsidy would allow low-moderate income residents to weatherize their homes, save more than the cost of repairs, recover the money they are paying into Mass Save, and weatherize the oldest, draftiest homes in the Commonwealth. (“Pre-weatherization” measures fix conditions that keep a house from being weatherized such as knob and tube wiring, appliances that emit carbon monoxide, and asbestos.)

Job Postings:

Associate Director, Civic Engagement/Political Director

Boston Workers Alliance seeks a highly experienced community organizer and non-profit manager for the position of Associate Director.  Download the job posting here.

 The Alliance to Develop Power seeks a full time Civic Engagement/Political Director. to join the ADP Staff. This is an exciting opportunity to build a new and improved civic engagement program from the ground up. ADP's 501c3 has a member base of 5,000 low-income people and people of color throughout the Pioneer Valley region of Massachusetts. Both ADP and its companion c4, *ADP Action*, is a member of National People's Action's Electoral Cohort.        Download the job posting here.

GJC members across the state say:

"Let's Make the Green Communities Act For All"! 

On November 9, over 30 Green Justice Coalition members gathered at the State House to participate and testify at a day-long Oversight Hearing for the Green Communities Act, held by the Legislature's Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy.

GJC leaders reiterated their support of the state's pioneering Green Communities Act and asked key actors -- the State Legislature, Patrick Administration and the utility companies -- to extend its jobs and services to all Massachusetts communities.   

"The Green Communities Act contains strong mandates for equity and access," said Cindy Luppi, director of Massachusetts Clean Water Action. "However, financial barriers are keeping low-income communities and communities of color from taking full advantage of this pioneering law. We want to tweak the Act so it lives up to its full potential."

"The Green Communities Act requires access to jobs for our cities' residents," said Mark Liu, outreach coordinator of the Chinese Progressive Association. "Small changes in the Act will open up those jobs when they are most urgently needed. Adjusting the law will create a triple win for our recession-stressed communities."

"Green Communities was profoundly democratic," said Darlene Lombos, executive director of Community Labor United. "It allowed our unions and community groups to create innovative new models for home energy efficiency work. Now it's time to implement the lessons we learned from those models and bring good jobs and services to every part of the state."

The Green Justice Coalition also called for data reporting provisions that would help advocates and the state analyze the impact of the state's home energy efficiency programs in communities across the state. Through legislation filed this year (H 1774- An Act Regarding Community Access to Energy Efficiency and Green Jobs) GJC plans to continue bringing our message and campaign to the State Legislature: We want Access, Transparency and Good Jobs in the MA Energy Efficiency Sector!

New report shows: Community-driven weatherization works!

Last year the Green Justice Coalition launched several pilot programs to test a new, community-based model for home weatherization work. An independent evaluation of the first two pilots has found that:

·   Community-driven outreach extended home weatherization to low-income neighborhoods and communities of color.

·   Residents trusted community organizations, which walked them through the process and solved problems.

·   The pilots met their weatherization targets and created some high-road jobs.

·   City agencies helped make weatherization affordable, a crucial step.

The report also found that the utility companies need to adopt broader measures of cost-effectiveness so that we can keep bringing energy efficiency and good jobs to all of the Commonwealth’s communities.

Click here for a summary of the report and here for the full version of “Moving Towards Community Driven Energy Efficiency: An Evaluation of Green Justice Coalition’s Community Mobilization Initiatives.”

 GJC Completes Successful Barnraising in Grove Hall

January 21, 2011- Green Justice Coalition and its partner members from the Carpenters Union, Boston CAN, New England United for Justice and Boston Workers' Alliance helped Betty McGuire (left in photo) overcome pre-weatherization barriers and qualify for Renew Boston. Ms. McGuire originally tried to get her Grove Hall home weatherized under the Mass Save program. After receiving an initial audit she found out that her home was disqualified due to pre-weatherization problems including a dirt floor basement, cracked plaster in the hallway, and a broken exterior door. Over 15 volunteers from the Green Justice Campaign then volunteered over 200 hours to fix these problems, which are common in Boston. (About half of the homes Renew Boston has audited have been disqualified for similar barriers.) Betty's home will now be eligible to apply for Renew Boston, a city program that provides residents with up to a $3500 rebate for insulating and air-sealing their homes. See video.

Chinatown Kicks Off Innovative Jobs and Energy Pilot

A hundred Chinatown residents, labor, utility, and civic leaders gathered November 9 to kick off the Chinatown Weatherization Pilot Project. The Pilot Project will test our new Community Mobilization model for making the state’s energy programs and jobs more accessible to working class families.

70 to 130 units of housing in the Boston Chinese community will be weatherized by local workers employed by the Aulson Company at a living wage with health benefits. They will become members of the Painters’ Union with a pathway into the apprenticeship program. Other partners are NStar, National Grid, the City of Boston, and the Patrick Administration. The Green Justice Coalition is negotiating three other pilot projects in Chelsea, Springfield and Lynn.  The utility companies have promised to incorporate the best practices from these pilots in their energy efficiency programs statewide. See media coverage in boston.com and Boston Neighborhood Network News.

Boston Residents: Get Free Energy Upgrades!

If you are a low- to moderate-income Boston resident, you can now get up to $3,500 in home insulation and air sealing FREE. Check out the info from Renew Boston and see additional rebates you may qualify for. If you have questions, contact Keith Wrightson, keith@massclu.org or 857-488-5646..

Green Justice Groups Say: Open Up the Jobs and Retrofits Now!

Three hundred weatherization workers and community residents across Massachusetts demanded access, community mobilization, and good jobs at the Green Justice Coalition's Community Action Forum September 22 at Our Lady of Lourdes church in Jamaica Plain. See photos and video,

Why all this mobilization? Well, here is one reason: we're not cutting our energy use, it's continuing to grow. New England set several records for energy use this summer, according to the Boston Business Journal. The weatherization programs in place are not delivering the savings we need if we're going to slow global climate change, let alone create good jobs and make energy efficiency accessible to all. They can, though, if we get:

• Financial access -- higher rebates so we can afford to weatherize our homes.
• Real community mobilization -- we know how to get our neighborhoods on board to save money, energy, and the planet!
• Good "green" jobs for our communities with family wages and benefits, serious training and safety, and a career path.

Report: utilities and state must make "green" jobs GOOD jobs

An Industry at the Crossroads: Energy Efficiency Employment in Massachusetts, released in March 2010, found that:

• Right now, weatherization wages are poverty wages -- so low that weatherization workers qualify for low-income weatherization assistance themselves.
• Low-road jobs cost workers, taxpayers, and the state. When employers underpay workers and the state picks up the difference to support those families, it can cost as much as $28,000 a family.
• The state, cities, and utility companies can change this and make weatherization jobs "good jobs," by requiring contractors to meet Responsible Contractor standards. That means living wages and benefits, quality training and safe workplaces, and local hiring.
• Responsible contractors can help end Depression-level joblessness in the state's low-income communities and communities of color by hiring local residents and providing good jobs.

Our Approach to Energy Efficiency

Implementing the Green Justice Coalition approach will accelerate Massachusetts’s greenhouse gas reductions and extend them to communities of color across the state. Our unique model combines the power of community organizations that are known and trusted in their neighborhoods, labor unions, and environmental groups. Community-based organizations will canvass their neighborhoods, signing up hundreds of residents for home energy retrofits. Up-front financing will let residents do “deep” retrofits they could not otherwise afford. With hundreds of homes “bundled” into one contract, high-road contractors will be able to hire community retrofits, provide quality training and wages with family-supporting benefits. And a new state “equity committee” will make sure that low-income communities and communities of color get retrofits and good jobs.

Check out:

• Green Justice Campaign for an in-depth description of the campaign
• The Green Justice Blog for frequent campaign updates.
• News and Events for national feature stories on our breakthrough model.