We hope you had a meaningful and restorative Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Welcome to our first dispatch of policy news from Spark Northwest. This year during Washington’s legislative session, we are co-leading a coalition of organizations to advocate for a new Clean Energy Ambassador Program in Washington.
Washington is poised to deploy over one billion federal and state dollars for clean energy in coming years, and we are working to ensure those dollars are distributed fairly. The Clean Energy Ambassador program will fund community-based organizations, Tribes, local governments, and other place-based entities to hire “ambassadors,” i.e. local experts in clean energy and community, who will provide education, outreach, community engagement, and case management to support communities’ clean energy goals.
We wrote to Governor Inslee requesting that he include the Clean Energy Ambassadors program in his budget – and are pleased to see that he did just that, with $10M for the program’s first year. Now it’s the legislature’s turn to decide if the program will be funded for FY 2024. Our policy manager was in Olympia last week testifying in support of the program, and coalition members have had promising conversations with policy makers. Stay tuned as we advocate for a Clean Energy Ambassador Program in Washington!
