The Thriving Communities Webinar Series is a part of University of Illinois Extension and Prairie Rivers Network's collaboration to build capacity for technical assistance and education aimed to help communities navigate energy and environmentrelated federal grant application systems, provide guidance on community inclusion, and lead communityspecific strategic planning. This outreach should help communities secure and administer funding to address legacy pollution and invest in clean energy technologies.

More than just energy independence: Using community benefits to promote local economic development
Tuesday, October 15 at 12PM CT

Your community is not at the whim of renewable energy developers. Companies who want to build in your area are often obligated to partner with you to provide economic and community development benefits. Join this webinar to learn more about these Community Benefits programs and how you can make sure renewable energy projects support your community beyond the energy they produce! During this webinar experts will discuss the three types of Community Benefits programs: Community Benefit Agreements, Plans, and Ordinances and provide examples of the types of benefits your community can receive.

Community Benefit Agreements are a legal contract between a community coalition and a developer which outline the benefits the developer will provide to the broader community in exchange for support of the project. Community Benefit Plans are created by companies as part of Department of Energy and other federal funding applications. Communities can also create ordinances that require Community Benefit Agreements for developments that meet certain criteria.

Fairshake Environmental Legal Services, a nonprofit law firm with a focus on environmental justice, has created extensive guides and education on Community Benefits programs and will outline these options during this webinar.

The Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) is a nonpartisan nonprofit that focuses on the energy transition and decarbonization. RMI will share a community benefits catalog you can use to identify the kinds of benefits your community can receive. They studied a variety of renewable energy projects including solar, battery storage, and onshore wind. This project specifically looks at Community Benefit Plans since they are increasingly being required by federal offices for federal funding. This tool provides concrete examples of the types of benefits communities can receive. Examples include a coal transition workforce center, pollinatorfriendly design, local hires, and community investment.

About the presenters:

Kristine ChanLizardo specializes in outreach and engagement for RMI's CarbonFree Electricity practice. Since the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, her work has focused on guiding rural electric cooperatives and utilities towards federal funding programs supporting the buildout of clean energy infrastructure across the country. In July her team released the Community Benefits Catalog, a searchable resource for identifying the types of community benefits that might meet DOE and USDA policy guidelines while also addressing unique community concerns.

Michael Parker became the Executive Director and Managing Attorney at Fair Shake Environmental Legal Services in April 2022. He received his Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown and then moved to Pittsburgh in 2000 to attend the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. Michael graduated from Pitt Law in 2003 with a Juris Doctor with a Certificate of Advanced Study in Environmental Law, Science, and Policy. Michael began his law practice in 2005 as a Staff Attorney at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law’s Environmental Law Clinic where he spent much of his time working on air quality permit appeals before the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board. In 2008, Michael joined the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) Legal Section as the Assistant Solicitor for the ACHD’s Air Quality Program. While with the air program, his practice included prosecuting air quality enforcement actions, defending air quality permit appeals, and counseling the air program on regulatory and policy development. After rising to ACHD Solicitor in 2016, Michael’s practice shifted to public health law, environmental health law, Right to Know Law compliance, Sunshine Act compliance, and regulatory development.