Reverend Thurmond Neill Tillman is Pastor at First African Baptist Church in Savannah, Georgia, the country's oldest African American congregation, with roots going back to 1773. First African Baptist's church building dates to 1859, Tillman said, and upkeep and maintenance of a building that old takes money—especially when it comes to the energy bills.
Financing an ambitious project like this was, until recently, very difficult for churches and other nonprofit organizations, which were unable to take advantage of clean energy tax credits and unlikely to meet loan criteria from major banks. Even by Washington standards, $20 billion is big money. The GGRF is the single largest section of the IRA, the Biden administration's signature action on climate change, and the fund may well prove to be the single most transformative piece of that legislation because of its potential to reach so many communities and households.
Michigan Saves is a green bank working with disadvantaged communities in the Detroit area. President and CEO Chanel Scott Contreras described her work with a resident who needed a new heating system."When we talk about what the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund looks like on the ground, it's making homes safer and more comfortable for people affecting their day-to-day lives and their well-being," she said.
"America is not a color-blind society, we are not we are not beyond systemic racism, institutional racism and all of those 'Isms,'" he said."I think it's the 'Isms' that have kept marginalized and disadvantaged communities from enjoying the benefits of past programs that should have lifted them out of poverty and out of this environmental and climate exposure and toxic environment that they are exposed to now.
The bill, H.R.1, passed the House last year on a partisan vote but has not been taken up by the Democrat-controlled" always say that about programs that help poor people," Long said with a sigh."Let's take the politics out and put the people in." The GGRF and other IRA programs blend tax credits with direct funding streams, greatly expanding access and improving the chances for more private investment, Peterson said.Members of the First African Baptist Church in Savannah at a press conference to mark one year since passage of the Inflation Reduction Act. The historic church plans a combination of solar power and storage...