On April 26, 2024, NCN’s CEO, Pete Upton, and National Program Director, Kristen Wagner participated in a convening at The National Press Club in Washington, D.C. hosted by the Center for Impact Finance at the University of New Hampshire’s Carsey School of Public Policy.
This event purpose was to bring together Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) awardees to identify key salient issues and needs and create a shared infrastructure for collaboration to support what is needed to successfully deploy GGRF dollars to Low-Income and Disadvantaged Communities. A few key areas where infrastructure designs were drafted include:
-
Market-building to drive demand
-
Lender capacity building (training and more)
-
Workforce and small business development
-
Tech and data systems to support reporting and storytelling
Throughout the convening, Upton emphasized the unique needs of Native communities and that a one-size-fits-all approach will not be effective in addressing the climate goals of Native and other BIPOC communities. Upton noted that, for the GGRF programs to be effective, “we need to turn the pyramid upside down and work with the program beneficiaries [communities] to tell us what they need rather than designing programs based on what we think they need. We need to let them [sic] drive the process.”