Feeding Residents Affected by the Pandemic
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Since the pandemic began, the need to provide emergency food access has skyrocketed. For example, In March and April of 2020, there was a 160.5% increase in calls related to food needs, compared to 2019. In response to this growing crisis, City and County staff have been working with nonprofits, local food businesses, school districts, faith-based groups, and other direct service providers to support a range of strategies that will improve access to food.
Our team, in close collaboration with Austin Public Health and Travis County, are supporting the numerous organizations providing services to the community to document emerging food access needs and help identify external developments that may affect access to food locally. During the early stages of the pandemic, we jumped in to ensure that local farmer’s markets would remain open, helping to ensure availability of local food and support for local farmers.
City and community partners involved in emergency feeding efforts, such as United Way and ConnectATX, have also worked to create a map of emergency food access areas, stand up programs to feed thousands of people affected by homelessness and economic struggles related to the pandemic, and help connect Austin-area food businesses to emergency food providers to keep restaurants and their employees afloat. These efforts have resulted in providing over 10,000 weekly meals to people experiencing homelessness, over one million meals for caregivers of school children, expanding food deliveries to elderly and immunocompromised individuals by 2,000 deliveries, keeping over 100 local restaurant employees employed, and more.
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Community-focused Climate Planning
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Because the climate crisis can only be addressed fully when we also address racial inequality, our team set out to create an inclusive Climate Plan that would make our city cleaner, healthier, more affordable and accessible for all. To do this, we built a process that intentionally centered community voices and racial equity. As part of that effort, we launched the first Community Climate Ambassadors Program to connect with groups that have been historically and systemically left out of the climate conversation.
Our team selected a cohort of 12 ambassadors who were paid for their time. The ambassadors’ primary role was to gather and share information about climate issues with their community and social circles. Community concerns and feedback informed the plan’s goals and strategies and are referenced throughout the plan. While the Climate Equity Plan will not be able to solve all of Austin’s equity challenges, the goal of the Climate Ambassadors program was to bring to light community members’ concerns and find opportunities to begin the process of recovery and healing.
Included in the draft plan are five sections to address community-wide emissions: Sustainable Buildings, Transportation and Land Use, Transportation Electrification, Food and Product Consumption, and Natural Systems. Collectively, the plan offers 17 goals to be met by 2030 and help get us on the pathway for net-zero emissions by 2040. This includes 74 specific and 4 overarching strategies to be implemented by 2025.
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Keeping Classrooms Green during COVID-19
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This year was anything but normal – particularly for schools. In a typical year, schools submit applications to our office’s Bright Green Future Grant Program in the hopes of receiving funding of up to $3,000 for original school-based sustainability projects. However, given the uncertainties around the COVID-19 pandemic, our team proactively made several changes to the program knowing how many challenges teachers and students were facing.
Rather than applying with original project ideas, schools were offered a “menu” of options to choose from. These options included sustainability-themed curriculums offered through local nonprofit organizations. The main benefit of this change was that all curriculums could be completed whether students are meeting in the classroom or virtually. Students at awarded schools will learn about native plants and gardening, bicycle safety, energy efficiency, and more.
Our office ended up awarding funding for all 28 schools that applied, and we were proud to be able to provide a more streamlined process for everyone during these difficult times.
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Austin Civilian Conservation Corps
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The Office of Sustainability helped to launch this new initiative in 2020. Taking its name from the federal program to help Americans after the Great Depression in the 30’s and 40’s, the Austin Civilian Conservation Corps was designed to help Austinites who have been affected by the global pandemic. On May 7, 2020, the ACCC was created following the adoption of an Austin City Council resolution that aimed to help community members who have been economically impacted by COVID-19 to earn income, serve their community, and gain skills to launch sustainability-related careers in new fields.
The ACCC team is a collaborative effort made up of staff from eight different City departments. Since its inception, the team has worked with community organizations to carry out programs with residents. To date, the program has created 96 new jobs, completed or undertaken 9 projects, and implemented $2.54 Million in City funding. Projects include wildfire mitigation, urban forests and parks preservation, green construction, and creative arts installations.
One of the ACCC’s most recent partnerships is with the Gulf Coast Carpenters and Millwrights Training Trust Fund and Community First! Village. Nine participants completed the five-week program where they received skills training, certifications, hands-on experience, and professional development in carpentry, green building, and solar installation. Seven of the nine graduates were immediately hired by signatory partners upon graduation, and two continued to work with the Training Trust Fund prior to being placed in permanent positions.
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