Submitted By
Mindy Agnew, Sustainability Coordinator
Agenda Item Title
Title
Report on the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus’ Greenest Region Corps Fellow Sustainability Projects: Greenhouse Gas Inventory Update and Energy Benchmarking with Energy Star Portfolio Manager
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Overview
Staff will present the Greenest Region Compact Corps (GRCorps) through the Metropolitan Mayor’s Caucus Energy Star Portfolio and the updated Greenhouse Gas Inventory projects performed by internship-type fellow Leslie Hernandez.End
Anticipated Future Actions/Commitments
Recommendation
A recommended community engagement process and framework for development of a Climate Action Plan (CAP) and Resiliency Plan aligned with the ICLEI ClearPath platform (where Oak Park’s greenhouse gas inventory is maintained) will be presented to the Village Board in the next month. Alternatively the Village Board may ask that recommendation be reviewed first though the Energy and Environment Commission.
Body
Report
The Metropolitan Mayors Caucus launched the Greenest Region Corps (GRCorps) in the fall of 2018 for GRC communities who wish to host a GRCorps member for 10 months of service to support local sustainability goals that are aligned with the Greenest Region Compact (GRC). The AmeriCorps program requires full-time GRCorps members to complete 1700 hours of service, including modest requirements for training and additional community service, like on Veteran’s Day. This equals about 10 months of full-time work.
The GRCorps is a team of talented young sustainability professionals that was created with the support of a grant from AmeriCorps (though the Serve Illinois program). AmeriCorps supports voluntary service to communities to address a wide variety of community needs. The Mayors Caucus designed this program specifically to help communities address the common goals of the GRC. The Corps members are beginning their careers in sustainability and received ongoing training and support through the USEPA, Moraine Valley Community College and the Mayors Caucus.
The inaugural GRCorps was made up of 8 dynamic college graduates serving GRC communities. They worked alongside municipal staff and civic leaders. In the 4th quarter of 2019 one was assigned to Oak Park. The GRCorps fellow assigned to Oak Park was tasked with assisting the Village with updating our GHG inventory that included data collection and reporting.
Leslie Hernandez began work in September of 2019, and was able to do the important work of establishing an energy benchmarking profile for Village facilities through the use of the EPA’s Energy Star Portfolio Manager tracking platform. Her primary task was to update the Community Scale Greenhous Gas Inventory emissions data for the Village of Oak Park. The attached report and video presentation provide an overview of both projects and includes Community wide GHG inventory data (2017-2019) reporting for the Village of Oak Park.
The Village funded its share of the AmeriCorps Fellow via the Sustainability fund. On March 4, 2019, the Village Board approved the establishment of the establish an internship position in the Village Manager’s Officer, reporting to the Sustainability Coordinator, in conjunction with the Greenest Region Corps (GRCorps) with support from the Metropolitan Mayor Caucus and Americorps’ Serve Illinois Program.