SSDN: March Update

The Southeast Sustainability Directors Network collaborates to accelerate the adoption of econmically viable, socially equitable, and environmentally responsible best practices in American Southeastern communities. We do this by sharing information and problem solving together.

The Southeast Sustainability Directors Network:
Amazing March

Welcome!

A very warm welcome to our newest member, Estevan Baza (Oldsmar, FL). We're so glad you've joined us!

Funding News:

Grants: SSDN won a $40,000 USDN Regional Network Adaptation grant (lead by Peter Niernegarten). This is in addition to the $75,000 Mayors Energy Efficiency Challenge a team (lead by Glen Hadwin) won last month from USDN. If anyone wants to plug into either effort, please email Glen or Peter.
Foundation Funding: The Energy Foundation has requested a grant application for $8,000 towards our annual meeting (added to the Lyndhurst amount of $5,000). We will continue to fundraise for the remaining amount.
New Opportunity: SEEA is offering non-profit organizations, financial institutions and private investors to participate in a Regional Energy Efficiency Lending Partnership Program designed to provide loans to building and home owners. Proposals will be accepted and evaluated on a rolling basis; priority given to those received before April 4, 2014. Selected potential partners will be invited to negotiate. All Proposals submitted electronically and delivered to Timothy Block.
New Opportunity: USDN's Peer Learning Exchange Selection Committee has launched the latest RFP to support a number of one-to-one or small group in-person peer learning exchanges among USDN members. Examples of past projects are available here. Read more.
IMT and MIT CoLab have recently completed a guide that helps local governments weigh the benefits of different energy efficiency financing strategies. Local Governments' Role in Energy Project Financing runs down all the major financing tools and how they work.

In National News:

SSDN’s Jake Tisinger (Knoxville, TN) was featured on NPR discussing energy efficiency challenges for low-income housing residents. Jake and Erin are working hard to implement a Smart Cities plan to address high energy bills in older housing stock, put together by IBM in 2013.

Job Openings:

Jerry Dietzen (Fayetteville, NC) and Anna Lange (Columbia, SC) both sent around local non-profit job openings this month; please contact them if interested or you have leads.

Event News:

Please note the SSDN annual meeting will be held in fall / winter of this year (Orlando), to allow time to raise remaining meeting funds. A Save the Date will be sent to the network when it has been determined.  
Your Communications Committee is hard at work at developing a call schedule that connects members regularly in small, informal groups. Stay tuned for this in next month's news.

Meet Carolee Williams

Projects she's most excited about:

What got her into this work:
Carolee clearly has a deep love for Charleston, SC. She’s been there more than long enough to call it home, but is a Durham, NC native who holds a B.A. from Wake Forest in History and an M.A. in Urban Planning and Environment from UVA. She learned design guidelines from Harvard, and has worked in urban planning and historic preservation for most of her career – to include a stint with the City of Cincinnati. She has been in the City of Charleston’s Department of Urban Planning, Preservation, and Sustainability for 30 years, at different points in time wearing hats under each category, and began collaborating on sustainability initiatives in 2007.

Getting and Giving with SSDN:
Carolee is delightfully modest, saying she wasn’t prepared for this role, but that’s simply not true - she has all the makings of a sustainability project manager: curiosity, drive, deep intelligence, passion for a well-run city, and intimate knowledge of how local government works. She hits on the concept of embedded sustainability right away, pointing out where it exists in each department and in how the city has been designed and preserved. She has a lot to give by way of experience, and is plugging into SSDN through the new Adaptation grant we were just awarded. She says SSDN is just the under the radar network she needs right now. We’re lucky to have her to learn from and work with.