The second spherical of potential grantees for the Portland Clean Energy Fund have been chosen and there’s excellent news for everybody who cares about decreasing our use of vehicles and getting extra folks on bikes.
All 4 of the really useful winners in the Innovation Grant class — a complete of $7.6 million — have a motorbike part to their venture. The nonprofits that might perform the work embody Community Cycling Center, Forth, Bikes for Humanity PDX, and Metropolitan Family Services.
Those are 4 of 66 grants totaling almost $111 million that the PCEF committee has really useful for funding in an inventory that shall be heard at Portland City Council July thirteenth. It’s additionally a welcome change from the primary tranche of PCEF funding in April 2021 that we singled out as a result of it lacked transportation-related grants.
All informed, the estimated GHG emission reductions over the lifetime of the initiatives really useful this time round is 300,000 metric tons, equal to about 65,000 gas-powered vehicles pushed for one yr.
The said purpose of PCEF is to fund planning and implementation of initiatives and packages that may fight local weather change by a lens of racial and social justice and it’s notable as the primary initiative of its type in Oregon that put folks of shade on the helm to design this system and determine what will get funded.
“We are really excited about this as an opportunity to demonstrate the power of e-bikes as practical, reliable, clean and affordable everyday transportation for people who need it the most.”
– Jeff Allen, Forth
The Community Cycling Center hopes their venture will encourage folks of shade to bike extra and drive much less. They are poised to obtain $499,419 over three years for a venture that may give away 60 bikes and, “fund 14,000 hours of staff time and provide stipends and logistical support to Black and Latinx community leaders so they can engage in transportation-related system improvement discussions,” says PCEF. “The project goals are to get more people on bikes and out of cars, keep bikes safe and functional, and support the community to advocate for smart intrastate and climate policy improvements.”
CCC Executive Director Momoko Saunders informed me immediately they’ll use the stipends to pay members of companion teams like Andando en Bicicletas y Caminando (Riding your Bike and Walking Around). “The stipends are meant to help incentivise members and also cover any additional expenses they might have to incur while attending meeting/advocacy activities such as child care or transportation,” Saunders mentioned.
The funding can even enable the CCC to increase its bike schooling efforts in low-income, BIPOC areas — notably amongst younger folks (through summer time camps) who’ve been severely impacted by college modifications because of the pandemic.
Electric automobile advocacy group Forth is lined up for a grant award of about $3.8 million over three years. In addition to putting in photo voltaic panels on the Bybee Lakes Hope Center (a homeless providers program), the funding shall be used to buy 30 electrical bikes.
The e-bikes shall be obtainable for residents by a lending library. Forth Executive Director Jeff Allen says the situation of the Bybee Lakes facility on N Marine Drive is .75 miles from the closest TriMet cease the place bus comes simply 4 occasions a day and there’s no service on weekends or holidays. “The e-bikes will help them to get transit, to social services, to job interviews, and anywhere else they need to go,” he mentioned in an electronic mail to BikePortland immediately. “We are really excited about this as an opportunity to demonstrate the power of e-bikes as practical, reliable, clean and affordable everyday transportation for people who need it the most.”
People experiencing homelessness (and others) will profit from a $20,000 grant really useful for Bikes For Humanity PDX. Their venture would supply 100 refurbished bikes and new u-locks to folks in want by companion organizations that service youths in foster care, folks recovering from habit, and different Portlanders who’ve a tough time shopping for a motorbike themselves.
And the final bike-related venture really useful by the PCEF committee would direct $3.5 million over 5 years to Metropolitan Family Services and would come with stronger incentives for his or her shoppers to buy e-bikes (only one a part of their current auto mortgage program).
Three initiatives not really useful for funding embody: $3 million over three years to a bunch known as Portland E-Bike Coalition that wishes to offer 1,600 Portlanders a free e-bike with a $100 annual payment that might provide them with upkeep and equipment to maintain them driving; $339,000 for a strolling college bus program by Oregon Walks; and an $85,000 grant for The Street Trust to proceed their #OurStreets organizing marketing campaign.
The PCEF program is funded through a surcharge on massive companies and was authorised by 65% of voters in 2018. City Council could have a primary studying of PCEF’s really useful grantees on July thirteenth. Learn extra, submit a remark, and see the total record of suggestions right here.
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