Trainings & Events

Sustainable CT’s Community Match Fund is turning five! Since launching the Community Match Fund in 2019, over $4 million has been invested to support hundreds of projects in communities across the state. Join us to hear from several different project leaders who will speak about the lasting impact of their project, and how they turned their vision into reality with the support of their neighbors and Sustainable CT’s Community Match Fund.

Join Sustainable CT for virtual, informal, discussions most third Thursdays of each month. We share program updates and resources, explore your questions, and strengthen the network of Sustainable CT champions. These sessions are free and open to all.
 

The FY 2025 Brownfields Multipurpose, Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund, and Cleanup Grant Guidelines are now available on the MARC Grant Application Resources webpage. Grants offered by the Brownfields Program may be used to address sites contaminated by hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants (including hazardous substances co-mingled with petroleum) and petroleum.

Deadline to Apply: November 14, 2024

National Applicant Outreach Webinars: EPA will host two webinars, which will only cover the narrative/ranking criteria for FY 2025.

• Thursday, September 19, 2024 | 12 PM ET - This webinar will discuss narrative/ranking criteria for entities applying for Community-wide Assessment grants, Assessment Coalition grants, and Community-wide Assessment grants for states and tribes.
• Tuesday, September 24, 2024 | 12 PM ET  - This webinar will discuss narrative/ranking criteria for entities applying for Revolving Loan Fund and Cleanup grants.

Join the Connecticut Data Collaborative (CTData) for an introduction to a new interactive population estimates dashboard, created by CTData in collaboration with CT’s Department of Public Health. This dashboard features annual population estimates from the Census Bureau and Connecticut’s Department of Public Health. Users can explore Connecticut’s total population estimates across the state, planning regions, and towns from 2020 through 2023. In addition, the dashboard highlights population changes, components of population change (births, deaths, and domestic and international migration), and newly permitted housing units in each town. With this tool, data users can compare estimates from different data sources and vintages and explore population changes over time. During the webinar, CTData will provide an overview of the dashboard and how to use it. They will also discuss some important methodological changes that have impacted the Census Bureau’s population estimates over the past couple of years.
 

As extreme weather events become more frequent and severe, Connecticut residents, businesses, and municipalities must urgently invest in climate resilience. Over the past decade, municipalities like the City of New Haven have taken initial steps to plan for the impacts of climate change. This session will highlight Resilient Fair Haven, hearing from the City of New Haven and its partners—including the Connecticut Institute for Resilience and Climate Adaptation (CIRCA) and Connecticut Green Bank—about challenges and opportunities to address issues of flooding, extreme heat, and to increase climate resilient investments in vulnerable communities. We’ll hear about lessons learned from those efforts as well as new tools and solutions like "Resilience Improvement Districts" to accelerate climate resilience action in the next decade.

This event is part of Connecticut Sustainability & Resiliency Week. Register and learn more about other Sustainability & Resiliency Week events by visiting https://events.ct.gov/.
 

Join the Water Planning Council during Source Water Protection Week for this important webinar that both celebrates the 50^th Anniversary of the Safe Drinking Water Act and looks at the challenges ahead. The webinar will provide an overview of the Safe Drinking Water Act and how it provides for protecting drinking water quality at the source.  The discussion will then focus on water quality challenges and two emerging contaminants: PFAS and 1,4-dioxane.
 

As a proud participant in Connecticut Sustainability & Resiliency Week, Sustainable CT will host a unique webinar featuring three outstanding municipal recipients of our Climate Leader Designation: Manchester, Old Saybrook and New Haven.

The Sustainable CT Climate Leader Designation celebrates Connecticut towns that are actively reducing harmful greenhouse gas emissions and preparing their communities for the impacts of climate change, while saving money, improving public health, and building community. 

Sustainability leaders will share strategies, accomplishments and lessons learned in pursuit of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing resilience to climate change in their communities. This is an excellent opportunity for municipal administrators and sustainability teams to learn best practices and benefit from the experience of these pacesetting towns.  

Join us during Sustainability & Resiliency Week: Wednesday, September 25, 10-11 a.m.

This event is part of Connecticut Sustainability & Resiliency Week. Register and learn more about other Sustainability & Resiliency Week events by visiting https://events.ct.gov/.
 

UConn's Center for Land Use Education and Research and Connecticut Sea Grant present a webinar by Rebuild by Design on their new Atlas of Accountability. As extreme weather continues to impact the U.S., Rebuild by Design has launched the Atlas of Accountability, a mapping tool designed to help communities and policymakers understand their localized climate-fueled exposure to extreme weather disasters. Building on Rebuild by Design’s 2022 report, “Atlas of Disaster,” this tool analyzes county-level extreme weather disaster declarations and post-disaster federal assistance. The analysis highlights the urgency of bipartisan cooperation and the need to unite across the urban-rural divide. Notably, 91% of congressional districts include a county that received a major disaster declaration for extreme weather between 2011 and 2023, with $106.4 billion in federal post-disaster assistance from FEMA and HUD CDBG-DR.

Speaker Bio:

Judy Huynh is a Project Manager at Rebuild by Design. She holds a Master of Urban Planning from NYU's Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service and specializes in using mapping tools like GIS and Mapbox to transform complex climate data into clear, understandable information. Her work focuses on researching climate adaptation policies and resilient infrastructure projects, ensuring equitable solutions that prioritize vulnerable communities.

Questions?

Contact: David Dickson at [email protected] or Juliana Barrett at [email protected].

This event is part of Connecticut Sustainability & Resiliency Week. Register and learn more about other Sustainability & Resiliency Week events by visiting https://events.ct.gov/.
 

Authorized by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, EPA’s Clean School Bus Program provides $5 billion over five years to replace school buses with low- and zero-emission school buses. Additionally, NREL’s $5 million Clean Bus Planning Awards Program provides free technical assistance to create comprehensive and customized bus electrification plans for fleets. This webinar series co-hosted with the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation will cover the following technical assistance topics related to clean school buses: 

• June 18 @ 1 PM ET – Differences Between ESBs and ICE Buses, ESB Maintenance, and Bus RFP Best Practices
• July 24 @ 1 PM ET – Battery Overview, Recycling/End-of-Life Options, and Warranties
• August 28 @ 1 PM ET – Building a Case For ESBs in your Fleet including Benefits, Total Cost Of Ownership (TCO), and Emissions Calculators
• September 25 @ 1 PM ET – Electrification Process including a Step-by-Step Guide for New Adopters

For more information on the EPA Clean School Bus Program, please visit: epa.gov/cleanschoolbus

For more information on the NREL Clean School Bus Planning Awards Program, please visit: driveelectric.gov/clean-bus-planning-awards

If you have any programmatic questions or feedback, please email: [email protected]

If you have any technical assistance programs, please email: [email protected]
 

Please join the Department of Administrative Service's (DAS) presentation on their efforts towards Connecticut's sustainability and climate goals. The presentation will cover efforts on decarbonization/energy efficiency, solar PV, transportation, water and waste conservation, and more.

This event is part of Connecticut Sustainability & Resiliency Week. Register and learn more about other Sustainability & Resiliency Week events by visiting https://events.ct.gov/.
 

Join to learn about the Clean Water Partnership, a community-based, public-private partnership. Roland Jones, market director for the mid-Atlantic region of Corvias Infrastructure Solutions and former director of the Office of Central Services for Prince George’s County, helped develop this initiative. He will define public-private partnerships and share how the Clean Water Partnership was formed to address stormwater challenges and build green jobs for community members.
 

Please join the Northeast Waste Management Officials’ Association (NEWMOA) for webinar to learn more about the “forever” chemicals, PFAS:

• Where PFAS might be found in common consumer products


• Where PFAS might be found in the products used at food service establishments (restaurants, grocery stores with takeout, cafeterias at schools, hospitals, and nursing homes, and others) - How PFAS might impact human health


• How PFAS can move around in the environment and impact water supplies


• Suggestions for alternatives Jennifer Griffith and Stephanie Frisch from NEWMOA will present on the project they have been working with the the Northeast Kingdom Waste Management District (NEKWMD), the VT DEC and NH DES

The UConn Center for Land Use Education and Research (CLEAR) and Connecticut Sea Grant present this webinar about the Climate Corps program – where undergraduate students learn from extension professionals and apply that knowledge to climate adaptation projects with municipal or community partners throughout the region. We will hear from former students about their experience in the program, and a community partner from the Alliance for the Mystic River Watershed will speak about how working with the Climate Corps has benefited their organization. Learn more about our program and how we could partner with your organization!

Register for the webinar at UConn CLEAR webinars.

Contacts: David Dickson at [email protected] or Owen Placido at [email protected].

This event is part of Connecticut Sustainability & Resiliency Week. Register and learn more about other Sustainability & Resiliency Week events by visiting https://events.ct.gov/.
 

The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) invites you to a briefing to explore Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) funding dedicated to nonprofit organizations and municipalities. For example, the introduction of “direct pay” is allowing tax-exempt entities to access the benefits of federal tax credits for the first time. Meanwhile, the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency are hard at work rolling out new programs specifically tailored to these entities. The IRA and IIJA are opening new doors for nonprofits and local governments working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to a changing climate.

These opportunities also bring questions: What capacities do varying organizations and municipalities have to apply for, manage, and monitor funding? What reporting requirements could pose challenges for grantees? What does equity look like across these different programs?

Panelists will address these questions and describe the status of IRA and IIJA programs that increase the technical and financial capacity of public sector groups. They will also share case studies from across the country where funding is making a difference in communities, and discuss what lessons can be learned to bolster these federal efforts going forward.
 

How do power outages impact people who use home medical devices and live in affordable housing units across Connecticut? How can resilient power - solar paired with battery storage - support medically vulnerable affordable housing residents in the event of an outage? Recently, a team of researchers investigated this question with the goal of supporting informed decision-making regarding the implementation of Climate Smart Technologies. Through this effort, the project team aims to increase the resiliency of home medical device users through advances in resilient power development, building codes, and other policy changes so that they can remain healthy in the face of extreme weather events.

Join this webinar to hear from the research team behind the recently published report titled “Emerging Public Health Needs for Climate Smart Technology in Connecticut Affordable Housing," which highlights the results of nearly 100 interviews and focus groups with affordable housing residents and support staff. Clean Energy Group will also speak to resilient power feasibility analysis at affordable housing facilities that support medically vulnerable residents. An affordable housing partner will speak to their experience engaging in the interview process and exploring renewable and resilient energy opportunities for their residents.

Presenters:

• Annie Harper, PhD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Yale University
• Bryan Garcia, President and CEO, Connecticut Green Bank
• Marriele Mango, Project Director, Clean Energy Group
• Darlene Yule, MPH, Chief Operating Officer, Operation Fuel
• Jesse Wescott, Vice President, The Towers

Part of the joint UConn CLEAR & CT GISO webinar series, this 30-minute webinar will provide a broad overview of the GIS Landscape in Connecticut and how it continues to evolve. The presenters will explain general ways to “get” geographic data from map viewers to services to download including the pros and cons of each. Next, they will talk about how to find authoritative data sources and tools and how the CT Geodata Portal is working to bring them together in one place. Finally, the talk will share ways to stay “in-the-know” when there are updates, changes, and additions to the CT GIS Landscape. This webinar will provide a foundation of techniques and terms that will be part of future webinars.
 

Join Sustainable CT for virtual, informal, discussions most third Thursdays of each month. We share program updates and resources, explore your questions, and strengthen the network of Sustainable CT champions. These sessions are free and open to all.
 

The Partnership for Strong Communities (the Partnership) is thrilled to announce this year’s Connecticut Affordable Housing Conference (CAHC) November 18-19, 2024 with the theme Here for Housing. The CAHC is your opportunity to convene, collaborate, and drive meaningful change to improve and expand housing affordability, creation, choice, and stability across our state.

The CAHC will span two days, offering a diverse array of sessions tailored to advocates, policymakers, housing and service providers, lenders and funders, and the public. All are welcome. Each year, the Partnership spotlights strategies and solutions that help advance the vision that everyone in Connecticut has a safe, stable, affordable home.

The Partnership for Strong Communities is dedicated to promoting equitable change in Connecticut’s housing policy landscape. Through coordinated advocacy, expert research, and collaboration with partners, the Partnership strives to address historic and ongoing housing injustices and support equitable and resilient communities across the state. CAHC content is free and open to all thanks to our generous sponsors.

CAHC content is free and open to all thanks to the Partnership's generous sponsors.
 

Join Sustainable CT for virtual, informal, discussions most third Thursdays of each month. We share program updates and resources, explore your questions, and strengthen the network of Sustainable CT champions. These sessions are free and open to all.
 

Join Sustainable CT for virtual, informal, discussions most third Thursdays of each month. We share program updates and resources, explore your questions, and strengthen the network of Sustainable CT champions. These sessions are free and open to all.