National League of Cities Leadership in Community Resilience Grant Copyrighted
January 4, 2021
City of Dubuque Consent Items # 9.
City Council Meeting
ITEM TITLE: National League of Cities Leadership in Community Resilience Grant
Application
SUM MARY: City Manager recommending approval of a$10,000 grant application and
funding request to the National League of Cities Leadership in
Community Resilience grant program.
SUGGESTED Suggested Disposition: Receive and File;Approve
DISPOSITION:
ATTACHMENTS:
Description Type
NLC Grant Application-MVM Memo City Manager Memo
Staff Memo Staff Memo
Grant Application Supporting Documentation
Dubuque
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TO: The Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
FROM: Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager
SUBJECT: National League of Cities Leadership in Community Resilience Grant
Application
DATE: December 22, 2020
Sustainable Community Coordinator Gina Bell recommends City Council approval of a
$10,000 grant application and funding request to the National League of Cities
Leadership in Community Resilience grant program. The project proposes gathering
data related to barriers to increase energy efficiency in rental housing stock throughout
Dubuque. No match is required.
I concur with the recommendation and respectfully request Mayor and City Council
approval.
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Mic ael C. Van Milligen
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Attachment
cc: Crenna Brumwell, City Attorney
Cori Burbach, Assistant City Manager
Gina Bell, Sustainable Community Coordinator
Dubuque
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TO: Michael Van Milligen, City Manager
FROM: Gina Bell, Sustainable Community Coordinator
DATE: December 22, 2020
RE: National League of Cities Leadership in Community Resilience Grant Application
INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this memo is to request Council approval of a grant application and funding request to
the National League of Cities Leadership in Community Resilience grant program.
BACKGROUND
The National League of Cities (NLC) 2020 Leadership in Community Resilience (LCR) grant program
is seeking applications from cities across the U.S. focused on building and enhancing climate
resilience in their communities. Eight cities will be selected to participate in a yearlong cohort in 2021
and will receive $10,000 in pass through grants, access to program partners and services, and
professional development opportunities.
The Teen Resiliency Corps (TRC)was formed as a part of an Urban Sustainability Directors Network
(USDN) Rapid Response grant awarded to the City of Dubuque in July of 2020. For the past six
months, the City's Sustainability Department has partnered with the Multicultural Family Center's
(MFC) staff and teens to pilot this program. Teens who graduated from the Summer Teen
Empowerment Program were invited to apply to the TRC, were selected and trained. Working with
adult mentors, the teens canvassed their neighborhoods and discussed issues related to COVID-19,
sustainability, city services and broadband access. The TRC built relationships through conversation,
door-to-door visits, asking questions, and delivering local food, while offering opportunities to impact
neighborhood resiliency. As the program wrapped up, both staff and teens expressed interest in
continuing to build the program.
While still in its initial phase, the Housing and Community Development Department's Housing
Inspectors have been discussing ways to survey rental housing stock to determine where energy
efficiencies could be made.
DISCUSSION
Building on the success of the program pilot, we plan to further develop this program using funding
and technical support provided by the NLC LCR grant program. It will serve to both build the program
structure, as well as continue the work of canvassing Dubuque's frontline communities. In partnership
with the Housing Department inspectors, we plan to support their efforts using the Teen Resiliency
Corps model. The project proposes gathering data related to barriers to increase energy efficiency in
rental housing stock throughout Dubuque. The project selected addresses equity, sustainability, and
resiliency, while providing job opportunities and work experience for youth. Additionally, the work
directly supports our 50% by 2030 Community Climate Action and Resiliency Plan.
The result will guide future engagements with frontline communities and help to move forward climate
action in our City.
BUDGETIMPACT
The total grant request is $10,000.00. No match is required, the project will require staff time but has
no additional budget impact. We will not move forward with the inclusion of the Teen Resiliency Corps
portion of the project if it is not funded.
REQUESTED ACTION
Due to time constraints, the application was submitted to meet the deadline. I respectfully request City
Council approve the submittal of the grant proposal to the National League of Cities Leadership in
Community Resilience grant program.
CC: Alexis Steger, Director of Housing and Community Development
2
National League of Cities Leadership in Community Resilience Grant
Grant submissions occur online. Below is a copy of the questions and narrative we plan to submit.
In less than 1000 words total, please provide a short narrative statement of interest that includes
answers to the following questions:
• Briefly describe your city's resilience challenge. Include relevant background
information on socio-economic or racial inequities that you would like to address,
as well as climate risk and exposure.
• What is your proposed capacity-building project?
• How do you plan use the $10,000 in funds?
• What is the status of your proposed project(i.e.,have not started,planning,
council has approved, etc.) and what is your timeline? Describe any future
• How will you measure success on your proposed project?
• Describe any local/regional stakeholders or partners you are working with on
this project, or those whom you intend to collaborate with.
Many factors, such as racism, income and wealth, health status and neighborhood conditions
influence a community's sensitivity to climate impacts and their ability to adapt. Lower income
populations and Black, Indigenous and communities of color are often burdened with multiple,
overlapping factors that cumulatively impact their ability to respond to hazards. Sixty percent of
Black residents in Dubuque live in poverty. Eighty percent are renters.
Dubuque's 2019 Vulnerability Assessment ranked Heat Stress, Housing, and Stormwater
Management as high vulnerabilities. Those most impacted are our residents who are low-
income, elderly, children, and Black and Brown residents. These frontline communities are
more at risk of energy burden, flooding, and housing insecurity.
By 2100, Dubuque is expected to see a 30% increase in heavy precipitation events; a 6-11-
degree Fahrenheit increase in annual average temperature and 48 additional days above 95
degrees Fahrenheit, resulting in a 266% increase in air conditioning demand. More than 75% of
housing in Dubuque was built before 1980, before energy efficiency measures were standard in
housing.
For Dubuque to be resilient, we need our most impacted residents to have the tools needed to
build resiliency. To do so, we need face the environmental challenges that climate change poses
and racial injustice. We also need data.
The Leadership in Community Resiliency grant will help Dubuque assess energy efficiency in the
City's rental housing stock using the recently piloted Teen Resiliency Corps (TRC) to collect data.
We propose solidifying our TRC program, in partnership with the Multicultural Family Center,
and working with the City's Housing Department to survey Dubuque's frontline neighborhoods
and collect data related to energy efficiency for�9,500 licensed residential rental units. Using
the data, housing inspectors will track unit efficiency and give units a score.
In 2018, a Design and Resiliency Team made several recommendations for Dubuque. The
recommendations included taking a neighborhood-based approach to resiliency while focusing
on prevention plans. In Dubuque, we know that low-income communities and communities of
color are primarily concentrated in one area of the city. We know they face daily barriers to
resiliency (access to health care, located food deserts, energy burden) that are exacerbated by
climate change (specifically flooding and heat) and more recently, COVID-19. The goal of this
work is to begin to address resiliency issues at the neighborhood level through empowerment
and interactions, while collecting data on the City's rental housing stock. This work will help to
build neighborhood cohesion through conversation and activities while offering teens work
experience and the opportunity to impact their neighborhood's resiliency.
Teen Resiliency Corps members, after training, will go door to door, and have conversations
with community members dwelling in licensed rental units. They will gather data related to unit
energy efficiency while also encouraging residents to get to know their neighbors. An incentive
for participation will be LED lightbulbs, providing the opportunity for instant energy savings.
This project will help the city gain input on priorities within neighborhoods at the block level
and help identify rental housing stock efficiency and influence further City climate action.
Through this program we will also inform residents on specific sustainability/ resiliency
resources (home energy audits, water reduction plans, and other actions) as related to actions
identified in Dubuque's 50% by 2030 Climate Action & Resiliency Plan.
Funding will be used to support development of the TRC and provide stipends and training for
the members. Funding may also be used for LED light bulbs, supplies, mileage, and other
related expenses.
The TRC has been in existence since August 2020, as a COVID-19 rapid response project funded
though the Urban Sustainability Director's Network (USDN). After initial project success, we
plan to build the model to best serve our teens and our community. We've gathered data and
feedback and we intend to turn this pilot project into an on-going program.
The energy efficiency in rental housing scorecard work has not started. Using the TRC, the City
will collect the data necessary to build out this portion of City inspections and rental license
renewals.
We will spend the early part of 2021 solidifying program goals, exploring team leads and
navigating logistics. Teens will apply for the program, be trained and work in partnership with
the Housing team to prepare the energy efficiency survey and scorecard. By the middle of the
year, TRC and housing inspectors will survey rental properties.
Significant milestones include a deepening of existing relationships in frontline communities as
well as expand sustainability and resiliency efforts across multiple departments. The project will
build capacity for the teens—offering them work within their community and mentorship from
adults. Teens will learn the needs of residents related to housing and energy burden which will
help inform the City. By the end of the grant period, we will have surveyed a quarter of the
rental properties and gathered data to move the rental energy efficiency scorecard work
forward for Council approval and related budget requests. Additionally, we would have a year's
worth of TRC in action, training and employing 10-15 youth serving as resiliency ambassadors
living and working in Dubuque's vulnerable neighborhoods.
Dubuque strives to be a data informed city and makes budgetary decisions with strong data as
backup. Data collection is the first step towards fulfilling the vision of this project. This data will
inform future steps related to neighborhood resiliency and housing inspections. We will
continue working to embed equity into city resiliency plans and programming and consider this
work successful if we can navigate City inspection limitations and address energy burden in the
City's rental housing stock. We will also measure teen involvement and program feedback to
determine TRC success. This data will also offer a tool for residents to make more informed
housing choices.
This project has full support of the Mayor and City Council and is coordinated between the City
Sustainability Office, the Housing Department, and the Multicultural Family Center.
Additionally, the Dubuque County Energy District and the Green lowa AmeriCorps Team will be
collaborative partners in addressing energy efficiency needs in our community.