This fall, organizing and policy organizations in Massachussetts and New York have achieved major victories that will help green their states' building stock while providing good, green jobs for low-income communities.

On October 27, due in large part to the work of Surdna grantee Community Labor United and its partners, including Alternatives for Community and Environment, Massachusetts adopted a $1.4 billion energy efficiency plan that will bring economic revival to Massachusetts's working class communities.  The three-year plan, adopted by the states' utility companies, will address many of the barriers to traditional house retrofit programs, including financing, community engagement, and standards for workforce development programs that lead to good, green jobs.  Additionally, the plan includes the creation of an Equity Subcommittee, which will play a role in shaping policy and implementation strategies to ensure that equity remains a focus of the program.  For more information, please click here.

On October 16, Governor Patterson of New York signed into law Green Jobs / Green Homes New York, setting aside $112 million to jumpstart a $5 billion dollar program in energy efficiency retrofits across the state.  Based mainly on the policy blueprint set out by the Center for Working Families, GJ/GNY will be housed at the New York State Energy and Research Development Authority (NYSERDA) and will be informed by an advisory council made up of relevant state agencies, community groups, unions, contractors and utility companies that will work to ensure the role of community based organizations and contractors, as well as NYSERDA's role in supporting business and job development.  For more information, please go to websites for the Center for Working Families or NYSERDA.

We are pleased to announce that Andrew Ehrich will be joining the Surdna Foundation for the upcoming year as a Tom Ford Fellow in Philanthropy through the Haas Center for Public Service at Stanford University. Andrew graduated from Stanford in June 2009, having completed a Bachelors of Science in Mathematics and a senior thesis in Environmental Science, Technology, and Policy. After research experience in green building design, he gained work experience with the San Francisco Great Streets Project, working for more sustainable and livable urban environments.

When choosing to spend his fellowship year at Surdna, Andrew was drawn to the foundation's long-standing leadership in this area, its commitment to social justice, and its innovative engagement of non-traditional voices in city planning processes. He hopes to spend this year learning how strategic coalitions built from broad sets of stakeholders can efficiently transform varied ideas into effective and meaningful policies and programs. The two other Tom Ford Fellows from Stanford are spending their years at the Hewlett Foundation, tackling issues of population and health, and at Tipping Point Community, focusing on family services and breaking the cycle of poverty. At Surdna, Andrew will be working across the Foundation, but primarily in the Sustainable Environments program with Beth Herz, Program Associate, who recently graduated from Wesleyan University and is currently completing her independent study to acquire a M.S. in Environmental Justice from the University of Michigan, as well as Helen Chin, Program Officer, and Sharon Alpert, Program Director.

To continue the progress made last year, US Governors and the United Nations Development Program, in conjunction with The States Climates Project, a Surdna Grantee, co-hosted The Governors' Global Climate Summit 2 in Los Angeles, California. This multi-day summit focused on the "Road to Copenhagen." Read more about it here.

A conference in Boston, MA for people from all perspectives who believe strongly in the role of land use and transit as equal partners in the quest for greater livability and greater communities.  Read more at http://www.railvolution.com