Overarching goals for project: a. Goal #1: address decades of underinvestment in this disadvantaged community by upgrading facilities, leading to a healthier and safer learning community, and reducing…

Overarching goals for project: a. Goal #1: address decades of underinvestment in this disadvantaged community by upgrading facilities, leading to a healthier and safer learning community, and reducing the energy burden richmond public schools (RPS) faces. B. Goal #2: build a partnership with locally-based energy services company (esco) partner, to utilize local energy expertise-student shadowing/internship opportunities during the planning and construction. C. Goal #3: leverage locally-based coalition partners to engage the student and local community, ensuring that equity is embodied externally and internally through project and processes, reinforcing connections between health and climate/built environment, and equipping citizens to understand and seek environmental justice. D. Goal #4: minimize the stark disparities in photo voltaic (PV) and other clean energy training and grow "green collar" energy efficiency workforce by leveraging locally based coalition partners to train students and the local community in residential weatherization, solar panel installation, decarbonization certificates and heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) skills. E. Goal #5: leverage tax-exempt energy efficiency savings-supported lease purchase or performance contracting, federal 179D and investment tax credits (ITC), and PJM energy efficiency rebates to support investment. Pre-award will focus on setting up audits and department of historic resources (DHR) audit/research so that tasks in budget period 2 can proceed on schedule. Key items (lighting audit, initial HVAC discovery, DHR research) are dependencies for budget period 1 and can be time consuming. Budget period 1 (phase 2 - "strategic plan + energy audits") will focus on conducting the american society of heating, refrigerating and air-conditioning engineers (ashrae) level 2 energy audits of all the schools/school facilities in the portfolio, and on developing a comprehensive strategic plan for implementing energy improvements. By the end of budget period 1, energy audits and the strategic plan should provide a clear pathway to prioritize energy improvements, access private sector funding (if needed) and/or tax credits and realize high-impact health and safety benefits for budget period 2. Budget period 2 (phase 3 - "implementation") will implement the energy improvements identified at the end of phase 2. Phase 3 should directly advance the measurable goals of energy savings and high-impact health and safety benefits.