Community Benefits Plan for Research and Development Template.docx

Community Benefits Plan Template for Research and Development Applications Applicant should insert here:

NOFO Number and NOFO Title Organization Name Project Title

Instructions for Use of this Template:

The purpose of this document is to summarize the specific objectives the Applicant is committing to in its Community Benefits Plan (CBP).

Important information about using this template:

· The instructional textboxes within each section can be removed when submitting the application.

· All information included in this CBP must be consistent with other parts of the application. The CBP should accurately define the work that is planned and the progress that will be expected throughout the project to be achieved.

· Wherever possible, the objectives laid out in the CBP should be in quantifiable terms with SMART milestones: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely – and include timelines. The Community Benefits Plan may include multiple milestones but should have at least one SMART milestone per budget period as well as one SMART end of project goal.

· The information provided in the summary table in the final section should be consistent with the commitments made throughout the CBP Template and broader Application.

· By submitting this form, Applicant acknowledges and agrees that the information provided may be distributed or made publicly available, without any restrictions or obligations to maintain confidentiality, as required by applicable laws, rules and regulations. If Applicant wishes to protect proprietary or trade secret information submitted with this CBP Template, every line and paragraph containing such information must be clearly marked as “CONFIDENTIAL” and designated with double brackets or highlighting to indicate the confidential information.

A. General Project InformationInstructions: This section asks for the applicant to provide general information on the CBP and how it integrates with the project, including critical information on the construction component, if any, and the locations and communities affected. Applicant should also provide a description of the project personnel overseeing the community benefits plan, their qualifications, and time allocated for the activities proposed.

1. High-level description of the CBP and project

Please provide description here.

Instructions for Sections B through E:

Sections B through E below should summarize the specific objectives the applicant is committing to, broken into specific commitments and tasks.

Wherever possible and relevant, each commitment or task should be stated in quantifiable or measurable terms and SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely) milestones with timelines should be identified. The CBP may include multiple milestones but should have at least one SMART milestone per budget period as well as one SMART end of project goal.

If awarded, the progress towards meeting the objectives and milestones set forth in the CBPs will be included as part of the Go/No-go evaluation.

B. Community and Labor Engagement [Section omitted for R&D Template] C. Investing in Job Quality and Workforce Continuity [Investing in America’s Workforce] Instructions: The Workforce section of the R&D Community Benefits Plan should articulate the future workforce implications of the innovation or a milestone-driven plan for understanding those implications. This includes documenting the skills, knowledge, and abilities that would be required of workers installing, maintaining, and operating the technology that may be derivative of the applicant’s research, as well as the training pathways and its accessibility for workers to acquire the necessary skills.

There may be field-specific or relevant existing research that could be cited in this section. In addition, applicants could detail the process they will use to evaluate long-term impacts on jobs, including job growth or job loss, a change in job quality, disruptions to existing industry and resulting changes to relationships between employers and employees, improvements or reductions in the ability of workers to organize for collective representation, and anything else that could result in changes to regional or national labor markets.

The applicant should add or delete commitments to reflect their specific plan.

Job Quality and Workforce Continuity

For large R&D Projects that include demonstration activity, please describe the Applicant’s plan to ensure that jobs created by this project are good quality and will attract and retain a skilled workforce, including the following commitments to wages and benefits, education and training investments, and worker involvement in health and safety:

[Examples] [Commitments C1-2 omitted for R&D Template] Commitment C3a.1: Applicant will provide above-average wages and benefits, benchmarked to occupation and industry reported by BLS:

· The minimum starting wage for production workers is $_____ per hour compared to the [75th or 90th] percentile of $____per hour for the [_______] industry.

· The minimum value of the following benefits offered to hourly workers is

· Health insurance: $_____ per ___

· Retirement contributions: $_____ per ___

· PTO: ____hours per _____

· Paid sick or family leave: _____ days per _____

· Childcare or other caregiving financial assistance: $_________per worker or provision of on/near-site care

· Transportation assistance: $ _________per worker_

· Education/tuition reimbursement or financial contribution: $__________

· Other: $_________per worker___ Commitment C3a.2: Applicant will provide workforce education and training through:

· Establishment of Labor-Management Training Partnership(s)[footnoteRef:2] [2: For more information on labor-management partnership, see this resource.]

· [Insert number of hours per worker] hours of paid on-the-job training

· Sponsoring registered apprenticeships: [insert goal number of apprentices]

· Covering costs and paid time for professional development and continuing education: [Enter certifications]

· Other:

Commitment C3a.3: Applicant will ensure workers are engaged in the design and implementation of workplace safety and health plans. Specifics include:

· [insert number of hourly workers] that will participate in health and safety committee and whether committee members will be paid for their time participating.

· Indicate which of the following, if any, the training provided will include:

· worksite safety analysis

· hazard prevention and control

· safety and health training

· anti-harassment and by-stander intervention training

· Other: [Describe]

· Indicate the frequency of these health and safety committee planning meetings will be held.

· Indicate plans for how these safety and health plans will be considered by the company’s management (e.g., when they will be reviewed and by when a decision to incorporate the recommendations will be made).

Commitment C3b: [Omitted; if project includes construction activity D&D template should be used]

C4. Documenting Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities.

Outline the Applicant’s plan for documenting the knowledge, skills, and abilities of workers required for widespread deployment of the technology, under full commercialization scenario.

[Examples] Commitment C4.1: Outlining the challenges and opportunities for commercializing the technology in the United States. [insert description here] Commitment C4.2: Creating a literature review of the workforce implications of the outcomes of the specific research if the innovation is successful, or a plan with dedicated budget and expertise (staffing or subawardee) to evaluate the potential equity implications of successful innovation outcomes. [insert description here] Commitment C4.3: Creating a plan and milestones for assessing how a successful innovation will have implications for job savings or loss, either at the macroeconomic level or within specific industries. [insert description here] Commitment C4.4: Describing how the project will support workforce training to address needs for successful innovation (see below for more examples).

Commitment C4.5: Creating a plan to evaluate how a successful innovation will result in potential workforce shifts between industries or geographies. [insert description here] Commitment C4.6: Other commitments or pledges. [insert description here]

D. Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Instructions: The goal of the R&D Community Benefits Plan is to allow the application to illustrate engagement in critical thought about implications of how the proposed work will benefit the American people and lead to broadly shared prosperity, including for workers and disadvantaged communities. This section should summarize the applicant’s plan to incorporate diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) objectives into the project.

Successful plans will not only describe how the project team seeks to increase DEIA but also will describe the overall approaches to retention, engagement, professional development, and career advancement. Specifically, they will demonstrate clear approaches to ensure all team members’ strengths are meaningfully leveraged, and all members are provided opportunities and paths for career development, especially including paths for interns and trainees to secure permanent positions.

The applicant should add or delete commitments to reflect their specific plan. A non-exhaustive list of possible commitments is provided below.

For funded projects, funding recipients will be required to report on partnerships described.

Commitment D1. The applicant commits to partnering with Minority Business Enterprises, Minority Owned Businesses, Woman Owned Businesses, and Veteran Owned Businesses for contractor support needs.

Please describe your approach to partnering with Minority Business Enterprises, Minority Owned Businesses, Woman Owned Businesses and Veteran Owned Businesses.

Commitment D1.1: [Name of partnership] Summary of scope of work: [insert here] Contract amount: $_____ Overall value of partnership: $_____

Commitment D2. Applicant commits to implementing a plan to reduce barriers and improve access to jobs for local and underrepresented workers, including DAC residents, those with disabilities, returning citizens, opportunity youth, and veterans.

[Examples] Commitment D2.1: Applicant will partner with quality pre-apprenticeship or apprenticeship readiness programs[footnoteRef:3] to foster improved access for underrepresented workers to career-track training and employment. [3: Explore Pre-Apprenticeship | Apprenticeship.gov https://www.apprenticeship.gov/employers/explore-pre-apprenticeship]

Please indicate how, if applicable, partnering programs specifically work to improve access for under-represented workers.

Name and description of readiness program(s): [insert here]

Commitment D2.2: Applicant will partner with training and placement programs [other than pre-apprenticeship programs] for underrepresented workers.

Name of training and placement programs: [insert here]

· Establishing and executing an inclusive recruitment strategy (e.g., a strategy to support broad recruitment for the apprenticeship programs, outreach to community-based organizations that work with prospective workers/apprentices): [Describe]

Commitment D2.3: Applicant will provide ($_____) in supports/subsidies for workers to access affordable, reliable and high-quality childcare, or other types of care.

Description of services: [insert here] Commitment D2.4: Applicant will provide flexible work schedules.

Description of flexible work schedule program: [insert here] [Commitments D2.5-D2.8 are not applicable to R&D projects and have been removed.] Commitment D2.9: Applicant is offering training, mentorship, education, and other support to students and early/mid-career professionals from DAC.

Commitment D2.10: Applicant is developing technology and technology integration innovations to meet the needs of DACs.

Commitment D2.11: Applicant is creating partnerships with local communities, especially under-resourced and DACs. [insert description here]

Commitment D2.12: Voluntary recognition of a union and informing employees of their rights, regardless of their classification. [insert description here]

Commitment D2.13: Applicant will make research products and engagement materials accessible in a greater variety of formats to increase accessibility of research outputs: [insert description here]

Commitment D2.14: Applicant will implement training or distribute materials to reduce stigma towards individuals with disabilities. [insert description here]

Commitment D2.15: Applicant will design technologies that strategically fit within the existing workforce for installation and maintenance of the potential innovation. [insert description here]

E. Justice40 Initiative [Energy Equity] Instructions: This section should articulate how project proposals will drive equitable access to, participation in, and distribution of, the benefits produced from successful technology innovations to disadvantaged communities and groups. Applicants may also describe the influencing factors and equity implications of the proposed research. Applicants should describe any long-term constraints the proposed technology may pose to communities’ access to natural resources and Tribal cultural resources. There may be existing equity research available to use and cite in this description, or the applicant could describe milestone-based efforts toward developing that understanding through this innovation.

These near- and long-term outcomes may include but are not limited to: a decrease in the percent of income a household spends on energy costs (energy burden); an increase in access to low-cost capital; a decrease in environmental exposure and burdens; increases in clean energy enterprise creation and contracting (e.g., women- or minority-owned business enterprises); increased parity in clean energy technology access and adoption; increases in energy democracy, including community ownership; and an increase in energy resilience The applicant should add or delete commitments (and re-number accordingly) to reflect their specific plan.

[Examples] [Commitments E1-E4 are not applicable to R&D projects and have been removed.]

Commitment E5.1: Benefits of research to DACs or Communities Benefit E5.1.1: [insert description here]

· DAC that will benefit:

· How benefit will be delivered (e.g., direct or indirect, who will deliver):

· When benefit will be delivered:

· Milestones toward benefit delivery:

· Metrics to track and report on benefits:

[Commitments E6-E10 are not applicable to R&D projects and have been removed.]

Commitment E11. Applicant commits to the following R&D related activities:

[Examples]

Commitment E11.1: Describing how a successful innovation will support economic development in diverse geographic or demographic communities. [insert description here]

Commitment E11.2: Creating a plan to engage equity and justice stakeholders in evaluating the broader impacts of the innovation or in the development of the research methodology. [insert description here]

Commitment E11.3: Describing how the proposed research strategy and methodology was informed by input from a wide variety of stakeholders. [insert description here]

Commitment E11.4: Creating a literature review of the equity and justice implications of the outcomes of the specific research if the innovation is successful, or a plan with dedicated budget and expertise (staffing or sub awardee) to evaluate the potential equity implications of successful innovation outcomes. [insert description here]

F. Summary Table: Community Benefits Objectives and OutcomesInstructions: This section should be filled in to reflect the commitments and relevant time-based milestones covered through this document.

The applicant should add or delete rows and columns so the table summarizes commitments and timelines from sections above. Red text indicates examples and should be deleted or modified to reflect applicant’s plan.

· Specific dates (only include general time frames (i.e. Demonstrate XYZ result by Month 3, not Demonstrate XYZ by June 8th, 2013).

· Subcontractors, vendors or individuals by name. The award is with the prime and, as such, the CBOO should not generally reference the subcontractors.

Community and Labor Engagement [Omitted]

Investing in Job Quality and Workforce Continuity

☐ No

☐ Contributions to retirement ☐ Transportation assistance ☐ Childcare assistance

☐ Utilization of registered apprentices for at least 15% of construction jobs ☐ Paid training ☐ Tuition support or reimbursement

Other Community and Labor Engagement R&D

☐ MWBE contracting ☐ Partner with quality pre-apprenticeship or apprenticeship readiness program[footnoteRef:4] [4: Explore Pre-Apprenticeship | Apprenticeship.gov https://www.apprenticeship.gov/employers/explore-pre-apprenticeship]

Partnerships with community-based organizations and ed/training providers for workforce needs planned.

Other DEIA

Justice40 Initiative [Energy Equity]

Other Justice40

[END OF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT TEMPLATE]

2Template Version 01/2024