Trump and his allies may defund lifesaving resiliency centers » Yale Climate Connection

In Atlanta's Cascade neighborhood, a black church has operated a community center next door for decades. The interior of the recently renovated space is simple—white walls and gray carpet—but that’s where the magic happens. There, the congregation operates a food pantry that feeds up to 400 predominantly Black families each week. Now, with financial help from the Inflation Reduction Act, a landmark climate law passed by Democrats during the Biden administration, the church is offering more services — making the center the city’s first community-owned resiliency center.

The Vikas Community Center, which held a ribbon-cutting ceremony in July, is equipped with solar panels and battery storage that can provide enough energy to power the building for three days in the event of a power outage and lack of sunlight. The center is prepared to serve as an emergency shelter for locals in the event of a power outage. In an era of fossil fuel-driven hurricanes and heat waves, frontline community members need a safe place to turn when the lights go out.

“This really fits with what we’re already trying to do,” said Pastor Kevin Earley of Atlanta Community Church, which partnered with clean energy nonprofit Groundswell to develop the resiliency center at its community center. “We want to be a place that people turn to in good times and bad.”

According to research and communications organization Climate Central, extreme weather caused 80% of power outages from 2000 to 2023. Just last September, Hurricane Helene left an estimated 5.5 million people without power in the Southeast and Midwest. Some families were kept in the dark for three weeks.

Thanks to federal tax credits from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), people in Cascade communities will now have a place to charge their cell phones, refrigerate medications and plug in life-saving medical equipment when extreme weather events cause power outages. 's home. What's more, the center's solar panels reduce planet-warming emissions, saving the center $6,000 in energy costs each year.

Despite President-elect Donald Trump's pledge to repeal laws that help make resilient centers possible, developers don't expect the new administration's plans to affect them. Even if Trump eliminates the extremely popular direct payment tax credit program, in which the federal government sends payments to entities that build qualified clean energy projects, the Atlanta team will have until May 2025 to apply for the IRA credit for the 2024 tax year.

Lucas Shankar-Ross, deputy director of climate and energy justice at Friends of the Earth, explained that it would be an unlikely logistical nightmare for the president-elect’s administration to attempt a tax restructuring that would retroactively repeal the credit. However, other communities of color hoping to use IRA money to fund similar safety nets in their hometowns may not have time to take advantage of the law's full benefits before Trump and his allies in Congress cut those benefits.

“Now we have a responsibility to shout from the mountaintops about the benefits and impact these tax credits have on local communities and economic development,” said Matthew Wesley Williams, senior vice president of community development for Groundswell, which works with churches to raise funds for solar panels. And find the financing you need to own the unit without the added debt. “Organizations that support community resilience, such as churches, small cities and rural utilities, need these resources to gain a foothold and maintain their local impact.”

In 2023, after activists identified Atlanta Community Church as a key resource at a local information gathering meeting, Groundswell contacted Pastor Earley to co-sponsor the creation of the Resilience Center. During the height of the pandemic, Vicars Community Center provided COVID-19 testing and vaccines. It hosts meetings for local groups as well as blood donation events and low-cost health screenings.

Groundswell provided the organization with $225,000 in donated philanthropic funds to upgrade the center's solar panels and batteries. The nonprofit will also soon help church leaders take advantage of these IRA tax credits. The nonprofit sees the Rev. as Williams said the demonstration could build support for other community-owned small solar projects. Groundswell has established similar recovery centers elsewhere in Atlanta and Baltimore.

Residents living within a half-mile radius of Vikas are mostly black, according to data from the EPA mapping tool. More than half are low-income earners. They also have higher rates of asthma and heart disease and lower life expectancy compared with national and state averages. Nearly a quarter have no access to health care or internet.

“People in our neighborhood who are unable to drive or leave can now even find a place to charge their phones, get information or receive help,” Pastor Earley said.

Markia Thomas, senior adviser for Black engagement at Climate Power, a communications organization focused on clean energy, said churches are the perfect way to introduce clean energy plans to Black residents.

“Throughout history, Black people have had to rely on the church to survive in the world we live in,” Thomas said.

Pastor Earley is planning ahead to ensure the center's refrigerators are stocked with food and water for the day of the emergency. He is exploring options to protect the building during high winds to make its structure stronger. Solar panels can provide energy, but only if the building itself is not damaged. Questions remain about how to make the space a safe overnight facility with cots and security, but the church has already started planning it.

The mission of Atlanta Community Church is to serve the community, including those of no faith. Now, their food pantry can expand, feeding more families with the money saved on reduced energy bills. Last year they fed about 32,000 people. The plan is to provide even more food in the coming years.

This article was supported by the Solutions Journalism Network’s Climate Solutions Cohort Project, of which the author is a researcher.

This article was co-published with Next City, a nonprofit newsroom that informs on fair and equitable urban solutions.