Section I: Organization Information

Name/Title of Contact:  Pamela Carunchio, Director, Planning and Development

Address: 1924 Arch Street, Phila PA 19103
     
Phone Number: (215) 988-0929 x257

Email Address: pamc@ecasavesenergy.org
     
Web Address:  http://www.ecasavesenergy.org

Total Number of Staff Members: 83
     
Total Agency Budget: $8.7 million

Agency Mission:  ECA helps people conserve energy and promotes a sustainable and socially equitable energy future for all in the Philadelphia region.

Fellow’s Job Title: Policy Assistant

Section II: The Nitty Gritty

1. Will fellow be working at the same address listed above? If not, please list the address for the fellow’s worksite.

The Fellow will be working at the address above, 1924 Arch Street, which is ECA’s administrative headquarters.  ECA also owns a building at 106 W. Clearfield in West Kensington.  This building is a refurbished warehouse which houses our Conservation Program team of 53 people, who do all our weatherization and conservation work.

2.  Will the fellow have:   

A. ___Own Office?              __X__Shared Office?            ____No Office?  

B. _X_Own Desk?               ____Shared Desk?              ____No Desk?

C. _X_Own Computer?       ____Shared Computer?      ____No Computer?

3. Please state name and title of fellow’s immediate supervisor.

Liz Robinson, Executive Director

4. Please approximate the percentage of time fellow will work:

__40%__Independently      __40%__As a team member in a group setting   

__20%__As a team leader in a group setting

5. Will fellow be expected to travel as part of his/her position?

If so, will travel be: __X__Within Philadelphia?  ____Outside Philadelphia?

How often will they need to travel? Once a week, for local meetings

Will fellow need: __X__a car?   ____a transpass?  __X__occasional tokens?

Will the agency provide or reimburse for these expenses? Yes


Section III:  Community Need
Please submit a one paragraph response for each question.

1. Please state in measurable and quantifiable terms the specific community need that the Philly Fellow will address, including the number of people in the community directly affected by the problem.

According to the Consumer Federation of America, over the last five years, household energy expenditures (home heating and gasoline) have nearly doubled, and are now 50 percent more than health care expenditures and 23 percent more than spending on food.   The Entergy Corporation reports that increasing numbers of families are being forced to choose between buying food and paying energy bills.  With the price of oil rocketing towards $100 a barrel, a level most industry experts did not foresee for years to come, energy costs will continue to rise sharply.  Current estimates are in the range of an 11% increase each year.  These additional increases will create additional hardship for low
income Philadelphians who comprise 24% of the City’s population.  It is also important to note that the majority of the 50,000 arrearages in utility bills last year in Philadelphia occurred outside the low income community.  High energy prices are making the City’s working poor and lower middle income families increasingly vulnerable.

2. Describe how your agency addresses this need, and how the new capacity created by this fellow will help alleviate the problem.

To address this issue, ECA provides energy conservation and bill payment assistance to 30,000 low income families each year.  To help create the systemic change that is needed, ECA has expanded its leadership role in energy policy work in the City and Commonwealth.  Below are the two specific initiatives that ECA’s Philly Fellow will focus on:

A.        Energy Action Agenda for Buildings - This year, the City of Philadelphia invited ECA to develop an Energy Action Agenda for Buildings, which consume 51% of the energy used and produce over half the greenhouse gas emissions.  The Agenda will include detailed recommendations on energy efficiency requirements for new and existing buildings.   Mayor Elect Nutter has been participating in this project, and ECA is already serving on his Sustainability Committee, so the Agenda is well positioned for effective implementation
upon completion of the work.

B.        DOE Keystone Homes Project - On the federal level, ECA recently received a grant from the Department of Energy to help effect statewide market transformation toward energy efficiency in residential buildings.  This project will include a statewide consumer education program; a training program for building professionals; pilot projects (ENERGY STAR Homes and Home Performance with ENERGY STAR) in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia; and new financial incentives for homeowners to make their homes more energy efficient.

Liz Robinson, ECA’s Executive Director, is our lead policy strategist.  The Philly Fellow will work directly with Liz in the position of Policy Assistant on these initiatives.

3. Describe the level of community involvement in the fellow’s project.

ECA’s leadership style is collaborative and cooperative.  The intake for our energy conservation and bill payment assistance programs is done through our 13 Neighborhood Energy Centers, which are located in low income neighborhoods throughout the City of Philadelphia.  In regard to the Energy Action Agenda, more than 100 stakeholders, representing community, civic, business, environmental, and educational institutions throughout Philadelphia, participated in a 2½ day Future Search conference this summer which laid out the scope of the Agenda, and begin work on the recommendations.  Many of those stakeholders elected to continue their role by participating in the Working Groups that were formed to address specific aspects of the research and development of the Agenda.  The project plan of the DOE initiative came out of discussions with the Keystone Energy Action Alliance, an alliance of 50 organizations (and still growing!) which was formed to advance the practice of energy conservation and efficiency in Pennsylvania.

Section IV:  Job Description

1. Please outline in list form the fellow’s duties and responsibilities.

The specific tasks that the Philly Fellow will be responsible for are as follows:
1)        Staff selected Working Groups of the Energy Action Agenda to assist with the research and development of the recommendations, and to document the work.  Facilitate coordination among the Working Groups to avoid duplication of effort and ensure that the work is cohesive.
2)        Staff the Steering Committee of the DOE Keystone Homes Project. This Committee will be the first statewide working group of public and private stakeholders dedicated to increasing energy efficiency and affordability for Pennsylvanians.  Coordinate meetings, take notes, document the work.
3)        Assist the DOE Project Managers with specific tasks related to the statewide consumer education campaign, the training program for building professionals, and the development of new financial incentives for homeowners.  These will include research, meeting coordination and documentation.
4)        Assist ECA’s Executive Director with day to day policy research and the preparation of powerpoint presentations for ECA’s ongoing speaking engagements.

2. Please outline in list form the skills/qualifications a fellow should have to succeed in this position.
-        Academic background in architecture, engineering, environmental science, or urban
planning/ Work or volunteer experience in one of these areas is a plus
-        Excellent research skills
-        Excellent communication skills/ Writing, presenting, speaking
-        Passion to work productively on the issues of energy conservation and  global warming
-        Good graphic sense/ Ability to design presentations, displays and powerpoints
-        Good people skills
-        Good organizational skills/ Coordinating meetings, doing meeting and conference setups, follow up, scheduling, smooth and timely communication to ensure meeting success with full participation

3. Please outline your agency’s plan to orient and train the fellow.
-        Liz Robinson, ECA’s Executive Director will provide a basic orientation to the Philly Fellow on key policy issues and how ECA is addressing them.
-        Much of the learning will be on the job and during the research.
-        This is essentially a policy apprenticeship position to Liz.  The Philly Fellow will assist
her in the preparation for key meetings on the citywide and statewide projects, take notes and action points during the meetings, and assist in the follow up.
-        This young leader will be well versed on the issues of energy conservation and global warming by the end of the year, and able to continue to serve in a broad range of capacities.


Section V:  Supervision/Resources

1. Please briefly describe plans for supervision of fellow.

Liz Robinson, ECA’s Executive Director, will be the direct supervisor of the Philly Fellow.   Jim Primdahl, ECA’s Director of Smart Energy Solutions, which provides ENERGY STAR and LEED for Homes consulting services, will work with the Fellow on issues related to the training program for building professionals.

2. What methods, information, or data will you use to evaluate the fellow’s success in their position?

After a period of orientation, the Philly Fellow will develop a workplan with goals and objectives, and discuss it with Liz Robinson.  Each week, the Fellow will set weekly goals and objectives in the context of that plan.  He/she will meet weekly with Liz to review progress, solve problems, and identify priorities.


Section VI: Project Plan
Please outline goals and results you expect the fellow to achieve and the measures you will use to evaluate performance. These goals must address the community need stated above.

1. Please describe the proposed project goal you expect the fellow to achieve.

Provide effective research and presentation support; meeting coordination; and
documentation for the Energy Action Agenda for Buildings and the DOE Keystone Homes Project.

2. Please list significant milestones for this project and dates by which they will be accomplished:

-        Release of the Energy Action Agenda (September 2008)
-        Launching of statewide consumer education campaign (October 2008)
-        Launching of training program for building professionals (January 2009)
-        Final report to DOE on Keystone Homes Project (March 2009)
-        Research for new proposal to DOE (April-June 2009)