Stakeholder Interview Summaries

Opportunity, Advancement, Innovation in Workforce Development (OAI, INC.)

OAI, INC. is a social-services organization and provides skills training that leads to safe, meaningful employment with a focus on helping companies and communities thrive. OAI, INC. prioritizes communities affected by poverty or which lack necessary resources while uplifting companies facing challenges such as a declining labor pool. Additionally, OAI, INC. aims to serve people who may have language or cultural barriers towards participating in the workforce, including under or unemployed individuals, those who have been recently incarcerated or homeless, workers in need of building skills to do the job safely, undocumented workers, and others.

OAI, INC. founded High Bridge, L3C, a social enterprise company specialized in landscape design, installation, and maintenance in the Chicago Southland area. With a mission centered around natural restoration and green infrastructure projects, the firm focuses on providing jobs for residents who live in economically depressed communities while also helping communities to capture and store rainfall on site and reduce flooding. High Bridge aims to promote climate resilience in communities while employing a local workforce to carry out these projects and further promote communities’ ability to drive their own work.

Delta Institute (Delta)

Delta Institute is a nonprofit organization that works with communities across the Midwest to solve local environmental challenges. By integrating an approach focused on environmental, economic, and social goals, Delta aims to transform urban and rural places into thriving communities with thriving landscapes. Delta specializes in resiliency and community planning, brownfields and coal plan redevelopment, deconstruction and waste reduction, green infrastructure, and sustainable buildings.

Delta has engaged in a diverse profile of various green infrastructure projects within the past several years. Currently, through funding provided by the Great Lakes Protection Fund (GLPF), Delta has partnered with the Water Finance Exchange, the Resilience Innovation Network, and municipalities to identify and remove barriers to implementing green infrastructure across the Great Lakes region. Delta has engaged with mid-sized municipalities in Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin that are disproportionately vulnerable to flooding. Delta helps communities mitigate

flooding by identify green infrastructure solutions that lessen the effects of flooding, improve water quality, and create green spaces for residents.

Delta’s work is divided into different buckets/areas that include project implementation and research and engagement. Delta receives project funding from sources such as the US EPA, USDA, and the National Wildlife Federation. Delta utilizes its grants for coalition building and the development of initiatives for removing barriers around green infrastructure. Additionally, Delta engages in research activities as well as municipal technical assistance, municipal support-

building, and program design.

The Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT)

The Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT) is a nonprofit organization specialized in advancing urban sustainability by focusing on transportation, water, climate, and public policy initiatives. CNT has a diverse set of published research and analysis work which aims to find smart planning solutions for urban problems across the U.S. CNT has developed tools that guide planners, developers, and community leaders to make data-driven decisions.

In 2020, CNT published a report with SB Friedman Development Advisors on the impact of green stormwater infrastructure on property values. The report presents the economic benefits of green stormwater infrastructure installations such as rain gardens, pervious pavement, swales, and planters, which increase the sale prices of homes located near this infrastructure.

CNT developed the Green Values Stormwater Management Calculator, an interactive tool that can be used by planners, landscape architects, municipal staff, and homeowners to explore how adding various green stormwater infrastructure elements can improve the value of a property. The tool can be customized to compare the performance, costs, and benefits of desired combinations of green infrastructure best management practices (BMPs) to meet a necessary volume capacity for stormwater runoff in a cost-efficient manner.

Latinos United for Community Housing Association, Chicago (LUCHA)

Overview

Based in Chicago, LUCHA is a US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) approved housing counseling agency focused on advocating for affordable housing for underserved populations in the neighborhoods of Humboldt Park, Logan Square, and West Town.

As rents rise throughout Chicago, LUCHA has played a critical role in affordable housing creation and preservation and manages over 198 units of affordable rental housing. LUCHA’s clientele consists of over 1.300 residents who are low- to moderate-income and identify as 62% Latinx, 31% African American, 3% Mixed Race/Ethnicity, 1% White, and 3% other.

Current Work

In 2018, LUCHA commemorated the grand-opening of the new Tierra Linda, a six-flat sustainabilityoriented development focused on delivering forty-five affordable housing units with green technology for low-income residents. The project holds Enterprise Green Communities Certification and was largely funded through LUCHA’s own funding along with donations and corporation support.

A critical element of Tierra Linda is the Passive House which offers housing to six families overcoming homelessness. The building adopted Passive House Institute US (PHIUS) design standards and is one of the first multi-family affordable housing buildings in Chicago to do so. LUCHA aimed for green technology and energy efficient goals to lower utility costs from an affordability standpoint, as tenants are responsible for paying utilities. This design approach would have a direct impact in bring costs down and support climate change mitigation.

LUCHA engaged in a highly collaborative process in securing Passive House design implementation in the Tierra Linda development. Staff participated in weekly meetings with the contractor and mechanical engineer teams reviewing drawings, making necessary changes to window size or elevation, analyzing mechanical systems for high efficiency services, and more. Additionally, LUCHA received assistance from the City of Chicago Department of Buildings for waivers and code variances that would allow for a more efficient ventilation model to implement that could manage temperature entering and exiting the units.

LUCHA spent time negotiating with the mechanical engineer. The engineering firm was hesitant in making changes to the design and systems planned for the Passive House in order to implement the best strategies. With more time and a longer process, LUCHA looks toward hiring a firm with a diverse set of experience in conducting future developments.

LUCHA is not only the first in Chicago to implement passive house projects but is currently one of only a handful of existing developments in Illinois and the rest of the United States. Only a select group of projects exist in places such as Portland, Seattle, and Pennsylvania. Passive house designs need to be adjusted to match a geography’s climate and zoning codes; therefore, each region or municipality must undergo an extensive research phase in order to properly adapt

the technical details in a project.

Equity around workforce development

PHIUS buildings require maintenance staff to keep their systems running efficiently, however, LUCHA does not currently have funding to maintain multiple systems across several buildings. The current LUCHA maintenance staff is still learning to maintain the Passive House building system. LUCHA has recruited entry level workers who have a willingness to learn new skills and has welcomed staff to recruit friends or family members creating a grassroots-oriented supportive environment.

LUCHA shared it would benefit from a nonprofit HVAC maintenance team that could go around all affordable housing developments. There is exciting potential benefit here for affordability, climate, and maintaining air quality indoor and outdoor. Having such a team that is specialized in green cleaning and skills would allow organizations to contract their services without going through the process of holding back projects when staff is not trained for these skills.

Overview

Launched by two former employees of a larger native landscaping company, Cardinal State constructs both traditional and ecological landscapes and hardscapes, restores degraded streams and shorelines, installs and manages native ecosystems, and provides other green infrastructure services. It is a Minority-Business Enterprise and conducts work throughout the Chicagoland area.

Current Work

The past few years have been busy for Cardinal State as they provide services ranging from vegetation installation and ecological monitoring to tree removals and hardscape maintenance. Much of their work is conducted as a general contractor for larger construction companies, though they also work directly with organizations such as the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD), the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT), and private homeowners’ associations (HOAs).

Cardinal State’s team is made up of a full-time staff of highly experienced individuals, as well as three seasonal crews who are matched to contracts based on specific skillsets and site locations. Employees in the full-time staff, who only make up a small portion of the overall team, were largely recruited from other companies. Many are highly educated, and they receive full benefits and competitive pay. In addition to the full-time staff, there are three seasonal crews who work from approximately March to December. Crewmembers are laid off during the winter months, but almost always invited to join back in the spring.

Challenges

While Cardinal State has been met with much success, they face several challenges common to the industry:

•Workforce Development: Like many players in the industry, Cardinal State has struggled to find a skilled workforce. Historically much of their hiring was done through word of mouth, but this method has proven insufficient for their growing needs. The team is unsure of job boards targeting workers in this industry. Additionally, the seasonality of crew jobs makes them less appealing to potential employees, an issue related to the following challenge.

•Weather Dependency: Cardinal State wants to keep their crews working for as much of the year as possible, but the strong relationship between their work and seasonal weather patterns makes winter work difficult to find. While they try to look for winter work, such as vacuuming up leaves and subcontracting with tree specialist, seasonal layoffs are often inevitable.

•Meeting Chicago and Community Residency Requirements: Many City of Chicago contracts ask for a percentage of the crew to reside in the zip code in which work is being conducted. While Cardinal State does work to hire local crewmembers for contracts, there is a lack of resources connecting them to talent on a zip code level.

Key Takeaways: The Importance of Networks

One theme that came up repeatedly was the importance of unions and professional networks for Cardi nal State. City of Chicago contracts require site crews to be members of the Local 150 Operators Union as “plantsmen.” This union represents workers in a variety of construction and related industries. A professional network of vendors was also seen as key to success for Cardinal State. These vendors include turf and soil wholesalers, soil testing vendors, aggregate material wholesalers, nurseries and equipment rental companies. The wide variety of expertise provided by these vendors is essential to fulfilling City of Chicago requirements, including extensive testing protocols for soil.