Cash for Communities: Leveraging Historic Federal Funds for Racial, Economic, and Climate Justice

Local governments and school districts can utilize unprecedented levels of funding administered through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to increase clean energy utilization, invest in green infrastructure, and create high-quality green jobs. This policy brief provides strategies for channeling funding from the IRA's Direct Pay tax credits toward climate-friendly infrastructure projects and recommends building publicly owned energy resources, encouraging state legislators to provide up-front funding for climate projects, and creating grant funds, revolving loan funds, and technical assistance programs for communities in need.