Leaders from the Biden-Harris Administration, the State of Pennsylvania, and municipal agencies gathered in Philadelphia today to announce that PowerCorpsPHL, in collaboration with Landforce in Pittsburgh, has been selected to receive $15.3 million to expand urban forestry, repurpose wood waste from down and dead trees to higher value lumber products, and expand career training opportunities.
This award from the Environmental Protection Agency will fund a cross-sector project in Philadelphia, led by PowerCorpsPHL, in collaboration with Thomas Jefferson University, and Philadelphia Parks & Recreation.
Today marks the final stop on the American Climate Corps fall tour, which has made 10 stops across the country highlighting the impact American Climate Corps members are already having in communities around the country. The American Climate Corps was launched by President Biden in September 2023 and is a groundbreaking initiative to put a new, diverse generation of young Americans to work fighting the impacts of climate change today while gaining the skills they need to join the growing clean energy and climate-resilience workforce of tomorrow. From Flagstaff to Philadelphia, North Carolina to Michigan, the more than 15,000 American Climate Corps members in the inaugural class of President Biden’s American Climate Corps are already making a difference.
This funding will help grow the city’s Reforestation Hub – a first of its kind collaboration between Philadelphia Parks & Recreation, PowerCorpsPHL, Cambium Carbon, and Thomas Jefferson University. The Reforestation Hub plans to scale its operations, expanding its sawmill training program and improving processing efficiency at the nearby Fairmount Park Organic Recycling Center. Additionally, funds will support the research and development of biochar, increasing wood waste utilization while producing a valuable soil amendment – all in alignment with the City of Philadelphia’s zero waste and sustainability goals.
“The American Climate Corps is transforming the way we tackle the climate crisis – by putting young people and community organizations in the driver’s seat to solve our most pressing climate and conservation challenges,” said Ali Zaidi, Assistant to the President and National Climate Advisor. “Under President Biden and Vice President Harris’s leadership, we are making historic strides in environmental and climate justice – all while ensuring young people have career paths into good-paying, climate jobs. Through the American Climate Corps’ partnership with NABTU and TradesFutures, every American Climate Corps member will have access to NABTU’s industry leading pre-apprenticeship curriculum, making good on the President’s promise to ensure good paying, union jobs for American Climate Corps members. Today’s announcement – which will help expand Philadelphia’s urban forestry programs and enhance landscape resilience in Pennsylvania neighborhoods – underscores how the American Climate Corps is centering community-led projects to meet the climate moment across the country.”
“EPA’s Community Change Grants program is a historic investment in environmental and climate justice. Thanks to the Biden-Harris Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act, community-scale projects like this one have the power to not only improve the circular materials economy and community resiliency, but it also has the power to change lives,” said EPA Regional Administrator Adam Ortiz. “Through PowerCorpsPHL, American Climate Corps members are developing the skills needed to see this work through and secure sustainable employment in the environmental field – a win across the board.”
PowerCorpsPHL is an American Climate Corps implementation partner funded through AmeriCorps and PennSERVE, the governor-appointed State Service Commission in Pennsylvania. AmeriCorps, the federal agency for service and volunteerism, acts as the hub for the American Climate Corps, which engages seven other federal agencies, including EPA, in its mission to mobilize a new generation to tackle urgent climate needs and prepare for the sustainable energy economy of tomorrow. AmeriCorps positions with PowerCorpsPHL engage un- and under-employed 18- to 30-year-olds vulnerable to gun violence in an immersive, paid, 4- to 24-month experience that results in connection to living wage jobs in clean energy, green infrastructure, and community-based careers.
“This award from the EPA will build on PowerCorpsPHL’s proven track record of engaging people from neighborhoods that have experienced disproportionate harm through climate change,” said Michael D. Smith, CEO, AmeriCorps. “As a 10-year AmeriCorps grantee, we’ve seen the way PowerCorpsPHL leverages community and national service to create economic opportunity. This investment will not only create a greener, healthier and more sustainable Philadelphia, but it will build a pipeline of proximate leaders focused on lasting solutions to the climate crisis.”
“We are thrilled to receive this EPA grant, which represents a major investment in community-driven environmental resilience and economic opportunity for Philadelphia’s young people,” said Julia Hillengas, Executive Director of PowerCorpsPHL. “This initiative will divert hundreds of tons of wood waste from landfills, ensure the benefits directly reach our most impacted communities, and showcase Pennsylvania’s leadership and innovation in waste-based manufacturing.”
This grant will further expand educational pathways through collaboration with Thomas Jefferson University, which will develop a stackable credential program for participants to build skills within reuse manufacturing. Through collaboration with Farm Philly, the project will integrate with efforts to provide urban agriculture resources and support for historically disinvested neighborhoods.
“The University is excited to partner on this important initiative through which curriculum will be developed and offered through the Kanbar College of Design, Engineering, and Commerce,” said Dr. Ron Kander, Associate Provost for Applied Research at Thomas Jefferson University. “This program will not only support educational and career pathways into emerging areas of biomass manufacturing for PowerCorpsPHL and Landforce participants, but will advance both an equitable workforce and community climate resilience. By incorporating circular manufacturing technologies into the curriculum, the emerging workforce will be focused on developing a circular economy that meets technological, economic, social and environmental sustainability metrics.”
The funding will enable Philadelphia to address critical environmental challenges, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions through the diversion of organic waste. Over the course of the three-year grant, the project aims to divert more than 500 tons of wood from Philadelphia’s waste streams, preventing nearly half a million pounds of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere.
This effort is part of a larger regional collaboration led by Landforce, which seeks to connect biomass utilization campuses in both Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Together, the cities will continue to leverage partnerships with municipal, state, and federal organizations to lead the way in creating a circular economy for urban wood waste, building community resilience, and reducing carbon emissions.
“Because of the unique cross-state partnership between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, this federal grant is enabling us to create a circular economy that crosses the State — one that will turn fallen timber into lumber and biochar, while also creating a circular economy of ideas, best practices, and common purpose for the communities that we serve,” said Ilyssa Manspeizer, Ph. D., Executive Director, Landforce. “By sharing ideas, successes, and challenges, the whole will be much greater than the sum of the parts.”
