Announcements
Commerce Staffing Update
Renita
Robinson joins the Commerce team as the WAP Program Administrator. Renita comes
to weatherization with significant experience in educational and nonprofit
leadership. She holds MEd and MA degrees and is currently pursuing her
doctorate in teaching and learning at the University of Minnesota, Duluth.
Suzy Meneguzzo joins the Commerce team as the WAP
Administrative Monitor. Suzy comes to the state with a strong background in grants
and program management, including serving
as a grant specialist for a state agency and as grants officer and foundation
coordinator for various foundations. She holds a BA degree from St. Olaf
College.
Dean Tran has accepted
a position in the Brooklyn Park housing department. We appreciate Dean’s
dedication and valuable work and wish him the best in his next endeavor. Dean’s final day in the office was March 24. It is anticipated that a job posting to replace Dean will be issued
shortly.
Program Year 2016 Funding Notes
PY16 USDOE
USDOE Funds for
PY16 must be fully expended by June 30, 2017, with any remaining funds
transferring back to USDOE at the end of the program year. All Service Providers are encouraged to
review current production and obligated funds to ensure that funds are fully expended
and unit goals are met. Any Service Provider that determines they may not be
able to fully utilize their current USDOE funds are directed to contact
Commerce by April 10 to review options.
EAPWX A2107
Service
Providers may carry forward up to 25% of their total EAPWX A2107 allocation
into the first quarter of PY17, with all funds expended by September 30, 2017.
EAPWX A2108
Commerce
anticipates an A2108 transfer of $5,074,741. This represents 5% of current Minnesota
LIHEAP funds. This amount will be
increased if the remaining HHS allocation is received by Commerce.
REEGP
There are still funds available for traditional
REEPG technologies. Funds must be fully expended by June 30, 2017; there will
be no rollover of current REEGP funds to PY17. Please contact Commerce soon to
secure funding for PY16 projects.
Program Year 2017 & 2018 Funding Notes
PY17 USDOE
The USDOE WAP State
Plan has been submitted for PY17, beginning July 1, 2017. Funding levels, while
currently unknown, are being planned for at the same level as PY16. Additional
information is anticipated at the end of April.
Trump Administration releases proposed FFY'18 Budget
The Trump Administration recently
released its proposed federal budget for FFY'18 (for
PY18: July 1, 2018-June 30, 2019). Among the cuts that Congress will consider
is the elimination of the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) and
Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP).
Bi-partisan
letter calls for WAP support by House of Representatives
Paul Tonko (D-NY) and
Rep. David McKinley (R-WV) are currently circulating a bipartisan
appropriations letter in support of WAP and calling for additional members to
sign onto the letter. A similar bipartisan effort is anticipated in the Senate
in the coming weeks.
Training
Commerce encourages weatherization staff to take advantage
of the following training opportunities offered over the remainder of this
program year. T&TA funding cannot
be rolled over into the next program year.
Multifamily QCI Training (April 3-7)
This course provides quality control inspectors the tools
needed to conduct final QCI inspections for multifamily buildings. Learning
modules expose attendees to best practices in developing quality control plans,
conducting pre-installation and in-progress inspections, and reporting
observations and findings.
Minnesota Energy Conference
The Minnesota
Energy Conference will be held May 17-19, 2017 at Sugar Lake Lodge in
Cohasset, Minn. Registration information will be sent out in the coming days.
Commerce encourages weatherization staff from across the state to attend.
Session topics will include telling the weatherization story, clean energy in
low-income communities, strategies for successful CIP programs, multifamily
building shell weatherization, multifamily ventilation strategies, effective
work orders, and the quality benefits of testing in and testing out. Trainers
from Community Housing Partners and Rick Karg of Residential Energy Dynamics
are among the featured presenters.
Mechanical Training
REQUEST FOR
INTEREST: A two-day Heating Systems Fundamentals Training has been designed and
tentatively scheduled for multiple offerings on April 24-25, April 26-27, May
1-2, May 3-4, June 5-6, June 7-8, June 19-20, and June 21-22. Class offerings
will be finalized based on interest. Trainings will be held at the new training
facility at Community Action Partnership of Ramsey and Washington Counties. Coordinators are asked to submit number of
interested participants and preferred dates by April 10, 2017.
Quality Control Inspector
An
additional QCI course will be offered June 5-9, 2017, with testing offered the
week of June 12, 2017. Coordinators are
asked to submit number of interested participants by April 10, 2017.
Quality Control Inspector Recertification
Testing
Commerce is in the process of scheduling another
round of field and written quality control inspector recertification tests. Coordinators are asked to submit number of
interested participants by April 10, 2017.
| 
