The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Regional Energy Democracy Initiative (REDI) is a technical assistance and capacity building program intended to help communities meaningfully engage in the design and implementation of community benefits associated with DOE funded projects in Texas and Louisiana in the U.S. Gulf South region. The Regional Energy Democracy Initiative is intended to help communities better plan and more meaningfully engage in the development of community benefits and commitments associated with DOE funded projects, to ultimately support an energy future that is reflective of community voice and solutions.

In the Gulf South, DOE has made billions of dollars in investments through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act. These investments in grid improvements; capping of orphan and marginal wells; carbon capture, storage, and transport; and clean hydrogen, wind, and solar energies aim to transform regional energy infrastructure to improve energy resilience, decarbonize vital industries, and make way for a clean energy transition. Each of these investments required a community benefits plan at application that described how each project will engage collaboratively with host communities and labor, how they will lead to good, family-sustaining jobs, create opportunities for all Americans equitably, and create enduring benefits to disadvantaged communities.

Community benefits plans provide a vital and timely opportunity to address these inequalities to reduce energy burdens, remediate pollution, build resilience, and clean energy businesses, jobs, and training programs for disadvantaged communities.

To best serve disadvantaged communities and the federal investments, it’s vital to coordinate and synergize community benefits plans in the region. Through its regional consortia, REDI will:

• Coordinate training programs that are accessible to disadvantaged communities and not duplicative of each other.
• Ensure that communities are prepared to engage in the development and implementation of community benefits and aware of the opportunities they present.
• Ensure that communities have access to legal support and services as they seek to build community benefits and labor agreements.
• Ensure that community priorities for cleanup, investment, and resilience are met.

For projects in the region, the work of REDI will help them to:

• Connect with informed communities.
• Identify how to best align project goals with community priorities.
• Learn best practices from other community benefits plans and projects.
• Streamline engagement across the Department of Energy offices and funded projects.
• Attract additional capital from philanthropic sources to supplement and extend benefits that are beyond the scope of any one project.

REDI will help draw together communities and projects, maximizing and interconnecting community benefits plans to improve the wellbeing, environments, opportunities, and resilience of communities that are vital to the U.S. economy and the global success of a clean energy transition.

Eligibility and Review Criteria

• Applicants must show their record of work in Texas and Louisiana
• Applications as the Prime Applicant/Lead Organization are strongly encouraged to be a Minority Serving Institution (MSI)
• Applicants must have a depth of experience and expertise in at least one of the roles described in the table here
• If applying as a full consortium with all the roles described below filled by partner entities, then each party’s requirements should have their individual budget needs noted in the Application – as well as included in the total funding requested in Submittable.