2023 New York Laws › PBA - Public Authorities › Article 8 - Miscellaneous Authorities › Title 9-A - Green Jobs-Green New York Program › 1894 - Competitive Grants for Outreach, Enrollment and Related Services.

§  1894.  Competitive  grants  for  outreach,  enrollment  and related
services. 1. The authority shall issue one or more  program  opportunity
notices   or   requests  for  proposals  to  solicit  applications  from
partnerships or consortia comprised of constituency-based  organizations
which   can   connect   community  members  to  the  program,  including
facilitating  awareness  of  the  program  and   enrollment,   and   (a)
distribution  utilities,  (b)  contractors  that have signed enforceable
agreements to meet standards set by the authority,  including  standards
for  local  hiring  and  pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship and other
labor-management   training   program   participation,   (c)   workforce
development  organizations that will recruit unemployed individuals, and
provide training and  job  placement  in  conjunction  with  contractors
pursuant  to section eighteen hundred ninety-seven of this title; and/or
(d) organized trades and their certification or apprenticeship programs.
The authority shall specifically solicit applications  that  propose  to
demonstrate   the   feasibility   of  innovative  financing  mechanisms,
including but not limited to applications undertaken in partnership with
distribution utilities that propose to demonstrate  the  feasibility  of
on-bill  financing.  The public service commission and other appropriate
agencies are authorized to coordinate with the authority and  applicants
in  developing  and  implementing  proposed demonstrations of innovative
financing mechanisms.
2. In awarding grants, the authority shall:
(a) target communities in areas where energy  costs  are  particularly
high  in  relation to a measure of median household income as determined
by the authority; or which have been designated as a nonattainment  area
for  one or more pollutants pursuant to section 107 of the federal Clean
Air Act (42 U.S.C. section 4207);
(b) give preference in awards to applicants that  include  significant
participation by minority and women owned business enterprises and/or to
applications to serve economically distressed communities;
(c) ensure that the awards as a whole reflect the geographic diversity
of the state; and
(d)  award  a sufficient number of grants to make it possible to fully
commit the resources allocated during the initial phase of the program.
3. (a) The authority is authorized to consult with the  department  of
public  service,  the  division  of  housing  and community renewal, the
department of labor and the department of environmental conservation, as
appropriate, in making any determinations contemplated by this section.
(b) The authority shall consult with representatives of businesses who
provide home heating oil,  propane  and  other  petroleum-based  heating
products   to   develop   innovative  financing  mechanisms  for  energy
efficiency retrofits.
(c) The authority shall consult  with  the  division  of  housing  and
community  renewal  and  the  council  established  pursuant  to section
eighteen hundred ninety-eight of this title  to  develop  strategies  to
mitigate  any  adverse  economic  impact  of  the  program  on  tenants,
including but not limited to residents of in rent-regulated  housing  or
recipients of housing subsidies.
4.  Any  organization  using  funding  provided  under the program for
marketing  or  other  outreach  activities  shall  not  commingle   such
marketing  or  outreach  activities  with  any  other advocacy or policy
promotion efforts.