$20M grant to build ‘community resilience’ hub in Grays Ferry targeted for termination by DOGE

The two city nonprofits — Energy Coordinating Agency and Habitat for Humanity Philadelphia — had grand plans in Grays Ferry when they were awarded a $20 million federal grant in December.

The groups, along with Philly Thrive as a partner, aspired to use the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant to purchase a building and establish a “community resilience hub.”

At the hub, 50 residents a year would be trained in green energy careers, such as HVAC. The building would also serve as a community cooling center during heat waves and a heating center during cold spells. Moreover, money from the three-year grant would go toward making critical home repairs and weatherization of 189 neighboring homes.

But now, all those plans are on hold: The grant has been targeted for termination by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), according to a list circulated by a U.S. Senate committee on the environment.

Steve Luxton, CEO of Energy Coordinating Agency (ECA), said a freeze on the grant began in January soon after President Donald Trump took office and DOGE began ramping up. ECA has not yet received a letter officially terminating the grant.

ECA has, however, received a termination letter for a separate $200,000 grant it had secured to train underserved residents in pest management. That grant started releasing funds in 2022. So the termination means only about $20,000 of the grant’s balance will be cut.

“A termination letter is the final nail in the coffin,” Luxton said of grant cuts.

DOGE has been targeting programs that focus on environmental justice and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

Sofya Mirvis, chief operations officer of ECA, confirmed that ECA is on the termination list.

“We’re not sure whether being on the list actually means you’re terminated,” Mirvis said.

She said ECA has been told that there would be an appeal process even if it the grant does receive a termination letter.

Mirvis said the partnership had narrowed the number of potential buildings to purchase. But the partnership cannot now pursue any real estate deal or hire an administrative staff as planned.

“It’s kind of stalled,” she said of the project.

The partnership planned to operate the new training center, to be located in the hub, much the way ECA’s main training center in West Kensington operates.

ECA runs the Knight Green Careers Training Center in West Kensington, training students in clean energy careers that provide family-sustaining wages. Career paths include solar installation, HVAC, residential energy efficiency, construction, and environmental remediation. The center focuses on training local residents, including Black, Latinx, and immigrant youth and adults, including veterans, according to the website.

In the Grays Ferry hub, ECA planned to train 50 students ages 16 and above, as well as veterans, each year. The hub would offer “high-quality, pre-apprenticeship training programs, preparing students for in-demand positions in clean energy sectors such as sustainable construction, HVAC installation, solar PV installation, energy auditing, disaster recovery, and more, with average hourly wages of $17-$30 and potential for advancement to positions with salaries exceeding $100,000,” according to the grant application.

Habitat Philadelphia was set to help in Grays Ferry by offering basic home repairs with the addition of energy efficiency measures such as installing insulation and weather sealing, both designed to lower home energy bills.

Habitat was awarded $2.5 million as part of the grant’s sub-award. Habitat would work on 129 housing units, spending about $16,336 on each.

“Home repairs stabilize communities and improve health outcomes,” said Corinne O’Connell, CEO of Habitat Philadelphia. “Vulnerable families will continue to be disproportionately cost-burdened without the programs and services funded by this grant.”

Altogether, the hub would centralize climate resilience programs in Grays Ferry, while providing support and addressing “the mental and emotional health needs of residents affected by environmental injustice,” according to the grant.

Mirvis said Grays Ferry was chosen as the location for the hub after the partners in the program looked at census tracts that were “underserved in several metrics” that include poverty, and environmental and air quality.

“This whole grant was responding to that,” Mirvis said. “Its goal was to make people whole and elevate the community and offer additional opportunities like workforce development. The repairs and weatherization would lower the energy burden on families that pay a substantially higher portion of their income toward energy bills.”