Welcome!  This page is a resource for task force/energy group leaders in CT.  Be sure to check out the many resources listed below, and don't hesitate to write to Justin Haaheim, our lead organizer for municipalities, at jhaaheim@cleanwater.org. 

Resources 

Clean Water maintains a handful of useful resources for municipal leaders across the state including a contacts/resources directory and various guides on organizing, clean energy, energy efficiency and related topics.  You can access those in this google docs folder: http://bitly.com/cwactpublic

Here are a few of those resources:

• Contacts and Resources to Support Connecticut Towns: Clean Energy and Energy Efficiency Work (http://bit.ly/cwactpublic).  This is a directory of the agencies, companies, NGO's and people that can help task forces acheive their objectives.
• Guide to Funding Opportunities for Task Forces and Energy Groups (http://bit.ly/ctenvfundingguide). This guide presents some of the funding opportunities currently available for task forces, and is kept up to date as new information becomes available.
• Clean Water Action Summary of CT Public Act 11-80 (http://bit.ly/cwapa1180summary). This is the Public Act that create the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection along with making many other important changes to CT energy policy.  This summary gives a high-level overview of the changes made and what that will mean for municipal clean energy task forces.

Background 

Clean Water Action helps to organize and support municipal clean energy groups across the state of Connecticut in a variety of ways.  In addition to being a major partner in the Neighbor to Neighbor Clean Energy Challenge program, our full-time staff Justin Haaheim and Roger Smith work specifically with town and grassroots groups across the state to build capacity, strengthen connections to other groups and involve municipal voices in State-level advocacy.

Justin Haaheim joined Clean Water in June 2011 and is the main point-person for our municipal efforts, a role made possible by a grant from the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation.  As part of that grant, Justin is providing focused support to ten towns in 2011 and 2012 in an effort to build up both new and existing task forces into powerful advocates and leaders in the state.  Those towns are Avon, Andover, Guilford, Madison, Cornwall, Chester, West Hartford, Essex, Milford, and Vernon, which were chosen through an application process in August 2011.

Contact 

Please feel free to be in touch if you would like to know more or have questions for our staff.  You can reach Justin Haaheim at jhaaheim@cleanwater.org, or by phone at (860) 232-6232.  You can reach Roger Smith at rsmith@cleanwater.org, or by phone at (860) 232-6232.