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CLIMATE READY COMMUNITY

Our Vision for a Climate-Ready Kalamazoo

Picture this: you live in a neighborhood where every home is warm in the winter, cool in the summer, and powered by clean energy. It’s a place where families don’t have to choose between fixing a failing furnace and putting food on the table, where job training leads directly to meaningful careers in renewable energy, and local centers become safe havens during power outages and extreme weather.

It’s not just a vision … we’ve already started!

In early 2024, the Kalamazoo Climate Crisis Coalition (KCCC), in collaboration with Kalamazoo County, began planning for a bold initiative intended to be a model for climate readiness and resiliency with an environmental justice foundation.

At the heart of this effort is a deep understanding that climate solutions must put the needs of those most impacted first. Our shared framework serves homes in historically underserved areas in Kalamazoo County with vital repairs and energy upgrades to cultivate safer, healthier environments forging a path toward resilience and adaptation.

KCCC aims to increase the labor force skilled in green trades by supporting capacity building for existing workforce development programs. We will focus on the improvement of single-family housing units through home repairs and energy efficiency across Kalamazoo County low income communities scoring the lowest on the Michigan Environmental Justice screening tool (MiEJ screening tool). We have trained energy auditors solving a needed capacity issue and speeding up access to repairs for families on long waiting lists. The project supports community resource navigation services tripling dollars invested in Kalamazoo communities by connecting families with existing public programs with unspent dollars for home repairs and upgrades.

Every upgrade made today helps turn a house into a legacy of stability and opportunity resulting in increased property values and making long-term financial security possible for Kalamazoo residents. Every upgrade made today helps reduce energy bills and improves indoor air quality. Every upgrade made today is a safer place in which to live. Every energy efficiency measure gets us closer to driving real, impactful emissions reductions of atmospheric CO2 on a community scale.

Climate Ready Homes

Our Climate Ready Homes program is in a fundraising phase. We will provide cost free direct energy efficiency upgrades to as many homes as we can through collaboration with local contractors and community partners. Help us meet our goal of making upgrades to 20 homes in 2026 one home at a time. Would you like to sponsor a home? Donate to support our work at any amount by clicking the donate button… Have questions about the program? Stephanie can be reached at shoffman@kzooclimate.org.

Learn more about the Climate Ready Home (formally known as HHH) project from Stephanie Hoffman, Program Director, in this short video.

Community Resource Navigation

Our Community Resource Navigator is here to connect you with programs and funding that make home upgrades more affordable. From energy efficiency improvements that lower monthly bills to repairs that make your home safer and healthier, we’ll help you find the resources you need and guide you through the process step by step.

Contact: Alvaro Paz at Apaz@kzooclimate.org.

Outreach & Education

At the Kalamazoo Climate Crisis Coalition (KC3), education, engagement and outreach are at the heart of our work. We believe that building awareness and strengthening community connections are key to tackling the climate crisis. Through workshops, neighborhood partnerships, and community events, KC3 creates spaces where residents can learn, prepare, and take action. This work is especially important in making sure everyone has access to tools and knowledge particularly those most affected by pollution and climate change.

Contact: Ar’chay Alexander at aalexander@kzooclimate.org

Workforce Development

Neighborhoods in Kalamazoo have faced historic socio-economical challenges, which have led to barriers to education and employment and gaps in economic stability. Workforce training programs can provide career pathways which break these cycles of instability. This empowers people to secure higher-paying, stable employment and strengthens the local economy by creating a more skilled and productive workforce.

Contact: Aaron Anzell at aanzell@kzooclimate.org.

Yes, we’ve been held back.

Holistic Healthy Homes is a project of our Climate Ready Kalamazoo work. Early this year our project took a giant leap forward due to the award of a three-year Community Change Grant of $18.9M from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). These funds were obligated by Congress to:

Provide home repairs and energy efficiency measures for 300 single-family housing units in the Northside, Eastside, West Douglas, and Edison neighborhoods;
Remodel four local neighborhood centers to function as emergency shelters during extreme weather events;
Support 150 graduates from two local workforce training programs.

However, On May 2, 2025 we were notified that federally authorized and obligated funding had been terminated for reasons not included in the Terms and Conditions of our contracts.

This means historically marginalized communities that have endured generations of racial segregation and environmental injustices are now, once again, being denied critical resources to ensure a livable future.

The termination of this funding has had a significant impact on the magnitude of outcomes we intended to achieve. However we move forward no matter what. Our goals have been rightsized to match local and regional funding availability and we have utilized the opportunity for a pivot to focus our energies on the targets needing the most attention and garnering the highest impact.

We will persist.