The Community Engagement Coalition for Energy Retrofits.  Northern Arizona Interfaith Council, Friends of Flagstaff’s Future, and Arizona Students’ Association engages and informs low income neighborhoods about the City of Flagstaff’s Energy Upgrades for Healthy Homes Program.  In doing so, all three organizations are committed to climate action, to building climate resilient communities, and to building leadership for democratic engagement.

• We work with the City of Flagstaff Sustainability Office to engage low income and socially vulnerable residents in order to:
• Better understand their energy needs and the barriers they face in reducing energy costs

• Discuss their engagement with the City of Flagstaff and ways to improve communication from and with the City

• Share information about programs that could benefit families, such as the City’s Energy Upgrades for Healthy Homes Program and discuss how it might benefit their household

• Help neighbors connect with one another around climate resilience and shared vision. 


Our engagement efforts take several forms and encompass multiple stages, including:

• Selecting several target neighborhoods with a high percentage of low-income residents

• Begin a pilot project in target neighborhoods with a goal of learning and adapting the larger effort as needed 

• Identifying key leaders from those neighborhoods, through schools, congregations, neighborhood organizations, nonprofits, and local businesses

• Identifying neighborhood leaders interested and able to hold house meetings for shared conversation about the retrofit program, energy uses and needs, barriers to participation, climate impacts in their neighborhood, envisioning ways to move forward, and possibilities for mutual support 

• Training leaders from the neighborhood, along with other members of NAIC, ASA, and F3, in relational meeting and house meeting strategies to facilitate conversations with strangers and to better understand the retrofit programs

• Work with neighborhood and NAIC, ASA, and F3 leaders to knock on doors and initiate conversations about energy needs and barriers, city programs, and community engagement

• Hold “civic academies” in neighborhood institutions (schools, congregations, organizations, etc.) to share more detailed information about the retrofit programs and have more in-depth conversations.

• Throughout this effort, meet regularly with city staff to share feedback, identify changes to the program that might need to be made, and learn more about program details.


If you’re interested in learning more contact Kim Curtis.