Emerald Cities Collaborative (ECC) is a national

non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

based in Washington, D.C. with affiliate offices in Boston, Los Angeles, New York, Oakland, San Francisco and Seattle. Founded in 2009, Emerald Cities has the stated goal of creating "high-road" local economies that are sustainable, just and inclusive. The collaborative comprises more than 21 national organizations and focuses on

retrofitting Retrofitting is the addition of new technology or features to older systems. Retrofits can happen for a number of reasons, for example with big capital expenditures like naval vessels, military equipment or manufacturing plants, businesses or go ...

urban building stock, developing infrastructure, and promoting diverse local economies built around energy efficiency.

Services

Emerald Cities runs a number of programs oriented towards

sustainability Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livin ...

and

energy efficiency Energy efficiency may refer to: * Energy efficiency (physics), the ratio between the useful output and input of an energy conversion process ** Electrical efficiency, useful power output per electrical power consumed ** Mechanical efficiency, a ra ...

, including the RENEW Multi-family Program, the Community College Initiative, and an online training program for small and minority contractors on energy efficiency and renewable energy retrofitting. The organization also engages in

workforce development Workforce development, an American approach to economic development, attempts to enhance a region's economic stability and prosperity by focusing on people rather than businesses. It essentially develops a human-resources strategy. Work-force de ...

, providing labor-community partnerships, training programs, and career pipelines to pair qualified individuals with

green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 Nanometre, nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by ...

jobs. These programs include the Architecture, Construction and Engineering Students (ACES) Pathway Program and Skills Build us, a construction apprenticeship assistance program and a contractor academy for minority businesses in Boston. Additionally, Emerald Cities advocates locally and nationally for policy supporting efficient infrastructure and contracting that includes minority-owned businesses.

Chapters

The Emerald Cities Collaborative has chapters in the following cities: *

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

Board

* Bronze Investments *

Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO North America's Building Trades Unions (NABTU) is a labor federation of 14 North American unions in the building trade, founded by the American Federation of Labor in 1907. History North America's Building Trades Unions was founded by the American ...

* On Wisconsin Strategy * Community Action Partnership * The Corps Network * Council of Large Public Housing Authorities *

Enterprise Community Partners Enterprise Community Partners, formerly The Enterprise Foundation, is a national nonprofit organized around three central goals: to increase housing supply, advance racial equity and build resilience and upward mobility. Founded in 1982 by devel ...

* Green For All *

International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) is a labor union that represents approximately 775,000 workers and retirees in the electrical industry in the United States, Canada, Guam, Panama, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Island ...

International Union of Painters and Allied Trades The International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) is a union representing about 100,000 Painter and decorator, painters, glaziers, wallpaper, wall coverers, flooring, flooring installers, convention and trade fair, trade show decorators ...

* Laborer International Union of North America * The Local Initiatives Support Corporation * MIT Community Innovators Lab *

NeighborWorks America The Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation, doing business as NeighborWorks America, is a congressionally chartered nonprofit organization that supports community development in the United States and Puerto Rico. The organization provides grant ...

* Partnership For Working Families *

PolicyLink PolicyLink is a national research and action institute dedicated to advancing economic and social equity. It focuses on policies affecting low-income communities and communities of color. It is a nonprofit organization based in Oakland, California, ...

United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters
*

YouthBuild USA YouthBuild is a non-profit organization which on a voluntary basis provides education, counseling and job skills to unemployed young American adults (between ages 16 and 24), generally high school dropouts. There are 273 YouthBuild programs in t ...

Affiliates

Donors

Donors to the Emerald Cities Collaborative include: * Annie E. Casey Foundation *

Atlantic Philanthropies The Atlantic Philanthropies (AP) was a private foundation created in 1982 by Irish-American businessman Chuck Feeney. The Atlantic Philanthropies focused its giving on health, social, and politically left-leaning public policy causes in Austral ...

Nathan Cummings Foundation The Nathan Cummings Foundation was endowed by Nathan Cummings (1896–1985), founder of Consolidated Foods, later renamed Sara Lee. Cummings was also a prominent art collector and supporter of Jewish causes. In his lifetime, Cummings made c ...

* The Joyce Foundation * The Kendeda Fund *

The Kresge Foundation The Kresge Foundation is a philanthropic private foundation headquartered in Troy, Michigan, United States. The foundation works to expand opportunities in America's cities through grantmaking and investing in arts and culture, education, envi ...

* Living Cities *

The Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America, after the Carneg ...

Surdna Foundation The Surdna Foundation was established as a charitable foundation in 1917 by John Emory Andrus to pursue a range of philanthropic purposes. History A devoted family man with nine children, Andrus founded the Julia Dyckman Andrus Memorial in 1928 ...

Partner organizations

* AFL-CIO Center for Green Jobs * Building Futures * C-Change Investments * California Construction Academy *

Change to Win Federation The Strategic Organizing Center (SOC), formerly known as the Change to Win Federation (CtW) is a coalition of North American labor unions originally formed in 2005 as an alternative to the AFL–CIO. The coalition is associated with strong advoca ...

* Civic Ventures * DC Project * Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice * KGS Buildings, LLC *

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.& ...

* Pantheon Properties * PA State Representative John Siptroth *

United Steelworkers The United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union, commonly known as the United Steelworkers (USW), is a general trade union with members across North America. Headquar ...

US Green Building Council The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), co-founded by Mike Italiano, David Gottfried and Rick Fedrizzi in 1993, is a private 501(c)3, membership-based non-profit organization that promotes sustainability in building design, construction, and op ...

Wider Opportunities for Women Wider Opportunities for Women (WOW) is a national nonprofit organization in the United States established in 1962 by Jane Fleming and Mary Janney in Washington, D.C. History In its early days, WOW received much of its support from women in key g ...

References

{{Reflist
Emerald Cities Seattle Demonstrating Sustainable Affordable Housing Through Energy Efficiency , KPLU News for Seattle and the Northwest

* cleveland.com
More Than a Drafting Error: Why Scott Walker Is Wrong
Non-profit organizations based in Washington, D.C. Democracy activists