Projects

Upright is leading a collaboration with leading organizations to address legal challenges to race-conscious climate policies. Through field and network building, resource creation, research, facilitation, and concerning, we are supporting movements working towards racial and climate justice.

Upright partnered with Greenlink Analytics to launch GEM (the Greenlink Equity Map) and publish the Process Guide for City-Community Collaboration. Our focus was on combining data and lived experience, analytics and relationships, to guide decision-making on climate equity at the local level. We set up a community of practice for people working on these issues and trained staff managers.

In San Jose, California, Upright and the Building Electrification Institute designed a co-creation process to center the concerns and priorities of communities of color in the City’s long-term building electrification plan. We guided city staff through a process to prepare to be good partners with the community. We secured funding for two community-based organizations from the Latinx and Vietnamese communities to work alongside city staff to develop the Electrify San José: Framework for Existing Building Electrification, which was adopted by the City Council.

Upright convened experts from city governments, community-based organizations, and climate equity organizations to publish “Equity and Buildings: A Practice Framework for Local Government Decision Makers.” We organized a biannual, four-part workshop series for local government leaders to hone their own local strategies, using the Framework as a guide. Graduates of the workshop series continue to participate in peer consultancies and one-on-one coaching sessions with Upright consultants.

Upright was asked to write a report about the equity impacts and opportunities related to local energy benchmarking policies for buildings. We convened dozens of practitioners at different stages of work on building benchmarking policies. Together we explored the issues, identified promising practices, drafted and published the report, Incorporating Equity Into Energy Benchmarking Requirements: Guidance For Policy And Program Practitioners.

Upright helped the Greenlining Institute and Forth partner to launch a multi-state community of practice – TEEM (Towards Equitable Electric Mobility) –  that brings together mainstream organizations and frontline organizations to build capacity and collaborate on state policies and demonstration projects that advance racial equity in electric mobility and climate programs. Upright helped design the community of practice and train community-of-practice managers at both organizations. We now  provide ongoing support to the multi-year effort and the core partnerships.

Upright designed and managed a groundbreaking approach to bring City staff and frontline community leaders together in a long-term partnership. The City worked intensively with community leaders on policy, programs, and broader community engagement. Traditional approaches created a “missing middle” for compensated relationships with community leaders that were not set up to navigate the City’s complicated contracting process. Upright designed a RFQ process and managed a set of subcontracting relationships that resulted in several community leaders working alongside staff as professional consultants, making $100 per hour for their unique expertise.

Upright organized a learning series on economic inclusion for the 25 large cities participating in Bloomberg Philanthropies’ American Cities Climate Challenge. In addition to convening experts, curating resources, producing curriculum and providing direct support to cities, Upright led a discovery project to identify key steps cities need to take to integrate economic inclusion into their climate action and the actions philanthropies can take to support them.

After contributing to the development of a shared accountability framework to help local governments and communities track progress on climate commitments, Upright helped the Sierra Club design a community of practice for users of the framework to share strategies and experiences.

The Gates Foundation's Economic Mobility and Opportunity program. Upright is working with Delivery Associates to design a concierge service for local government staff looking for reports, frameworks, examples, resources, connections that will help them alleviate poverty. 

Upright is providing technical assistance and facilitation support for a $5 million U.S. DOE-funded project focused on equitable building decarbonization across seven jurisdictions. Working with Facilitating Power, we are using the Spectrum of Community Engagement to Ownership to strengthen city-community collaboration, ensuring that community-based organizations have meaningful, empowered roles in shaping policy and programs.

Upright facilitated the Community of Practice for the Climate Resilient and Equitable Water Systems (CREWS) initiative, convening over 30 organizations working to address storm and flood impacts on low-income communities. Through strategic capacity building and peer learning, we helped participants develop equitable climate resilience strategies.

Upright co-lead a Community of Practice for the Marin Community Foundation’s Climate Justice Initiative grantees. Through in-person convenings, virtual meetings, and technical assistance, Upright supported collaborative learning, relationship-building, and developed shared goals to advance climate justice and resilience in Marin County.

Upright supported NRDC in designing and conducting a needs assessment to explore transportation equity issues across Georgia, encompassing both rural and urban areas. We developed interview questions, conducted interviews with eight organizations, and synthesized key takeaways and themes. Upright also provided guidance on relationship management and effective communication strategies, helping NRDC understand the diverse equity needs and priorities within the state.

Upright reviewed Portland’s waste and recycling franchise agreements to improve economic access for minority- and women-owned businesses. Through interviews with haulers, recyclers, business associations, workforce providers, and regulators, we developed equity-focused recommendations. Upright then worked with stakeholders and city staff to prepare final recommendations for City Council.