Achievements

In 2010, the Apollo Alliance marked these achievements:

Calling for a national Transportation Manufacturing Action Plan that creates good jobs and increases investment in public transit and cleaner freight movement. In 2010, Apollo convened a group of high-level business, labor and environmental leaders, and transportation and manufacturing policy experts to develop recommendations for a clean energy transportation policy that will create good American manufacturing jobs while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and U.S. dependence on foreign oil. Based on input from this task force, Apollo is calling for large-scale investment in public transit coupled with strong “Make it in America” policies to ensure U.S. job creation.

Making the economic case for federal climate and clean energy measures. Apollo is mobilizing its diverse coalition across the nation in support of clean energy measures like those called for in our New Apollo Program — a comprehensive national economic strategy to build America’s 21st century clean energy, good jobs economy. The New Apollo Program calls for capping carbon emissions; greater commercial and residential energy efficiency; public transit improvements; modernization of the power grid; support for clean energy manufacturing; investments in clean energy research and development, and investing in America’s clean energy future. This program has been endorsed by more than 70 labor unions, environmental groups, businesses and social justice organizations.

Investing in domestic clean energy manufacturing. Apollo supports the Investments for Manufacturing Progress and Clean Technology (IMPACT) Act as proposed by Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio. The IMPACT Act would authorize $30 billion to establish state-level revolving loan funds to help small and medium-sized manufacturers retrain workers, retool facilities for clean energy production and become more energy efficient.

Clean Energy Victories Across America

California: Released the California Apollo Program, a plan for keeping and creating clean energy jobs in the state. The central tenet of this program is successful implementation of the state’s landmark global warming law and it provides a roadmap for policymakers for years to come to build on the incentives that this law provides.

Colorado: The Colorado Senate approved a measure to increase Colorado’s Renewable Energy Standard (RES) to 30%. Members of the Colorado Apollo Alliance played key roles in crafting the bill and ensuring its passage through the Colorado legislature.

Los Angeles: LA Apollo developed and passed a Green Jobs Ordinance to retrofit city buildings and train local, low-income and underemployed workers for the retrofitting jobs. At the close of 2010, the first class of trainees graduated and are prepared begin the big job of retrofitting 1000 city-owned buildings.

Ohio: Last year, Apollo’s Ohio coordinator testified on behalf of the state’s Advanced Energy Fund (AEF) which supports the development of renewable and advanced energy projects. Recently, the Ohio state legislature voted to maintain this critical program.

Missouri: In July, Missouri‘s Governor signed PACE-enabling legislation into law. PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy) provides a mechanism for upfront financing of energy efficiency retrofits of both residential and commercial buildings. Missouri Apollo worked with local municipalities, particularly St. Louis and Kansas City, and its own constituencies to identify best practices for an effective implementation of the PACE program.

Oakland: The city of Oakland is working to reduce greenhouse gases to 36 percent below the 2005 level by 2020 and shift toward a more energy efficient, clean energy economy. As the city charts a path toward a greener future, the Oakland Apollo Alliance is making sure that opportunities for underserved communities are a central part of the plan.

Oregon: Oregon Apollo helped pass and implement Clean Energy Works Portland, which is a groundbreaking new program that enables Portland residents to improve the energy efficiency of their homes and pay for the improvements over time through their utility bills. Over the course of three years this program will create 1,300 good green jobs in the city of Portland.

Massachusetts: The Massachusetts Apollo chapter, Green Justice Coalition, spearheaded the campaign to bring equity and economic development into the state’s three-year utility plans as the Energy Efficiency Advisory Council, a body created by Massachusetts’s Green Communities Act of 2008, developed long-term goals for increasing energy efficiency throughout the state. MA Apollo also worked for commitments from utilities to develop pilot training projects for weatherization work.

In 2009, the Apollo Alliance marked these achievements:

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. In February 2009 Congress approved and President Barack Obama signed the breakthrough clean energy and green-collar jobs provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The $787 billion stimulus legislation that President Obama signed in a Denver museum partially powered by a rooftop solar array contains $86 billion in clean energy and green-collar job programs, plus $27.5 billion in road and highway construction funds, much of which state transportation departments will use to repair infrastructure and not on building new highways. As Apollo noted since the package was introduced on January 15, the provisions that formed a big part of the foundation of the stimulus was funding to build new transit and high speed rail lines, weatherize homes, develop next generation batteries for clean vehicles, scale up wind and solar power, build a modern electric grid, and train a new generation of green-collar workers. In every way, the clean energy provisions of the stimulus bill are a surpassing achievement.

The magnitude of the investment and the bill’s comprehensive sweep reflect the unleashing of a pent-up demand for a new way to power and employ America — $17.7 billion for rail development, $34 billion for energy efficiency, $7.9 billion for renewable energy, $10.9 billion for a smart electric grid, $3.3 billion for next generation batteries and alternative fuel vehicles, $4.5 billion for energy research. The clean energy focus of the stimulus was inspired by the Apollo Alliance’s vision, and the specific content of many of the bill’s provisions was influenced by policy proposals that the Apollo Alliance made last year in The New Apollo Program and the Apollo Economic Recovery Act. “The recovery bill represents the focused work of labor, business, environmental and social justice organizations who developed a clear strategy about where the nation needed to go, and worked together to achieve it,” said Phil Angelides, former California treasurer and chairman of the Apollo Alliance. As Senator Harry Reid, the Senate Majority Leader, noted in a statement. “We’ve talked about moving forward on these ideas for decades. The Apollo Alliance has been an important factor in helping us develop and execute a strategy that makes great progress on these goals and in motivating the public to support them.”

In 2008, the Apollo Alliance marked these achievements:

New Apollo Program In October 2008 The Apollo Alliance held town hall meetings in six states to introduce The New Apollo Program, a comprehensive national economic strategy founded on the principles of clean energy and good jobs. The carefully constructed plan calls for investing $500 billion over the next ten years on specific steps for generating clean power, improving energy conservation and efficiency, cutting energy bills, restoring America’s technological and industrial preeminence, and creating 5 million high-quality jobs. Culminating a year of intensive research, The New Apollo Program charts a path to new prosperity through an American landscape buffeted by high energy prices, stagnant wages, widespread foreclosures, institutional collapses, and dangerously warming temperatures.

The New Apollo Program sets out specific steps the nation must take to scale up and accelerate the development of the clean energy, good jobs economy. The publication of the national economic development strategy was supported by the most comprehensive and sophisticated communications and dissemination strategy in the organization’s history. The pieces included the publication and printing of a 24-page full color strategy and a 4-page full color summary, reporting 12 signature stories from across the country that illustrate the dimensions of the clean energy, good jobs economy, the development of an interactive online map that features the 12 articles, and recruiting mainstream and new media attention to the strategy.

The Alliance also held a high-profile event at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, which attracted over 400 guests. And we marketed the strategy at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn.

Apollo Economic Recovery Act Introduced in December, the Apollo Economic Recovery Act was a first year down payment on building a clean energy, good jobs “made in America” economy as envisioned in The New Apollo Program. Just as important, it was intended as an immediate shot in the arm to boost America’s economy. The Apollo Alliance saw the proposal as a highly visible policy step to support American businesses and workers so that they can set their feet firmly on the path to the new clean energy economy. Coupled with other stimulus measures being considered by the President-elect and Congress, the Apollo Economic Recovery Act would provide e a critical jolt to America’s economy by investing approximately $50 billion to immediately create or retain over 650,000 direct jobs, and an additional 1.3 million indirect jobs in communities across the country. The Apollo Economic Recovery Act also would provide training for at least 300,000 more Americans to participate in the clean energy economy through workforce development, apprenticeship, service and education programs.

Green-Collar Jobs In America’s Cities In 2008, the Apollo Alliance published another major report: Green-Collar Jobs in America’s Cities. Published in March, the report identified the growth of training programs across the United States and set out specific steps cities can take to develop new ways to train the next generation of green-collar workers. The report was supported by an on and offline news release, a news conference in Pittsburgh, several events that explored the report’s findings. The Alliance has published has distributed 25,000 copies of the print report. It’s been downloaded more than 10,000 times from the Web site, and has prompted dozens of media interviews since publication.

Newark’s Green Future Summit Held on September 12-13, 2008, Newark’s Green Future Summit was the first time a predominantly African American city decided to comprehensively pursue a new development strategy based on clean energy and creating green-collar jobs. The summit, which the Apollo Alliance and the City of Newark planned and organized in collaboration with a number of other national and local organizations, heard from many of the top national experts in sustainable development. The summit’s intent: Helping Newark transform itself into a national showcase of how to solve poverty and joblessness, respond to serious public health concerns, and engage new business activity around energy-efficient, resource-conserving, and pollution-reducing tools, equipment, and practices. First announced in September 2007 at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York, the summit reflected Mayor Cory Booker’s commitment to executing some of the green development strategies that have proven to work in other cities.The communications and dissemination strategy that the Apollo Alliance deployed prior to, during, and after the summit were:

1.    Organizing and holding the two-day event at the New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark, and attracting more than 300 participants.

2.   An on and offline news advisory and a separate news release, prepared in collaboration with Newark’s public affairs officers, that was disseminated to new and mainstream media, and attracted strong broadcast and print coverage.

3.   Apollo Alliance reporting and videotaping of the event, posted on the Apollo Web site on a dedicated Green Future Summit page.

4.   Continuing coverage of follow-up activities on the Apollo Weekly Update and Apollo Blog.

Washington State Climate Action and Green Jobs Act
In March 2008 Governor Christine Gregoire signed the first statewide legislation to link global warming solutions with opportunities to invest in workforce development in the growing clean energy sector. The Washington State Apollo Alliance was instrumental in galvanizing support for the new statute.

Communications
In an era marked by the declining ability and interest of the mainstream media to tackle complex issues, the Apollo Alliance understands the imperative of telling its own story. In doing so, principally online, but also in mainstream articles and broadcasts that feature our work, and a series of our own print reports and well-attended public events, Apollo is reaching a large national audience of citizens and decision makers. We also are simultaneously framing the various facets of the clean energy, good jobs economy for the new and mainstream media.

Quoted Often and At Length
Evidence of our ability to be seen and heard is readily apparent. Apollo’s board, staff, and supporters, as well as our online articles, videos, and features have become credible and prominent source of news and commentary in the mainstream and new media. The Apollo Alliance is among the most quoted, cited, and featured progressive policy organizations in the nation.

Web Site
The Apollo Alliance Web site is the organization’s principal tool for accomplishing multiple communications objectives. The Apollo Web site, recently redesigned to be more graphically interesting and easier to manage, attracts 90,000 visitors and more than 200,000 page views monthly. Both figures are triple what they were in February 2008. The Apollo Web site features these online assets:

1.      Apollo Weekly Update: An email-alert to as many as 82,000 supporters nationally, and generally opened by 25 to 30 percent of recipients weekly.

2.     Apollo Daily Digest: A succinct and topical compendium of news, commentary, events, items of interest to people interested in developments in the clean energy, good jobs sector. Posted on the home page and emailed daily to a growing list of subscribers.

3.     Apollo Blog: Regular publication of events, items, and news of interest with an Apollo perspective.

4.     Facts and Figures: Succinct compendium of current facts about specific facets of the clean energy, good jobs economy. Recent Data Points include details of clean energy job numbers and where they exist, investment patterns in clean energy sectors, and transportation spending.

5.     Rapid Response Talking Points: Facts and perspective from the Apollo Alliance to partners, news media, policy makers intended to reply quickly to breaking news events, disseminated in email alerts, to media and Alliance partners, and posted on the Apollo Blog.

6.    Original reporting, commentary, signature stories: Text pieces, accompanied by photographs, produced by staff and freelance writers, that disclose new facts, faces, and places in support of the clean energy, good jobs message. Generally posted once a week to the home page.

7.     Apollo Productions: Multi-media, videos, Power Points, sound slides, interactive maps, motion graphics that are produced by Apollo for dissemination on and offline, supporting speakers and events.

8.    Apollo Feedback: Dispatches from Apollo supporters posted once weekly to the Web site in a letter to the editor format.

Online Engagement
Apollo actively engages its supporters and partners with email and other action tools. We send a Weekly Update of our activity to the Apollo email list that numbers up to 100,000 addresses nationally. In addition we directly engage our supporters with appeals for direct action to alert policy makers, to sign petitions, to secure funding, and for other directives and appeals. One important outcome for Apollo is the ability to sign up new members of our coalition. This year alone we have added thousands of new supporters who are involved and regularly participate in our clean energy, good jobs campaign.