Our Work
BuildUS is an effort by a broad group of philanthropies to help build a stronger, cleaner, fairer economy. With an initial commitment of more than $50 million over the next three years, BuildUS focuses on four areas of work:
Expanding state and local access to federal investments.
In Calhoun County, West Virginia, local officials installed solar panels on school buildings, lowering their utility bills while also training students in solar installation through an on-site apprenticeship program. In Milwaukee, Wisconsin and the state of Oregon, local officials and trade unions are investing in programs to support tradeswomen and apprentices with childcare assistance, enabling more families earn a living in the trades. Pennsylvania will soon provide 33,000 households in the state with clean power, using $250 million from the Inflation Reduction Act to develop solar infrastructure.
But designing and delivering projects like these isn’t easy, and there are too many communities that won’t get there without some help. That’s why BuildUS is prioritizing technical assistance to regions that have significant untapped federal dollars available to them.
Prioritizing workers in the clean energy transition.
BuildUS seeks to create not just more jobs for America’s workers, but better jobs. We support grantees encouraging the creation of high-quality, green jobs, and advancing workers’ economic power and interests.
That means investing in campaigns to decarbonize public buildings through unionized labor; supporting those working to secure more project labor agreements across the emerging ‘Battery Belt’; investing in apprenticeship programs to grow the workforce that will retrofit homes and lower utility bills across the country; and more.
Addressing bottlenecks and scaling climate solutions.
The scale of what needs building — from 40,000+ miles of new transmission lines, to mines capable of supplying the U.S. with hundreds of thousands of new tonnes of critical minerals per year — is staggering. To get there, communities need complementary investments that lift up the most promising solutions and remove barriers that slow progress.
BuildUS works closely with partners to scout and scale innovative climate solutions, with a focus on projects by and for communities of color and rural communities — like making it easier for low-income school districts to purchase electric school buses or solar, with the savings directed toward teachers’ pay or essential local services.
Communicating and engaging at the local, state, and federal levels.
For these investments to reach their fullest potential, people have to know the opportunity is on the table. BuildUS works with a range of partners to inform the public, media, and decision-makers about how these investments will impact their communities.
The goal is to ensure that Americans see and feel the results of public dollars going into their backyards.
