Friends of Flagstaff’s Future — Coalition for Energy Retrofits & Remembering Jack Welch

Community Engagement Coalition
for Energy Retrofits

The City Sustainability Office will soon be launching the Flagstaff Home Energy Retrofit Program with a substantial grant award. The program provides home energy retrofits to low income residents, helping them reduce energy costs, increase the comfort of their homes, strengthen community participation towards greater climate resilience, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to our community’s Carbon Neutrality Plan.

The City cannot do this alone; they need civil society to organize. We think it is an incredible opportunity. So, in collaboration with the City, we formed the Community Engagement Coalition for Energy Retrofits. F3, Northern Arizona Interfaith Council, and the Arizona Students’ Association will engage and inform target neighborhoods, going door to door, holding house meetings to listen to needs, barriers and possibilities, and connecting interested renters and low income homeowners to the city’s program.  

The Coalition’s work requires the participation of committed volunteer community members. Please consider joining this effort and connecting with your neighbors across the city.
The Coalition is providing two free bilingual community workshops with a focus on building skills of relationship-building across experiences of difference.

The first workshop will allow participants to practice one-on-one meetings that can be used in different organizing contexts to connect with our neighbors. This workshop is the first half of a two-part series that will prepare participants to discuss climate resilience and opportunities for reduced-cost home energy retrofits for low income residents.
Workshop #1 will be held on Sunday, September 17th, 3:00-5:00 pm. F3 has a goal to recruit 10 readers of this newsletter to attend the workshop!

The second workshop will focus on door knocking and holding house meetings, and will build upon skills previously learned. Thus attendance at the second workshop is contingent upon attendance at the first workshop.The second workshop is tentatively scheduled for Sunday, October 1, 3-5pm -OR- Wednesday, October 4, 5:30-7:30pm.

If you’re interested in attending the workshop and/or learning more about the Coalition’s climate work, please contact Kim Curtis at KCurtis@friendsofflagstaff.org or Michele James at MJames@friendsofflagstaff.org. We will give you further details, including the workshop location.

Remembering Jack Welch

Kristen Iwai, a local photographer who took the picture above, got to know Jack years ago through his weekly newspaper column and then she meet him at one of his many community events. Kristen later interviewed Jack and photographed him in an attempt to capture his energy and commitment to our community.
To see more photos and read Kristen’s entire essay, visit her blog here. The following is an excerpt from her essay.

“I think he was nothing short of heroic, but he would wave me away for saying anything along those lines. He was humble to a fault, minimizing his accomplishments and contributions. He’d stepped back as he’d gotten older, he said, because “People don’t listen to you anymore.” He didn’t seem to mind. “Younger people need to find their niche. I’m OK with moving aside to work on something else.”
An informal celebration of life, and a walk with Jack’s friends, will take place on Thursday, September 7th, 4:00-7:00 pm at Buffalo Park. Additional information is available here.
Michele James
Executive Director

A NO vote on Proposition 480 prevents the rezoning and Northern Arizona Healthcare’s plan to build a new hospital on the outskirts of town.

F3 believes renovation and expansion of the existing hospital campus are viable options that must be considered. In 2019, NAH announced their intent to do just this: renovate and update the existing hospital, and expand their services, for $300 million (New Era Strategic Plan).

F3 believes there are a host of viable solutions to providing healthcare to our region that ought to be given serious consideration. A No vote on Prop 480 gives Flagstaff citizens and NAH time to explore practical options that do not involve a new $800 million greenfield building at the edge of town accompanied by mega commercial development of an adjacent “healthcare village” as proposed by NAH.

We seek accountability and transparency from our local leaders through meeting with city staff, council members, and community organizations, following and participating in local and regional planning, and communicating what we learn to our members and the public.

We encourage you to join F3 ‘s 400+ members if you’re not yet a member. We gain strength with more members. Help F3 do important work in the Flagstaff community!

Information about our Executive Director, Board of Directors, and
Advisory Board can be found here.