Mandela Barnes wants to make “sustainable attainable.”
As the president of Forward Together Wisconsin, or FTW, a nonpartisan nonprofit, Barnes helps residents and businesses tap into federal funding from the Inflation Reduction Act to green Wisconsin communities.
On the latest Plugged In with ImpactAlpha’s Sherrell Dorsey, Barnes emphasized the historic opportunity to create cleaner, healthier communities while also driving economic opportunity and savings in underserved areas across the state.
Watch the full conversation on LinkedIn.
But, he pointed out, much of the benefits come on the back end, as tax credits or reimbursements, “which means that lower income homeowners, lower income renters, have fewer opportunities to take advantage of this abundance of resources out there.”
In addition, many residents are not even aware that the funding exists.
Barnes and his team at FTW are addressing that challenge by working with nonprofits and government to get the word out, helping Tribal communities submit grant applications, and going door-to-door to educate homeowners and businesses about the incentives they can take advantage of to begin saving money on their energy bills, like free heat pumps or home energy assessments.
“It’s important to have navigators who are going to be able to equitably disperse those resources,” he says.
Kitchen table issues
Barnes has a long history of work in Wisconsin. He served as Lieutenant Governor from 2019 to 2023, during which he led the state’s climate change task force. In that role, he united a diverse coalition of people impacted by climate change who had often been excluded from the conversation.
“Unfortunately, so many people who are impacted don’t even realize that climate change is the thing to blame for so many issues that they’re dealing with,” he said. Barnes noted the intensifying cold snaps in Wisconsin and the 100+ days of temperatures over 100 degrees in Phoenix, where he joined the conversation from.
Addressing those climate-related costs and the growing energy burden on lower income residents are issues that resonate with everyday residents. These concerns should be central to the narrative, he says, showing how IRA funding can directly improve people’s lives and save them money in the long run.
“This work is incredibly important in bridging a gap that exists, whether it’s connecting people to policy or just connecting people to sustainability in an effort to help improve quality of life,” said Barnes.
Green jobs
He also touched on the importance of workforce development as clean energy expands and jobs are created. By ensuring these initiatives reach every corner of the state, Barnes believes Wisconsin can become a model for other states in building an inclusive, sustainable economy.
“I see this work as an extension of my work on the climate change Task Force, and now I see this organization as the one that will lead Wisconsin into the clean energy future, that will create opportunities for folks, regardless of their zip code, and will create jobs for the next generation and the generations yet to come,” he said.
“And we’re going to do this in the most inclusive and equitable way possible.”FTW is bringing together local and national stakeholders on October 9-10 to celebrate IRA successes, share information on accessing federal climate funding, and mobilize action to keep funding flowing into Wisconsin. (Learn more and register to attend here).
