 In 2009, the Community Action Partnership of Central Illinois
weatherized 92 homes in DeWitt, Logan, Mason, Menard and Piatt
counties. This year, with the addition of American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act funds, the agency was able to weatherize 223 homes
across the five-county service area."We are very proud of our
work to weatherize and create a long-term benefit for low-income
families in our service area," said Angela Stoltzenburg, executive
director.
Overall, members of the Illinois Association of Community Action
Agencies created and retained more than 500 Illinois jobs, according
to its
report "Keeping the Promise: Weatherizing Homes, Creating Green
Jobs, Helping Families," released Tuesday. The new jobs were added
by the state and Community Action member agencies to operate the
Weatherization Assistance Program and increase the number of
contractors and crews weatherizing homes.
For 30 years the Illinois Association of Community Action
Agencies and its members have been pioneers of green work through
the weatherization program. Typical weatherization services include
installing insulation, sealing ducts and replacing furnaces, windows
or doors.
"We are creating green jobs, improving the energy efficiency of
homes and helping low-income families reduce their energy costs
because of the Weatherization Assistance Program," said Dalitso
Sulamoyo, president and CEO of the Illinois Association of Community
Action Agencies. "Weatherization helps households, on average, save
$437 per year on utility bills."
The energy conservation from weatherization helps the U.S. reduce
its dependency on foreign oil. According to the U.S. Department of
Energy website, "weatherization reduces national energy demand by
the equivalent of 17.9 million barrels of oil each year."
Weatherization also is good for the environment. Weatherization
reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 2.65 metric tons per home per
year.
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Community Action agencies throughout Illinois spent almost $43
million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds to
weatherize homes last year, but the work of Community Action is not
done. There are still many more families that need assistance in
these economically troubled times. Illinois received $240 million
from ARRA over a three-year period to expand the weatherization
program. With two years of ARRA-funded weatherization work to
complete, IACCA member agencies are aggressively pursuing their
goals to weatherize even more homes in their communities.
____
The Community Action Partnership of Central Illinois is a
private, nonprofit organization serving DeWitt, Fulton, Logan, Mason
and Menard counties with a variety of programs. For more
information, visit www.capcil.org.
The Illinois Association of Community Action Agencies is a
membership organization that serves as the network for Illinois
not-for-profit corporations and units of government that strive to
raise the health, education and economic standards of Illinois'
low-income population. For more information, visit
www.iacaanet.org.
[Text from file received from
Community Action Partnership of
Central Illinois]
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