The 2024 Renew America’s Schools Prize and Grant is the second round of funding from the Renew America’s Schools Program. Like the first round – the 2022-23 Renew America’s Schools Grant – this opportunity focused on helping K-12 public school districts across America make energy upgrades to decrease energy use and costs, improve indoor air quality, and foster healthier learning environments. In response to the overwhelming demand for funding in Round 1, Round 2 evolved to make federal dollars go farther, and to provide more school districts access to federal support.
The 2024 Renew America’s Schools Prize and Grant is a $190 million investment from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) which utilizes a three-phase, Prize-to-Cooperative Agreement portfolio model. In Phase 1 – the “Prize Phase” – Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) and strategic partners built dynamic teams with the capacity to bring energy improvement projects to fruition. They identified portfolios of ten or more school facilities with compelling need for improvement, and they outlined processes for project planning and design.
On August 5, 2024, DOE named 21 Winners who earned a $300,000 cash prize for their accomplishments in Phase 1. DOE then identified 16 of those Winners to advance to Phases 2 and 3, inviting them to enter cooperative agreements as Selectees for awards ranging from $7.5 million to $15 million. The 16 Selectees will collaborate with 104 partner organizations to execute projects that will improve more than three times as many buildings as were improved by the 2022-23 Grant (Round 1). This will benefit tens of thousands more students and create significantly more opportunities for energy savings at K-12 schools across the country.
Congratulations to the 16 Selectees and 5 Winners!
Selectees for Prize & Cooperative Agreement:
- Alaska Municipal League & 3 LEAs (AK)
- Canton City School District (OH)
- Charter Schools Development Corporation & 13 LEAs (AZ, GA, IN, MI, MN, MO, NM, NY, NV, OH)
- Irvington Public Schools (NJ)
- Little Rock School District (AR)
- Lowell Public Schools (MA)
- Marion County School District (SC)
- Miami-Dade County Public Schools (FL)
- Omni Energy Partners LLC & 9 LEAs (IL)
- Oregon Department of Education & 7 LEAs (OR)
- Pittsburgh Public Schools & 1 LEA (PA)
- Raza Development Fund, Inc & 11 LEAs (AZ, CA, MN, NM, TX, NY, WA)
- Richmond Public Schools (VA)
- Rockingham County Schools (NC)
- Saint Louis Public Schools (MO)
- Wichita Public Schools (KS)
Prize Winners:
- Broward County Public Schools (FL)
- Chicago Public Schools (IL)
- Hoke County Schools (NC)
- Philadelphia City School District (PA)
- West Kentucky Educational Cooperative (KY)
Selectee Fast Facts
Through strategic partnerships and leveraged funds, Selectees for the Prize and Cooperative Agreement will implement projects with a total value of over $246.3 million, adding more than 30% to DOE’s $190 million investment.
Selectees for Prize and Cooperative Agreement will…
- Create healthier learning spaces at 320 school facilities across 25 states – more than 3x as many facilities as Round 1;
- Generate operational cost savings so that school districts can redirect funds to core educational initiatives; and
- Directly benefit over 123,500 students and 9,100 teachers.
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