President Joe Biden announced $7 billion in federal grants for residential solar projects serving low- and middle-income communities. The grants are being awarded by the Environmental Protection Agency, which unveiled the 60 recipients on Monday. The projects are expected to eventually reduce emissions by the equivalent of 30 million metric tons of carbon dioxide and save households $350 million annually, according to senior administration officials.
Biden also announced an expansion of his New Deal-style American Climate Corps green jobs training program. Nearly 2,000 corps positions are being offered across 36 states, including jobs offered in partnership with the North American Building Trades Unions. The program aims to provide pathways to middle-class-supporting careers and improve the quality of life for participants.
The grants and program expansion come as Biden works to energize young voters for his reelection campaign. Young people were a key part of the coalition that helped him defeat then-President Donald Trump in 2020. Senior administration officials said young Americans are keenly invested in the Biden climate agenda and want to help enact it.
The announcement was made at northern Virginia’s Prince William Forest Park, which was established in 1936 as a summer camp for underprivileged youth from Washington. Biden used executive action last year to create the American Climate Corps modeled on Roosevelt’s New Deal.
The awards came from the Solar for All program, part of the $27 billion “green bank” created as part of a sweeping climate law passed in 2022. The bank is intended to reduce climate and air pollution and send money to neighborhoods most in need, especially disadvantaged and low-income communities disproportionately impacted by climate change.
