§ 1894. Competitive grants for outreach, enrollment and related
services. 1. The authority shall issue one or more program opportunity
notices or requests for proposals to solicit applications from
partnerships or consortia comprised of constituency-based organizations
which can connect community members to the program, including
facilitating awareness of the program and enrollment, and (a)
distribution utilities, (b) contractors that have signed enforceable
agreements to meet standards set by the authority, including standards
for local hiring and pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship and other
labor-management training program participation, (c) workforce
development organizations that will recruit unemployed individuals, and
provide training and job placement in conjunction with contractors
pursuant to section eighteen hundred ninety-seven of this title; and/or
(d) organized trades and their certification or apprenticeship programs.
The authority shall specifically solicit applications that propose to
demonstrate the feasibility of innovative financing mechanisms,
including but not limited to applications undertaken in partnership with
distribution utilities that propose to demonstrate the feasibility of
on-bill financing. The public service commission and other appropriate
agencies are authorized to coordinate with the authority and applicants
in developing and implementing proposed demonstrations of innovative
financing mechanisms.

2. In awarding grants, the authority shall:

(a) target communities in areas where energy costs are particularly
high in relation to a measure of median household income as determined
by the authority; or which have been designated as a nonattainment area
for one or more pollutants pursuant to section 107 of the federal Clean
Air Act (42 U.S.C. section 4207);

(b) give preference in awards to applicants that include significant
participation by minority and women owned business enterprises and/or to
applications to serve economically distressed communities;

(c) ensure that the awards as a whole reflect the geographic diversity
of the state; and

(d) award a sufficient number of grants to make it possible to fully
commit the resources allocated during the initial phase of the program.

3. (a) The authority is authorized to consult with the department of
public service, the division of housing and community renewal, the
department of labor and the department of environmental conservation, as
appropriate, in making any determinations contemplated by this section.

(b) The authority shall consult with representatives of businesses who
provide home heating oil, propane and other petroleum-based heating
products to develop innovative financing mechanisms for energy
efficiency retrofits.

(c) The authority shall consult with the division of housing and
community renewal and the council established pursuant to section
eighteen hundred ninety-eight of this title to develop strategies to
mitigate any adverse economic impact of the program on tenants,
including but not limited to residents of in rent-regulated housing or
recipients of housing subsidies.

4. Any organization using funding provided under the program for
marketing or other outreach activities shall not commingle such
marketing or outreach activities with any other advocacy or policy
promotion efforts.