Windham partners with GrowSmart Maine to expand energy efficiency initiative

Lead AmericCorps member Grace Sherman is 
eager to partner with Windham as the town grows,
making smart choices in energy efficiency that will
not only benefit the town and the environment, but
the individual's finances as well. A recent graduate
of Wheaton College with a bachelor's degree in
biology, Sherman not only gained experience, but
developed her passion in environmental sustainability
with her job shown here at Save the Bay, a Rhode
Island wet conservation effort.
SUBMITTED PHOTO     
  

By Lorraine Glowczak

The Town of Windham has recently partnered with GrowSmart Maine to work with two Ameri-Corps members from the Maine Energy AmeriCorps Program).

The overall goal is to improve residential energy efficiency and have on the ground actions in weatherization in Windham, with a focus on low-income households. This partnership will last through November 2021.

Lead AmeriCorps member, Grace Sherman will be working closely with the town’s Environmental and Sustainability Coordinator, Gretchen Anderson. Sherman will be assisted by a part-time AmeriCorps member, Phoebe Little.

“The projects that Grace and Phoebe are completing are in conjunction with Windham, Biddeford and GrowSmart,” Anderson said. “They will work directly with municipal staff and other partners to engage residents in tangible work to improve residential energy efficiency. The goal is to have 25 households impacted through work in two communities and the overarching goal is to have on the ground actions in weatherization in Biddeford and Windham, with a focus on low-income households, though all will be welcome to participate.”

According to its website, GrowSmart Maine “works to promote smart growth to give communities choices in how they respond to growth and change.” This includes municipal sustainability efforts as a simple initial strategy to address climate change. It is a goal as well to strengthen long term connections within and beyond the community.”

Sherman, a 2020 graduate of Wheaton College with a bachelor’s degree in biology, has a list of projects already prepared that she, along with Little’s assistance, will be implementing soon. The plans include creating and establishing a community advisory board for Windham and hosting educational events and campaigns to provide public awareness on energy efficiency in the home.

“We will assist homeowners in identifying ways to improve the warmth of their homes, lower heating costs, and reduce CO2 emissions,” Sherman said. “For this project, we will be working with WindowDressers – with the help of community volunteers – to build low-cost insulating window inserts for low-income families.”

Sherman also said they will hold a ‘Green Jobs’ Fair as a way to let both recent graduates and older adults know about all the career possibilities in the environmental sustainability field.

“A few of our other main goals is to get to know and meet people in the community,” Sherman said. “We also hope to educate and spark involvement in a variety of ways. The objective is to go above what is required of us and we hope by doing this, all of our efforts will be carried on by the community once our term and service is over in November.”

To help with their success, the two AmeriCorps members will be actively meeting and reaching out to Windham residents.

“The Town’s hope is the Energy Advisory Committee will provide Grace and Phoebe an introduction to the Windham community and help provide connections to complete these projects and achieve a successful energy efficiency campaign,” Anderson said.

As for the lead AmeriCorps member, Sherman, who is from Rhode Island but spends a few weeks out of the summer in Maine, is not new to the field of environmental sustainability. She said she will rely on past job experiences as she works closely with Windham on their energy efficiency efforts.

“First of all, I have always loved Maine and when this position was offered to me, I was very excited,” Sherman said. “In addition to that, I take climate change and environmental sustainability very seriously and this began with a summer job I had with Save The Bay, a wetland conservation effort in Rhode Island. It was here where I not only gained experience in conservation science but more importantly, this experience is where I developed my interest in the environmental field. This AmeriCorps position will provide for me an opportunity to help people too. Intertwining this outreach work with my passion is more than I could ask for – I am eager to help Windham as the town grows – making smart choices in energy efficiency that will not only benefit the town and the environment, but the individual’s finances as well.”

To learn more about the AmeriCorps efforts or to become involved in the Energy Advisory Committee, contact Grace Sherman at grace.sherman@maine.edu.

To learn more about the WindowDressers organization, visit https://windowdressers.org <