Courtney Koslow — File 26-1088

Please select the top three areas in which you have working knowledge, strong interest, and/or experience: Buildings Municipal and School Operations Somerville Community-Based Organizations or Advocacy Groups Statement of Interest: I am pleased to submit my application to the Somerville Climate Action Commission. It has been my pleasure to serve as a Commissioner on the CEUCC and iCAC for the past three years and I would be honored to be able to continue to serve in that role. My wife and I have lived in Somerville for the past twenty-seven years and we have watched our wonderful city grow, thrive and change. As a passionate, long-time climate activist and engaged community member, I am so proud to be an active part of this vibrant and engaged community that is consistently paving the way locally, regionally and nationally. Having worked professionally as an affordable housing developer and policy advocate in Somerville and throughout Massachusetts for over 20 years, I have been able to apply my passion for climate, social and economic justice to provide quality, environmentally positive and climate resilient housing to low- and moderate- income households. I feel enlivened and at peace when I am actively involved in civic engagement, and I feel a personal drive to be a part of the solution to our climate crisis. I have a long history of community involvement including serving as a founding member on the Somerville Community Preservation Committee, and an active participant in Somerville Climate Action, the City of Somerville’s Zoning Advisory Committee, and a handful of other city convened committees. My civic engagement over the last several years has been at the intersection of climate and schools. As the mom of a 6th grader at the Winter Hill Community Innovation School and a member of the school’s Governing Board and the Massachusetts School Board Authority School Building Committee, I have been helping to lead efforts around a new high performance, all electric, low carbon and healthy school building at 115 Sycamore St. I also have been advocating to decarbonize and electrify existing school buildings; the Carbon Free and Healthy Schools Coalition that I started was provided with a citation by the City Council in March in recognition of that work.

Through these experiences I have built strong connections with elected officials and city staff, and have a strong understanding of how the city works and what it takes to make change. Being a member of CEUCC and iCAC has been the perfect complement to the advocacy work around schools as it keeps me up to date on the city’s climate related initiatives and to advocate where appropriate to make changes. In my professional role as an affordable housing developer for six years at the Somerville Community Corporation and for the past 14 years at Beacon Communities, I have worked tirelessly to align the buildings I build or renovate with regenerative, closed-loop systems. I am a part of the high-performance affordable housing building community, and I have a desire to create regenerative housing that uses natural, low-carbon materials that sequesters carbon and minimizes embodied carbon. I employ PassiveHouse all-electric and resilient new construction practices, undertake deep energy retrofits and electrification, build solar PV to generate power, and design open spaces that use low impact design and planting selection to capture stormwater and pull carbon into the ground. I also have expertise in affordable housing and green building financing and understand the levers and constraints of achieving environmentally positive building goals. Given my background and experience, should I be selected to serve on the CAC, I would bring grounded and deep experience that would allow me to be an active participant of the CAC from the onset. Thank you for your consideration.