Partners and Associations

Local Partners

Municipal Government

LEAP has many valuable partners supporting our staff and programs, not the least of which are the City of Charlottesville and County of Albemarle, whose successful grant proposal to the Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance funded our organization to begin with. LEAP works with a number of different departments in both City and County, to coordinate and leverage our service to the community.

LEAP is also working with the City and County to allocate their Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant funding by providing rebates on home energy assessments to homeowners.

Energy and Water Utilities

Utility partners, like Dominion Virginia Power, have played an important role in LEAP's success. Dominion has been a generous sponsor and partner on projects such as ecoREMOD and LEAP's Home Energy Makeover Contest. As a customer advocate and stakeholder in future energy efficiency programs launched by the electric utility, LEAP is engaged in conversations on what those programs should look like and how we can work together to conserve energy.

Charlottesville Gas and Water and Albemarle Water Service Authority were also sponsors of LEAP's Home Energy Makeover Contest, and they provide rebates for energy and water improvements for residents.

Educational Institutions

The University of Virginia and LEAP are involved in many projects which bring students from engineering, architecture, urban planning, and the Darden School of Business to work with our nonprofit to learn more about energy efficiency and their community.

Piedmont Virginia Community College provides training to many of our contractors in weatherization and certifications created by the Building Performance Institute for "whole building" energy performance assessments.

State Partners

Department of Mines, Minerals, and Energy (DMME)

The state energy office originally provided funding for a grant coordinator to work with the City and County on their proposal, and LEAP is grateful for that and the training they have sponsored around the state for contractors to become certified Building Performance Institute Building Analysts.

LEAP will also be a subrecipient on a state energy office grant award to fund scaling up efficiency programs such as ours.

National and Regional Partners

The Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance (SEEA) has provided program guidance and support as well the initial seed funding to LEAP. As a proposal partner with SEEA on their successful Better Buildings grant from the Department of Energy, LEAP was the recipient of $800,000 in funding we have put towards providing home and building owners rebates on energy improvement measures.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), home of the ENERGY STAR brand, has created Home Performance with ENERGY STAR, a special program to help owners of existing homes get the right information they to make the most cost effective energy improvements. LEAP runs this program for our residents - providing information, oversight, and quality assurance for customers to achieve 20% or better energy efficiency gains.

The Department of Energy has granted LEAP $1.9 M in funding to launch a pilot program to weatherize low income multifamily housing. It has also selected LEAP as a pilot partner for its residential Building Labeling program.

Associations

LEAP is a member of the following organizations: