Energize - Community Spaces
Foundation staff recently attended the Information Session about Energize – Community Spaces from King County, hosted on January 22, 2026, with presenters Jenny Cooper and Terry Sullivan. We are excited to share this summary with churches in King, Pierce, Kitsap, and Snohomish counties. (Listen to the presentation here, view the slides here. You can contact the program staff at CPRG@kingcounty.gov with “Energize - Community Spaces” in the subject line.)
The part of the Energize Program that faith communities may qualify for is the “Community Spaces” program. Presenters specified that this is not a grant program; it’s a direct service program. That means it pays for heat pumps, weatherization (including insulation, but not doors or windows), and decarbonization planning directly, rather than issuing a grant, rebate, or reimbursement to each recipient. The Energize program staff will solicit bids, hire contractors, coordinate and carry out work, and process invoices.
This program has a $6 Million budget with which to decarbonize about 41 buildings across 4 counties: about 20 in King, 2 in Kitsap, 11 in Pierce, and 7 in Snohomish. It will cover 100% of the project cost for each recipient, up to $100K per project. (If your project will cost more than 100K, you’re still eligible to apply, but you’ll have to cost-share.)
Your faith community is eligible to apply if:
It serves as a community gathering space or offers a community service (program staff listed food banks, places of worship, community centers, libraries, schools, and skills training centers as examples of community gathering spaces).
It serves people who are disproportionately affected by climate change.
It is located in King, Kitsap, Pierce, or Snohomish Counties.
Your faith community will be prioritized above other applicants if:
Its building currently uses fossil fuels in its building systems and appliances
It is located within frontline communities (people disproportionately impacted by climate change), and/or an extreme heat mitigation priority area.
ACTION ITEM: Enter your church’s address into this map to find out whether or not it is located in one or more of these priority areas.
The scoring rubric hasn’t been published, but other scored criteria that the program staff listed during the info session include: the ways your building serves people; whether or not the people served primarily speak a language other than English; the independence and longevity of your organization; whether or not it has air conditioning, if it’s in an extreme heat mitigation area; and the intensity of your building use, along with its age and square footage.
If you plan to apply, your next steps are:
Learn: Read through the program website in its entirety.
Collect information: Read through the application questions online.
- Collaborate with the Trustees to gather information about your building, its age, its insulation, how it’s heated and cooled right now, whether it uses any other gas appliances, what type of wiring it has, et cetera.
- Collaborate with the Leadership Team to quantify and describe its impact on the community.Apply: Complete the application form online no later than April 20, 2036.
Applications will not be scored on a rolling basis; rather, they will be reviewed in May 2026, and selected applicants could be notified and start receiving technical assistance as early as June 2026.
If there’s any chance that your faith community could benefit from this program, don’t let it pass you by. Foundation staff have been searching for federal and state funds for heat pumps in church buildings since 2023, and this is the best opportunity we’ve seen so far.